America’s Cup: Advantage Team NZ as 2-boat testing starts

Team New Zealand’s preparations for their defence of the America’s Cup went to another level on Thursday with the champion syndicate having two boats on the water for the first time.

The Kiwis leapt at the opportunity to take advantage of a break in Auckland’s shocking weather to get their two half-scale Cup boats in action.

It’s a major advantage on their challenger rivals as they get an early opportunity to get into match racing training in the foiling monohulls, and also have the ability to implement testing and development changes with equipment.

One AC40 must be kept in the one-design mode, but the other is able to be tweaked, allowing vital performance differentials to be instantly assessed. The gains from these will be put to the design and appendages of the full-sized AC75 to be sailed at Barcelona 2024.

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With relaxed rules, this is the first time any America’s Cup team has been able to do two-boat testing since the 2007 America’s Cup, though Team New Zealand briefly had two boats together when a couple of SL33’s were used to verify the significance of foiling versus non-foiling in the America’s Cup in the leadup to San Francisco 2013.

Team New Zealand spread the responsibilities around their talented sailing crew in ideal 12-15 knots of north-east winds in a three and a half hour session.

“The boats were engaging so well from the outset and as a result you could definitely see some instant gains in communication between the guys and girls onboard, obviously keeping check on the other boat’s performance and moves which is really important as far as match racing goes,” coach Ray Davies said of the first outing.

Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge were helming with Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney trimming on AC40.1.

Liv MacKay swapped port side driving duties with Leonard Takahashi while Josh Junior was on the starboard helm on the second AC40 with Sam Meech and Marcus Hansen in the trimming seats.

“We were quickly into it, our team were just getting used to the boat and next minute Pete, Nath, Andy and Blair jumped into windward of us, and we were straight into a line-up which was really exciting. Huge credit to the whole team to be able to get to this point having two boats on the water,” Junior said.

It was a big day for prospective women’s and youth team sailors Liv Mackay and Leonard Takahashi who have had recent sessions during the one-boat programme but were thrilled at their increased responsibilities.

“I just can’t get enough, it is awesome sailing,” Mackay said after spending almost half the session on the helm.

New recruit Takahashi, who has gained prominence on the match racing circuit, is equally delighted in his new surroundings on these state-of-the art boats.

“The boats are epic, like nothing I have ever sailed,” he said.

“They foil fast, all the aero and foils are super cool to learn about and get the hang of, so I am looking forward to keep learning and asking questions of all the guys.

“We were meant to keep it simple and chill for a bit, but the other guys lined us up. I think we got a lot out of it and for me straight into the deep end, but really grateful for the opportunity.

“Everyone has been really good to me and the learning has been super steep but just getting the hang of it and looking forward to the next few weeks to come.”

Davies praised the efforts of the new faces in the team.

“It was a big day for Liv and Leo to step into that racing lineup position and as we expected from both of them they did a fantastic job,” Davies said.

“Obviously, Sam and Marcus haven’t had a huge amount of time in their roles either, and they were great, as was JJ (Josh Junior) keeping it all together on that boat really, really well.”

The AC40s will be used for training and also as the regatta boat, in one-design mode, for the youth and women’s America’s Cups by the other syndicates.

Challenger of record team UK and returning Swiss team Alinghi have taken delivery of their first AC40s which are being produced by Team New Zealand.

“Obviously, Sam and Marcus haven’t had a huge amount of time in their roles either, and they were great, as was JJ (Josh Junior) keeping it all together on that boat really, really well.”

The AC40s will be used for training and also as the regatta boat, in one-design mode, for the youth and women’s America’s Cups by the other syndicates.

Challenger of record team UK and returning Swiss team Alinghi have taken delivery of their first AC40s which are being produced by Team New Zealand.