TNZ launch new test boat
America’s Cup holders Team New Zealand revealed their new custom designed and built test boat Te Ka¯ hu in Auckland yesterday.
Te Ka¯hu, meaning ‘‘The Hawk’’, was christened by Nga¯ ti Wha¯ tua O¯ ra¯ kei at the team’s Auckland base.
The scaled-down yacht – they must not exceed 12m in length under cup rules – will be used by the team to continue design development for a large part of 2020 while their AC75 Te Aihe is being shipped and raced offshore for the America’s Cup World Series events in Cagliari, Sardinia, (April 23-26) and Portsmouth (June 4-7). They now join challengers American Magic, Luna Rossa and INEOS Team UK with test boats.
Team New Zealand chose to design their original AC75 off their simulator work, preferring to have a more informed test boat now as a platform for the development of the flying monohull that will defend the cup in Auckland in March 2021.
‘‘It might seem like the launch of our test boat is a bit overdue, but early in any campaign decisions have to be made that ultimately will only be judged at the end,’’ Emirates Team New Zealand chief executive Grant Dalton said.
‘‘As a team, we decided that a test boat was indeed a really key necessity but believed it needed to have as much design input as our first AC75 to give it meaningful ongoing development possibilities.
‘‘There is no doubt looking back that the challengers all learnt some valuable lessons and got a bit of a jump on us with their developments. But it was a conscious decision of ours to suck that up and play the long game knowing that points don’t start to count until the first race of the America’s Cup, which obviously is in March 2021.
‘‘In Te Ka¯ hu we have a very legitimate test boat which will provide us the platform to hopefully make some significant gains in our developments for 2021. Who is right in their overall plans and strategy we have no idea. I guess we will find out next year.’’
Dalton praised the work of the design and build team with all of that happening in-house now in what has been a frantic period. That pressure will only ramp up, a year out from the defence.
‘‘There has been a lot of work gone into the design and build of this boat internally, which is amazing really as it has all taken place between the design and build of our first AC75 and the ongoing work on our next AC75 race boat,’’ Dalton said.
Team New Zealand’s head of design Dan Bernasconi added: ‘‘We know from experience that the development and gains that take place in the year before the America’s Cup are vitally important.
‘‘We couldn’t afford to only be sailing on the water for the handful of weeks we will get on Te Aihe around the ACWS events between now and its return to New Zealand.’’
Team New Zealand are now packing up and preparing Te Aihe for shipping to Cagliari for the first ACWS event.
That will be the next time the AC75 is sailed and the first time it will line up to race against the other AC75s in what will be a fascinating opening clash in the new class.