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The first images of Team New Zealand’s new America’s Cup boat have been captured ahead of its official inauguration on Thursday night.
Via TVNZ, the AC75 was filmed leaving its shed on the Auckland Viaduct on Thursday morning.
The Cup defenders will launch their second ship with exciting developments expected from their original AC75 Te Aihe.
TVNZ / SCREEN CAPTURE
The first images of the new Team New Zealand boat have been captured ahead of its official opening on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand team hinted that they will not engage in two-boat trials while their America’s Cup rivals compete in the Challenger series.
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Following the four-day Christmas Cup in late December, the New Zealand team split up to train on their own for two months as the three challengers compete in the Prada Cup to find the team that will face the Kiwis in the America’s Cup match that begins in March. 6.
Emirates Team NZ
Grinders Josh Junior and Louis Sinclair face a long summer of hard work with the New Zealand team.
The New Zealand team can do workouts on two boats while the Prada Cup takes place, but this will cause their sailing crew and boat equipment to stretch.
“The resources required to do that can sometimes exceed what you are going to learn,” said New Zealand team operations director Kevin Shoebridge. Things.
“You can learn a lot on these boats by simply testing, sailing and circling the racetrack and fine-tuning your techniques.
“All of these things are important and you can do it yourself.
“It is not a race and there is no question that it is a big change from Bermuda when the defender (Oracle Team USA) was involved in the first rounds.
“That will be a challenge, but we have enough on our plate trying to get the boat going as fast as we can.”
Oracle twisted the rules for engaging in the free-for-all phase of the challenger series in Bermuda, reasoning that increased exposure was good for their sponsors, but the key ingredient was the ability to get a sense of their speed against their challengers before of the Copa América match.
After reclaiming the Auld Mug in Bermuda, the New Zealand team immediately reverted to the traditional rule that the defender lines up against the challenger in the match, with so many unknowns.
Emirates Team NZ
Defenders of the America’s Cup look strong in Auckland’s training block at AC75.
The fascination of the Cup has long been opening the board from the starting line to the first mark to see who has the speed advantage in a game that has always been a design race as well as a sailing contest.
“One of the cool things this time … is a real unknown and that’s pretty exciting in itself,” Shoebridge said.
“We have no idea how things will play out until February next year. [when the winning challenger is found] And since we won’t be queuing until late, it will be quite an interesting day on March 6. “
New Zealand team coach Ray Davies said Things they would get imaginative with their training during the first phase of next year.
EMIRATES TEAM NZ / Supplied
The New Zealand team squeezed everything they could with Te Aihe before the launch of their second AC75.
“It’s going to be difficult for the team in a sense because we all love to race, that’s what drives us,” Davies said.
“It was a decision we made to bring the Cup to what it used to be when the defender was not involved in the challenger series.
“It will certainly add a lot more flavor at the America’s Cup when no one really knows the performance of others.
“It’s not ideal for us from a racing perspective, but we have some ideas to mitigate that, and we’re going to push ourselves while they do their event.”
EMIRATES TEAM NZ
Ray Davies, left, and the Team New Zealand team check the performance figures from Te Aihe.
In preparation for their impressive success in Bermuda, the New Zealand team operated like a lone wolf, training long and hard at home and arriving at the race venue at the 11th hour.
They did not have a sparring partner and regularly used their chase boats to fine tune their starting techniques and simulate two-boat racing situations.
Re-commissioning Te Aihe, now under the covers at her base, would be a costly exercise with some of her parts cannibalized for the new ship.
They have their 12-meter Te Kahu test boat as an option, but at mid-scale there will be limitations.
