‘TAIHORO’ DAY 2 – A LONG DAY ON THE WATER
As Defender of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand agreed to the fewest number of training days as agreed with the Challenger of Record, GB1 back in August 2025. Rule 24.3 (ii) states: “no Competitor shall sail an AC75 Yacht as follows: for more than 45 Sailing Days from 15 January 2026 until 14 January 2027 and a further 45 days from 15 January 2027 until the date of the first race in the Final Preliminary Regatta except for any Regatta Periods specified by ACP.” Based on performance in Barcelona, the Kiwis received no additional training days, so every single one of their declared days matters. That means long days on the water. Today was no exception.
Sailing at the lighter end of the scale, it was a good seven hours from the systems check dockside, to calling it a day at 1822 (NZ time).
ETNZ Training Report
System check at the dock: 11:20. The boat left the dock at 12:00 and arrived off Takapuna Beach at 12:18. Conditions were TWD 340–000° with 2-3 knots variable wind speed.
After a short tow down past Takapuna Beach, ETNZ hoisted sails at 1218 in a light 2-3 knot NNW. The breeze then dropped further to 0-1 knots before building again to 3-5 knots from the SW. It was at this point that ETNZ towed up on to the foil and proceeded to manoeuvre around the inner bay to stay in the small puffs coming off the shore. Very stable in all manoeuvres and maintaining 100% flight time.
- The first session lasted until 1330 at which point the breeze had built to a steady 8-9 knots.
- Second session started at 1351 in a slightly lighter 6-8 knots and lasted until 1421. Towed onto foil and maintained 100% flight time. At the end of this session they carried several heavy silver items out from below.
- Third session started shortly after at 1430. ETNZ sailed onto the foil in a shifty 6-8 knots. They sailed for about 5 minutes before reaching take off at about 17 knots boat speed. Third session ended at 1516. At this point they swapped more silver boxes (batteries?) and made some small adjustments to the mainsheet system.
- Fourth session started at 1538 and was two prestart practices. It ended at 1554. Breeze was more steady at 8-10 knots.
- Fifth session started at 1603 and ended at 1633.
- Sixth session started at 16:53 and ended at 17:18. Breeze was continuing to build to a steady 10-12 knots across the whole harbour. Runs were a lot longer in this session.
- Seventh session was a long sail back up the harbour in a steady 13-14 knots with multiple practice starts on the way up.
At 18:22, ETNZ lowered the sails and returned to the dock.
ETNZ – Day 2 Observations
Overall, after a light front passed over the city ETNZ started their day in a light 3-5 knots SW and sailed very consistently as the breeze built to 13-14 knots. The used the same jib for the entire day, and their manoeuvres remained extremely consistent throughout.
Although they declared a new J5-1 they did not use it. There was little to no adjustments to the boat between sessions. Only food and crew swaps. They steadily rotated through crew members after each session; however Andy Maloney remained throughout the whole day. The other crew members who sailed today were Jake Pye, Jo Aleh, Seb Menzies, Iain Jensen, Nathan Outteridge and Josh Armit.
Crew onboard:
Starboard trimmer: Andy Maloney
Port trimmer: Jake Pye
Starboard helm: Nathan Outteridge
Port helm: Seb Menzies
Starboard hull (behind helmsman): Jo Aleh
Guest spot: Nick Burridge
