‘MASSIVE’ DAY FOR EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND
The Kiwis put in one heck of a shift today out on the Hauraki Gulf, a clear, undiminished signal of intent and sheer purpose as they pushed their box-fresh AC75 ‘Taihoro’ through almost every sail in the wardrobe. This was Emirates Team New Zealand at their most lethal with no quarter for mediocrity and with an efficiency from top to bottom that leaves others wondering ‘how’ in their wake.
Setting out at just after 11am and not getting back until 6pm, this was always going to be a long one with a building breeze coming in from a northerly direction that the team towed to for the first take-off. Setting the big combination of M2 mainsail and J2 jib, it was a day of sail testing with plenty of movement observed onboard as the helms and trimmers jumped out of their pods to get really close vision of the sail shapes and the effects of the control systems.
It was also a day of long, long runs reminiscent of Olympic dinghy sailing to fine-tune and feed oodles of data back to the Performance Analysts on the Chase Boat. A minor technical on the innovative double-sheeting mainsail control system called for the brains trust technicians to come onboard but the issue was quickly sorted and ‘Taihoro’ was off and running on smooth waters with powerful, easy flight on display. In the smooth water, the real take-away was what can only be described as ‘carve gybes’ downwind that appeared to have very high exit speeds and were executed on both sides by some of the smoothest helming we’ve seen so far in this Cup cycle.
As the breeze built and the skies darkened into the late antipodean summer where the days are getting shorter, Taihoro came alive and the team pushed on into a building sea state, desperate to eke as much from the day as possible. A change to the smaller M3 mainsail was made, paired up with the J4 and the after-burners were lit as the team went off on long, blisteringly-fast runs playing noticeably with pitch angles fore and aft but always, somehow, keeping the bow clear – this is not a boat that ships water over the bow easily. The legacy foils however, kick up huge plumes of spray but at this stage of commissioning that is not an issue. As the session came to a conclusion just as the sun disappeared over the horizon, the team through in combination tacks, gybes and bear aways almost as if they were shadow-boxing an imaginary opponent.
Brilliant, outstanding session from the Kiwis who are sailing at a level, in a brand new boat, almost as if it were Te Rehutai. Epic to watch – the Highlights video is worth ten minutes of anyone’s time.
Speaking afterwards, Sam Meech, Bronze medallist in the Laser class at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and now one of the elite cyclors on ‘Taihoro’, summed up the day saying: “It was massive, I think it was the biggest day I've had as part of the team this is kind of what I imagined it was going to be like every day, but yeah it's good to get out there and we saw a full range of conditions, it built and at the end and we saw a good wave state and pretty good.”
Talking about the wardrobe used today, Sam added: “We pretty much ripped through every sail we had today...We were up and down three times with mainsails and then came here did a swap over at the dock and headed back out with the M3 at the end, so a pretty cool day... we saw the breeze increase through the day, so we actually saw every sail we had pretty much.”
Sam gave his take on the hurt-locker role of cyclor saying: “I did quite a bit of cycling when I was back in the Laser so I'd always done a lot but yeah this has been a pretty big transition to cycling pretty much every day so it's a big change but I'm lucky enough that I've been able to do a bit of sailing in the AC40s and getting the chance to cycle on one of these boats is pretty special...Most of the time we’re just providing power so you’ve just got your head down. Every now and then I try and look up, you know you get a beautiful night like tonight so try to look up and appreciate what you're doing, but yeah most the time you just head down trying to provide power to keep those sails moving.”
And talking about the variety of demands placed on the cyclors, Sam commented: “It really depends on the conditions, if it's quite dynamic, shifting around then you got to move the sails a lot, but today was actually reasonably good, most of the time we were straight-lining, so it was about as easy as it gets but just a long day.”
More to come from the Defenders of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. They’re looking extremely comfortable on and off the water at the moment and presenting a heck of a defence of the Auld Mug. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Report – Emirates Team New Zealand: Day 9 of sailing Taihoro AC75 Emirates Team New Zealand’s America's Cup race boat. It was overcast and completely still as the team splashed the boat this morning. With the forecast for the breeze to build from the north, the team headed out on the water, leaving the dock just before 11 am. Towing down the harbour and out the northern channel, the team stopped to hoist sails just off Rangitoto Lighthouse. With the wind conditions still very calm, the team set about hoisting the M1 and J2.
Towing onto the foils with the sails up, Taihoro headed north towards the approaching wind line, towing for roughly 30 minutes north before finding enough wind to drop the tow and start sailing. After a few manoeuvres, the team stopped sailing after exiting a gybe and falling off the foils. With Chase 1 alongside, the team spent some time working on the mainsail control systems at the aft of the yacht. During this downtime, the J2 was dropped, and the J3 was hoisted. Returning to sailing after fixing the problem onboard, the team started sailing under their own power at 12:45.
During this block of sailing, the team spent time looking over sails and could be seen leaving their normal sailing positions to check sail trim and systems. As the wind pushed further into the Gulf, the team sailed downwind back past Tiritiri Matangi Island, completing a range of manoeuvrers and straight-line modes. Coming to a stop at 13:27, one of their longer sailing blocks to date.
With the breeze now building, the team dropped the sails and proceeded to hoist the M2 and J3. Starting sailing again at 14:12, the team spent time in the flat water and building breeze, completing a range of manoeuvrers including combination manoeuvrers like double tacks. Stopping sailing for a drinks break at 14:29. Sea state now starting to build with the breeze, the team started sailing again, this time heading out of the Gulf towards Great Barrier Island. Spending longer doing some straight-line work in the sea state. They completed a long upwind leg and then sailed back downwind towards the Noises. With the sea state having really built now, both recon and Chase 1 were having trouble keeping up with Taihoro.
Coming to a stop in the lee of The Noises at 15:30, the team dropped the sails and changed to the M3 and J4. With the breeze now in the mid-teens and the sea state building. During this stoppage, there was a crew swap with 2 new cyclors getting onboard. Getting back to sailing, the team ventured back out into the Gulf looking to sail in the larger sea state conditions. Recon struggled to keep pace.
With the breeze pushing into the high teens, the team stopped one last time to put the J5 on. Starting sailing again and heading back upwind for a 2 long lap windward leeward course eventually sailing back into the harbour via the southern side of Rangitoto Island. Hitting the dock just after 6 pm.