America’s Cup: New Zealand team’s new AC75 ‘exceeds expectations’ on debut

The New Zealand team’s gleaming new boat, Te Rehutai, provided the America’s Cup defenders with a pleasant surprise on their first day on the water.

Auckland’s Waitematā Harbor and Hauraki Gulf provided a pleasant breeze and relatively calm seas for the long-awaited debut appearance of the ship for a sailing team that Grant Dalton described as “insane” with the time they have had to wait. .

The Te Rehutai design has been in place for more than nine months, with only simulations and speculation offering an idea of ​​how the ship would behave in the water. However, star helmsman Peter Burling praised his debut.

“It probably slightly exceeded expectations, you know, to be able to get out there and do some nice maneuvers in a good breeze,” Burling said in a post-sail statement.

“The boat felt really good, which is exactly what we are looking for, so we are quite happy with the first day, but we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

His colleague, sailing superstar Blair Tuke, was equally pleased with the excursion.

“It’s great for the whole team to see him flying around, doing his thing, after a lot of work from so many people to get to this point.”

American Magic Captain and CEO Terry Hutchinson was also impressed with the New Zealand team’s new AC75, saying its design featured an innovation that has become a feature of the team’s America’s Cup campaigns.

“You can see a lot of smart ideas and you can see the evolution they took from boat one to their little test boat, which is probably quite a critical component for the development of their boat two,” ZB told Newstalk.

“It’s an exciting time because, curiously, there are some features on that boat that we saw on the INEOS boat, so there are a lot of clever ideas underway. You know without a doubt that the boat is going to be fast and you know that there have been lots of smart people working on it. As always, you have the utmost respect for what you see. “

American Magic and their challenge partners INEOS Team UK and Luna Rossa have already been sailing their second vessels in the port of Waitematā for the past two weeks, and Team New Zealand is expected to join them in the coming days as they prepare for the World Series. event in Auckland in a month.

Next month’s event will be the only chance the unions will have to compete with each other before the challengers series. It has yet to be decided whether the New Zealand team will be allowed to participate in that prep event after claims that they were late with their entry fee.

It has sparked another dispute between them and the Challenger of Record Luna Rossa, and is now probably in the hands of the Refereeing Panel.