Young America tests the water

Young America's first new boat sneaked out on her debut sail on the Hauraki Gulf as dusk approached on Wednesday.

USA53 raised her sails for the first time virtually unnoticed and returned to her cup base in the dark after two hours of testing.

Skipper Ed Baird described the black boat with the radical wing mast as "extremely sexy".

The skeleton crew who are in Auckland performed a secret ceremony as she was launched. The boat was kept out of the water yesterday for more fine tuning.