Of America's Cup scene Secrecy component of America's Cup sceneBy Suzanne McFadden, Special for Usa Today fitflops australia AUCKLAND, New Zealand Designer Clay Oliver, the mind behind the radical new appendage on Group New Zealand's America's Cup boats, is no stranger to maintaining secrets and techniques. Oliver discovered stealth as a navigator on board the USS Pharris, a naval frigate that combed the Mediterranean looking out Soviet subs in the late seventies and early '80s. For the final two many years, the 50yearold naval architect has had to maintain quiet about his designs for the underbelly of Team New Zealand's boats to protect the Cup subsequent thirty day period. The hull appendage was only whispered about in its code title "the hula." The boats, NZL81 and NZL82, were revealed in their entirety for the initial time this 7 days. The hula is like a 2nd skin operating from the keel to beyond the rudder, which seems to be separated from the boat by millimeters. It is a move to eke more speed out of the boat and currently has sparked much discussion about its legality, but no protests have been filed. Speak of the hula has overshadowed the Louis Vuitton Cup bestofnine challenger final between San Francisco's Oracle BMW Racing and Switzerland's Alinghi, which starts Saturday to determine Group New Zealand's challenger for the Cup. The hull concept was born more than two many years ago. At house in Annapolis, Md., Oliver was dividing his time drawing the subsequent fitflop sale generation of Kiwi black boats and creating an offshore boat, the MariCha, to break world speed records. "I was going back and forth in between the cheap air max 95 two projects, and suddenly I thought, wouldn't it be good if you could get a Cup boat transom down as low as possible?" he states. "I (studied) the Cup rule difficult. It states 20% fitflop singapore of the volume of the boat can be appendages, and that's where the idea came from." Oliver, an American now in his sixth America's Cup campaign, was approached by a handful of syndicates after the last Cup, including American groups, but chose to remain with Group New Zealand. "I arrived back for the group and the individuals. Team New Zealand embodies the American cowboy spirit, much more than most American groups they are rugged and adventurous," he states. "When I was in Team Dennis Conner in 1987 and 1988, our approach was to always see the Cup as a small war. In this Kiwi team, we look at the America's Cup as a yachting occasion and a activity." He enjoys the fact that Group New Zealand will have a go at something even though it doesn't cheap dr dre beats have the billionaire bucks powering it. "In New Zealand, if we needed to place a man on the moon, we could do it, even if it was with duct tape and baling wire," Oliver states. "Our design team this time appeared to have a