Speed, agility of America’s Cup yachts impress captains
• Holders Team New Zealand to defend trophy against Luna Rossa in keel-less yachts that reach 100km/h
Peter Burling and Max Sirena will be fierce rivals over the next week or so as they compete for the “Auld Mug”.
But they are united in their admiration for the AC75 class of boat that will be used for the first time in the 36th America’s Cup.
The state-of-the-art monohulls racing off Auckland this week are as far removed from the schooners which first competed for the silver trophy in the mid-19th century as a modern Formula One car is from a Model T Ford.
The 22.86m keel-less yachts rise out of the water on hydrofoils and glide across the surface faster than 50 knots (93km/h). Challenger yacht Luna Rossa had maxed out at 53.4 knots (99km/h), skipper Sirena said on Tuesday. Team New Zealand’s (TNZ) Te Rehutai is rumoured to be even faster.
Despite that raw speed, TNZ helmsman Burling said, the handling was similar to the much lighter 49er two-handed dinghy in which he won Olympic gold for New Zealand with Blair Tuke in 2016.
“They are very dynamic, they’re obviously very fast in a straight line but they also give you a good ability to do a lot of manoeuvres and to do those manoeuvres at a relatively low cost,” Burling told reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s more like a 49er ... a small boat. I think the incredible thing about these AC75s is they’re a massive boat but just how dynamic they are to sail. The boat weighs more than five tonnes but it feels really quick with how it moves.
“I think it’s pretty incredible to see a boat of that size being thrown around like all the teams are doing now, and doing the speeds they are now.”
Having led Luna Rossa to victory in the challenger series, Sirena has had more experience in race conditions with the AC75 and believes the design has incredible potential. “We’ve only raced this boat 16 times, which is nothing,” he said. “We are still at the beginning of this class and I really hope whoever wins this race is going to continue with this class because I think these are the most exciting boats I have sailed on board in my life.”
Burling said he believes his boat has the edge in speed over Luna Rossa in “a lot of conditions” but conceded on Tuesday that he would not be certain of that advantage until the racing started.
Burling, who will lead the defence of the “Auld Mug” that he helped Team New Zealand win in Bermuda four years ago, said he thought the contest would “come down to that speed question”.
“That’s the great unknown, right?” the Olympic champion told a news conference. “We’re really happy with how our boat’s going but until we actually get to race that first race, we don’t know 100%.
“I definitely think there’s a lot of conditions where we do have a faster boat but there ’ s a lot of conditions where Luna Rossa has proved to be strong.”
One of the areas where the Italian challengers were perceived to have an edge was in light winds and Burling said Team New Zealand had made “some pretty big strides forward” in that department since they last raced in December.
“I really think that’s an area we’ve improved on in the last couple of months, it’s been a pretty good area of development for us,” he added.
While Team New Zealand have been limited to training in 2021, Luna Rossa have been race-hardened in the challenger series which earned them the right to have a crack at the title.
Skipper Max Sirena has been racing against Team New Zealand since he was a mid bowman on the Prada Challenge in the 30th America’s Cup in Auckland in 2000 but has never beaten them.
Delayed by four days because of a Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland, the best-of-13 race match begins in the Hauraki Gulf on Wednesday.