Team NZ look slick

Team New Zealand have completed a successful maiden sail of their new America’s Cup test boat. The scaled down boat – it is 38 feet compared to the 75-foot versions to be sailed in the America’s Cup – is being used as a development tool while their racing yacht is shipped to Europe for the opening World Series regattas in Italy and England in April and June. The defenders got Te Kahu out on the water in Auckland yesterday with Peter Burling on the wheel. The boat can be sailed by a crew of three to five sailors while the bigger boat is handled by a crew of 11. The sleek black boat was quickly foiling and swinging through turns, imitating the characteristics of her big sister and looking impressive in a short video released by the syndicate. Team New Zealand are working on the design tweaks for their second generation AC75 which will be built this year and will be used to defend the America’s Cup in March, 2021, in Auckland.

Almost 3 million people have signed online petitions to use Kobe Bryant’s image as the new logo for the National Basketball Association. This follows the death of the Los Angeles Lakers great in a helicopter crash in California that killed nine people on Monday. There is celebrity power to the move at Change.org with the petition already signed by Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber and Usher. ‘‘With the untimely and unexpected passing of the great Kobe Bryant please sign this petition in an attempt to immortalise him forever as the new NBA Logo,’’ reads the main petition, which was created by 16-year-old Bryant fan Nick Moghtader, of Vancouver. That had nearly 2 million signatures by yesterday.