Rave reviews for TNZ’s new boat Te Rehutai
Team New Zealand’s new America’s Cup boat has received wide acclaim for its radical design shift and early performance.
The defenders had Te Rehutai in the water 18 hours after launching in Auckland and raised eyebrows as the fleet of four boats for the 36th edition of the cup is now complete.
In Italy, where challenger of record Luna Rossa hails from, there was surprise at the big design moves by the Kiwis and acknowledgement that the crew had made a seamless return to action after five weeks off the water.
Farevela described Team New Zealand’s debut sail as ‘‘a demonstration of strength and control’’ with the Kiwis ‘‘immediately at ease on the first outing’’, noting ‘‘agility in manoeuvres’’ and the boat’s ‘‘capacity for acceleration’’.
Italian yachting website Saily felt Team New Zealand had undertaken a ‘‘radical evolution’’, with Te Rehutai described as a ‘‘visionary design’’ taking the ‘‘mysterious America’s Cup class to the maximum limits’’.
They had expected a more subtle development of the first boat Te Aihe but Emirates Team New Zealand had instead delivered ‘‘a bomb of extremes’’.
In a country where style matters as much as substance, Farevela went as far as to make an early prediction for March’s America’s Cup match.
‘‘It must be said that, at least from an aesthetic point of view, the 36th America’s Cup final seems to have already been written … Luna Rossa against Te Rehutai … the most beautiful AC75s to see.’’
International yachting website Sail-World felt Team New Zealand’s first sail was ‘‘impressive’’ and they had ‘‘thrown down the gauntlet’’ to the challengers.
‘‘The radical hull design proved to be quick out of the box, easing the fear of many Kiwi cup fans that the defending champions had gone a step too far this time,’’ and they were particularly impressed with the efforts in light airs, with cup racing set to go in winds from just 61⁄ knots.
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‘‘It would seem that the New Zealand design team may have made a breakthrough in the performance of the double-skinned mainsail.
‘‘ The engine above is generating substantial power,’’ surmised Sail-World.
‘‘Burling and his crew don’t miss a beat all day and look like they could race in the Christmas Cup if it were sailed tomorrow.
‘‘Their performance is a marked difference to the other teams’ first sail, punctuated by frequent stoppages while adjustments were made. ETNZ’s breaks seem to be more to give the grinders a rest/switch over than to effect running repairs.’’
British website Sailweb was also caught unawares by the aggressive design push by the defenders and wondered what it really meant.
They felt the radical design shift by the Kiwis was an acknowledgement to their rivals.
‘‘Despite trying to convince everyone that they had a fast boat with their first effort, mainly based on their perceived advantage of drawing up the new AC75 rule, it now looks like they decided, at quite an early stage (three months in) that the opposition was not looking so bad after all.
‘‘But it was still rather surprising to see how radically ETNZ changed their basic design thoughts ... if their first effort was so fast!’’