America’s Cup 2021: Hit for the New Zealand team in the first practice race

The New Zealand team will have to wait for the opportunity to test themselves against the opposition in the first official practice race ahead of this week’s America’s Cup World Series, after light winds forced the cancellation of the team’s race. Kiwi union v. UK INEOS team.

The New Zealand team was ready to face the British boat after the official practice race was canceled on Friday following the decision of the three rivals to stay out of the water, but the practice race had to be canceled when the limit of time expired in a breeze of only about 8kn.

Each team is supposed to compete twice today against Rangitoto Island, with the American union American Magic and Luna Rossa starting shortly after 4pm.

Defender TNZ has been the most impressive since it released its second generation AC75 Te Rehutai three weeks ago.

Over the weekend, TNZ’s Peter Burling gave a glimpse of what it’s like to sail the boat, revealing the struggle to maintain control at high speeds.

The NZ team spent the weekend practicing in Waitematā harbor before the World Series starting on Thursday and the Christmas Cup regatta on Sunday.

Although he was hesitant to give exact figures on the speed of the new boat, Burling said it was “unbelievable” how fast they had sometimes come.

“The best way to understand speed is to compare it to the boats we were racing in Bermuda, and they are significantly faster than that,” Burling told Martin Devlin of Newstalk ZB. “This time it’s almost as big a jump as it was from the five-boat version after the [catamarans] in performance “.

Team NZ will now face the British at 4:45 p.m. and the American Magic in the last race of the day, after Luna Rossa and INEOS meet.