AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Tom Schnackenberg is the design genius behind the successful Team New Zealand dynasty. Schnackenberg is a longtime sailmaker who first arrived on the America's Cup scene as the sail coordinator for Australia II in 1983. "Schnack," as he's known in Auckland serves as navigator on the crew. The genius here is that he is able to bridge the gap between the sailing team and the design team.

	Tom Schnackenberg, syndicate head of Team New Zealand, stands in front of the keel bulb of NZL 82.

For the 2003 defense, he worked with Mike Drummond, who alternates as navigator and American Clay Oliver, a 1973 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. This design trio has come up with a clever innovation, nicknamed the "HULA" or hull appendage. ESPN's Gary Jobson, sat down with Schanckenberg.

Jobson: Tell me how this HULA or hull appendage works.

Schnackenberg: Well, basically, it does something which we can't do without it. It allows us to built a boat which has a long waterline and a long overhang without having a long measured length.

Jobson: Do you have to design the hull of the boat to accommodate it?

Schnackenberg: Well, yes. We basically wanted the shallow run aft, you know from the aftergerth station to the counter and so, of course that line is not allowed to be hollow, so that runs right forward until not far behind the keel and then the appendage is added onto the outside of that.

Jobson: Does it touch the hull?

Schnackenberg: Yes. It's attached right at the centerline and it's allowed to be attached over a distance of plus or minus 250 millimeters from the centerline (10 inches).

Jobson: Is the friction of the water going between there slowing the boat in light wind?

Schnackenberg: Yes, it will, but we don't think it's enough to overcome the advantage of it in certain conditions, but it will tend to add to the drag.

Jobson: How do you keep coming up with these ideas?

Schnackenberg: Well, necessity's the mother of invention. They come from sort of a frustration. How can we have our cake and eat it? We tested steeper stern and shallower stern slopes to try to see which was better and while we were arguing about these, we thought it would be nice to have this and nice to have that and then Clay said, "Well, you know, of course, if we had an appendage on the back, we could have it both ways."

Jobson: Is this an innovation or a trick of the rules?

Schnackenberg: Well, we like to think it's an innovation and because the rules allow, the rules did allow for strange appendages and, of course, they prohibit very strange appendages and the fact that the rules limited the size -- the total size of the appendages to something like 20 percent of the total displacement -- suggest that when the rule makers made the rules they could envision such that the designs would be fairly ingenious.

Jobson: How much longer does this make the waterline, say, compared with Alinghi?

Schnackenberg: Oh, I'm not sure compared with Alinghi, but compared with a boat with a similar stern, maybe a foot or so.

Jobson: That's pretty significant.

Schnackenberg: Can be. Yes. That's right.

Jobson: Do you expect that Alinghi will show up with some kind of hull appendage now?

Schnackenberg: No. I don't expect so.

Jobson: Do you have any other surprises for us?

Schnackenberg: Well, that would be a surprise, and so I can't tell you that.

Jobson: When Clay Oliver mentioned the appendage, was that in one of those sessions where, sort of, anything goes, give us your craziest ideas?

Schnackenberg: No, it was just talking among the designers. Those sessions are more big picture and where we're looking at the campaign. It's just a part of the design discussions.

Jobson: You've sailed with both (Alinghi skipper Russell) Coutts and Butterworth and Co., for so long, are you able to use that to your advantage?

Schnackenberg: Well, I think they would be more familiar than, you know, another team. But, I'm not sure that uses to our advantage. We're probably more familiar to them than some of the other teams, as well, so it'll seem a little bit like old times to some extent.

Jobson: Tom, do you think this whole "international free agency" has gotten out of hand, with so many people skipping borders?

Schnackenberg: Well, in my opinion, it's a national contest, so it should be considered that way.

Jobson: When you read the "Deed of Gift," it's "a friendly competition between foreign countries." Do you think the America's Cup should go back to that?

Schnackenberg: I think that it should. Yes, and I think that it will. This is just a bit of a hiccup in my opinion. Yes.

Jobson: So, If Team New Zealand keeps the cup, is that something you can see to try and get back on track that way?

Schnackenberg: A little bit. Yes. I think the rules, the way they are now, have been difficult. The residency thing is vague. It's caused a lot of grief.

Jobson: In the last interview, you said, "Well, we try and do a lot of small things and, hopefully they add up to a big thing." The HULA looks like a big thing. What are some of the small things?

Schnackenberg: Oh, well. We work our way with our rigging and our sails and our appendages. They're all -- and our fittings on the boat -- trying to save weight. There are lots of little things that are tiny but do add up.

Jobson: Are you ready for the races?

Schnackenberg: Well, we're nearly ready, you know, we sort of learn something every single day and so you say, "give me another day and another day and another day," but yes, I think we're getting very very close to being ready now.

In 1977, Gary Jobson served as tactician to win the America's Cup for Ted Turner. ESPN's lead sailing analyst, Jobson will be providing ESPN.com with analysis throughout the America's Cup. E-mail him at garyjobson@cs.com or check out his Web site at jobsonsailing.com.