Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Te Rehutai in preparation for the 37th America's Cup. Video / ETNZ
Team New Zealand head of design Dan Bernasconi has reason to believe next year’s America’s Cup will be a much closer affair than the 2021 regatta in Auckland.
Most of the teams trying to pry the Auld Mug from Team New Zealand’s grasp head to Barcelona with afull cycle of AC75 sailing under their belts. Of the two that don’t, Red Bull Alinghi Racing having had plenty of time to get accustomed to the class having purchased the defender’s first edition AC75 and afforded more practice time on the full-scale model than other teams, while late French entry Orient Express Racing have purchased a design package from Team New Zealand for the build of their race boat.
Less than a year out from the regatta in Barcelona, Team New Zealand have begun construction of the hull for the boat they will be racing at the regatta and now have weekly deadlines as they look to launch the vessel in Auckland in early 2024.
Speaking to the Herald, Bernasconi said he expected all teams were now partway through the build of their new hulls and said while Team New Zealand felt like they were in a good place with their build in progress, the other teams were looking a lot stronger this time around as well.
“It’s really hard to know. I think it will be close – closer than the last Cup – just because it’s the second generation and teams tend to get a bit closer,” Bernasconi said.
“I think there are some really strong teams now. All of the other competitors are strong so I think we’re in a good position but it’s very hard to judge how we’re doing against the others. No one has launched their race boat yet; we probably won’t see anyone’s race boat for another couple of months at least, probably into early next year – so we just don’t know. We know we’re in a good place, but so are our competition.”
Team New Zealand design guru Dan Bernasconi. Photo / Photosport
Having spent the last three months up in Barcelona gathering data on the Cup venue in both their AC75 and scaled-down AC40 model, Team New Zealand have learned plenty about handling a foiling monohull in all the conditions – and bumpy sea states – that might come with sailing the regatta at a similar time in 2024.
While Bernasconi admits conditions during October in Barcelona are historically quite light, there have been days where the wind and haves have gotten up and really tested the crew.
Team New Zealand coach Ray Davies said the Barcelona block had given them plenty to think about as they wrapped up their block in Barcelona this week, retiring Te Rehutai – the AC75 on which they defended the America’s Cup in Auckland – for the foreseeable future.
“It’s been absolutely critical for us to have come up here and experience Barcelona and the conditions, and we’ve seen everything,” Davies said.
“We’ve seen perfectly flat 7kt days where it would be incredible light-air conditions, we’ve seen 21kt days with big seas, and everything in between. What we’ve learned is that Barcelona can offer all of that up.
“Te Rehutai has been absolutely incredible...it’s always a bit emotional when a boat like that’s given so much to the team, it’s the bit of an end of an era for us. Who knows what it’s future is – we certainly need to grab a few parts off it, that’s the way we operate; we don’t double up on too much kit so we’ll grab some kit off it, but who knows whether it ends up in a museum or it ends up in another home. We’re not sure.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
