EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND SIGN OFF THE AC75 IN AUCKLAND

To watch the Kiwis sailing now as opposed to in the last America’s Cup is to see them flying far lower to the surface, especially pronounced on the flat waters they encountered today, with the bustle of ‘Te Rehutai’ skimming the surface upwind with maximum apparent wind whilst going scarily high off wind where the apparent wind has less effect. In the late summer light, Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney relentlessly kept low to the deck as Pete Burling and Nathan Outteridge pushed ever harder. Over some short-course racing late in the session, the intensity was noticeably ramped up – time on distance is meat and potatoes for the Kiwis, it’s all about tight manoeuvres and circling now as the Kiwis fought an imaginary battle in the pre-start box, executing fast and exiting faster. Impressive to watch and yes they nailed the ‘T-O-D’ too.

The AC75 programme will pick up again quickly in Barcelona with the team itching to test themselves on the America’s Cup racetrack and see for themselves the much-vaunted swell conditions that they have tried hard to find and replicate this summer in Auckland. In 8-10 knots ‘Te Rehutai’ flies but it’s marginal, above that and the boat is on rails with assured flight, so it’s the lower end that the team will be working on hard.

What will undoubtedly be key is the inter-relationship between rig and sails with plenty of development runway to play with. Burns Fallow, the genius and long-serving sail-designer of Emirates Team New Zealand was onboard today to see up close the size of the challenge that lays ahead for him and his team in the coming months. Stepping ashore, Burns commented: “Everything on these boats is integrated and as each campaign’s gone on you get more and more involved in other departments, and rig design’s a big part of it, especially with these twin skin sails but certainly they all act as one, as I guess they do on any boat, but we definitely approach the two of them together for sure.”

Today the Kiwis set the smaller M2 mainsail which is their go-to in around the 10-12 knot range and above. Speaking about that, Burns said: “These are clearly sails from the (last) Cup so we know them well by now, yeah it (the M2) was at the minimum of the old range but we can have smaller sails than that now going forward in the new rule so we kind of want to feel our feet up range and see if that's how we want to be, you know as big as we are, or maybe a little smaller.”

But the overall perspective from a sail and aero designer’s eye was interesting as Burns offered: “We have to evolve because that boat won't be quick enough to win the next Cup. That’s just an assumption every Cup winner has to take so there will be evolution but of course you have to wait and see what that is for another few months…I think we had plenty of revolution in the last one, there was a lot of stuff we thought we knew and now we do know, so I guess that by default that makes it evolution whereas last time we didn't know anything so it had to be revolutionary.”

The Kiwi design machine is in full flow now and the America’s Cup world will have over a year to wait until we see the next iteration of New Zealand sailing philosophy. Be in no doubt that they’ll be on the money. Next stop Barcelona for ‘Te Rehutai’ alongside the team’s two AC40s – it’s going to be an interesting European summer ahead.

Recon Unit On-Water Notes: ‘Te Rehutai’ was out of the shed just before 9am and was in the pen floating at 9.30. She was side towed from her berth at 10.30am and was taken just outside the basin to bend on sails. The M2 was hoisted and on the lock by 10.40am followed by the J1 on its lock by 10.50am.

Being very light, below 6 knots from the south-west coming over the city she was always going to struggle to get foil born and after a few minutes of trying she was towed down to Mechanics Bay where she dropped her tow and tried to gybe but came off her foils shortly after the exit. She did two displacement crossings of the harbour between Devonport and Compass Dolphin area.

‘Te Rehutai’ was taken in tow with sails up and taken out the Rangitoto channel to Rangitoto Lighthouse, there she dropped her tow and did a series of zig zags on port out towards Tiritiri Martangi Island. She gybed over and came to a stop just north-east of A buoy at 11.52am where there were tech personnel seen at the mast base and going below decks through the forward hatch.

At 12.10pm she was sailing again, this time zig zagging her way on starboard down towards the Noisies where she hardened up and headed for the Motuihe Channel. In a light spot she came off her foils here and the chase came along side at 12.34pm.

At 13.11 the J1 was dropped and at 13.15 the J4 was hoisted, and she was sailing south towards the ‘Back Paddock’ at 13.24. A 2-mile windward/leeward course with gates top and bottom was set just off Eastern Beach in 12-14 knots of SW breeze. Here after some down time and another crew rotation, ‘Te Rehutai’ went into three full race practices doing one full lap of the set course. The first prestart practice was quite standard by 2021 standards, the 2nd two showed much more aggression with at least 2 full 360 degree manoeuvres each time. First start was at 15.13, second at 15.25 and third at 15.32.

After the 3 practice races she headed for home on a one-sided beat-up Motukorea channel and into the harbour to come to a stop outside the basin at 15.56.

Conditions:

Weather AM: Southerly 6-12 knots showers 14°c.

Weather PM: S-SW 12-14 knots. Fine 15°c.

Sea-State AM: Flat water

Sea-State PM: Moderate

Dock Out: 1030 Dock In: 1610

Onboard today:

Helms: Nathan Outteridge / Pete Burling

Trimmers: Andy Maloney / Blair Tuke

Power Group: Simon van Velthooven / Marius van der Pol / Louis Sinclair / Louis Crosby / Hamish Bond / Marcus Hansen / Sam Meech

Sails Used:

Mainsail M2: 5 hours

J1: 2 hours 21 minutes

J4: 2 hours 25 minutes

Manoeuvres:

Total Tacks: 43 – 37 foil-to-foil, 5 touch & go, 1 touchdown.

Total Gybes: 36 – 30 foil-to-foil, 4 touch & go, 2 touchdowns.

Take-off:  90° TWA (True Wind Angle) Speed not recorded

Conditions:

Weather AM: Southerly 6-12 knots fine 15°c.

Weather PM: S-SW 12-18 knots. Fine 18°c.

Sea-State AM: Flat water

Sea-State PM: Moderate

Dock Out: 1005 Dock In: 1525