Team NZ design head: Big question as veils are lifted
With three of the six America’s Cup syndicates having revealed the hull shapes of their new AC75s, the teams will operate with one key question for the next few months. Who got it right?
Often referred to as a design race, the veils being lifted on the new race boats are pivotal moments in the campaign, with fans and opposing teams casting a keen eye.
Team New Zealand showed their cards late last week when they wheeled their AC75 out of the shed in Auckland and began to put it through its paces on the Hauraki Gulf, before having a launch party on Thursday when Taihoro was christened.
They were the second team, after Alinghi Red Bull Racing, to put their AC75 into the public eye, while Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli unveiled their new vessel last weekend.
Speaking to the Weekend Herald, Team New Zealand head of design Dan Bernasconi said there were some surprises in the differences between the three boats.
“To be working on your own team for a couple of years, then to see what other people have come up with when you have exactly the same aims, the same criteria, then they all come out at once, it’s really exciting,” Bernasconi said.
“It’s cool that they’re different. They could have all come out looking the same but they haven’t. There are some pretty big differences — at least to me anyway.
“I’ve been looking at [Taihoro] for such a long time that they’re surprisingly different. It’ll be interesting to see who’s got it right and who’s got it wrong.”
While the boats are starting to be revealed — with Ineos Britannia, American Magic and Orient Express Racing Team not far off launching — Bernasconi said there was only so much that could be gleaned from the hull shape.
The AC75 is a vessel where the technology below deck plays a major role in how it performs, and external elements such as the foils, sails and rudder can be continually developed through the campaign.
“Ultimately, when you look at someone else’s boat, you can see why they might have chosen to do those things, because we’ve all been asking ourselves the same questions.
“We’ve come to slightly different conclusions but we won’t know until we race what was the right answer or not.
“A lot of the differences are ones you can’t see. The hull shape is out in the open but you’ve got a whole array of systems within the hull controlling the sails and foils. That’s an equally big, if not bigger, part of the whole design process.
“We don’t get to see what the other guys have done on that exactly, but if you look hard at the clues you can take from the recon photos — we spend a lot of time trying to work out what they’ve done below deck as well.”
Team NZ will make the most of their time on the water the next few weeks before Taihoro is packed up and shipped to Barcelona — a journey that takes about six weeks — before the campaign comes to a head in Catalonia.
“While the boat’s on the ship, we’ve got a little bit of breathing room to take stock on the initial things we’ve learned and the chance to have a second relaunch in Barcelona when we’ll make some changes.
“Then it’s really into the final stages, looking at what we can still change. There’s some changes to the sails we can make and changes to the rudder maybe but also it’s about getting the most out of the boat we’ve got,” Bernasconi said.