Team New Zealand launch ignites intrigue with America’s Cup racing set to be closer
The boat launches are under way and Team New Zealand are getting a clearer picture of what their challengers have developed to try and take the America’s Cup away from Kiwi hands.
Team NZ unveiled their AC75 to defend the Cup at Auckland’s official launch on Thursday, naming it Taihoro, and are expecting racing to be tighter than ever in Barcelona as more teams enter the mix after another development cycle to create faster boats.
Luna Rossa and Alinghi have also launched their AC75s and ignited focus on which might be the quickest.
Team NZ skipper Peter Burling, who was part of the Cup-winning campaigns in Auckland (2021) and Bermuda (2017) as the Kiwis sailed to big victories in the deciding match race, anticipates that racing will be closer.
The six teams sailing in Barcelona competed in two preliminary regattas last year in Jeddah and Vilanova i la Geltrú in the half-scale AC40s, a similar design to the AC75s. They were evenly matched.
“It’s the third generation of a rule so everyone starts converging. I’m sure the racing will be super tight if the AC40 [racing] is anything to go by,” Burling said.
The generation rule has aligned more of the Cup boats to a similar design and many of the AC75s will look the same to untrained eyes.
Dan Bernasconi, Team NZ’s chief technical officer, was speaking at Thursday’s launch at Wynyard Point when their 75ft foiling monohull was christened. He said it was an exciting time for the design teams as each syndicate shares what they’ve been developing in secret for up to three years.
Revealing the monohulls will be lighter, dropping from 7.8 tonnes to 6.8, he said the AC75 with the main difference was Alinghi with their smaller hull.
“It will be interesting to see the pros and cons of those when we get on the water,” Bernasconi said. “The hull shapes are pretty different. Alinghi has gone quite radical.
“It’s pretty much all about aerodynamics because the boats are out of the water most of the time. It’s about making the most efficient platform and there are lots of different ways to skin that cat.”
Teams are beginning to analyse one another as much as possible before they sail competitively for the first time with their AC75s in the third preliminary regatta of the 37th Cup in Barcelona in August.
At this stage, Luna Rossa’s AC75, with a glimmering metallic hull, is looking more similar in shape to Team NZ’s Taihoro.
“They're really cool boats,” Burling said. “It's going to be the real test when you start to see the new foils.
“It’s just exciting times to see how they actually evolve over time as well.
“We're still a wee way from getting up to Barcelona and being able to see things with our own eyes.”
The other challengers,
American
Magic,
Britannia and French Orient Express, are also launching their boats soon.
Team NZ won’t add their racing foils to Taihoro until they arrive in Barcelona and will continue testing around the Waitematā Harbour in the coming weeks.
Their Cup boat will begin its long journey to the Spanish coast while Team NZ relocate from one side of the world to the other.
Team NZ will defend the Auld Mug against the top challenger in the final match race on October 12-21.