RECON LOG: TAMING THE TAIHORO TECHNIQUE
In their defence of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup back in Barcelona in 2024, Emirates Team New Zealand showed an ability to gain through tacks, the likes of which had never been seen before. Anything up to 15 seconds gained was observed and whilst much credit lay at the door of the overall design, much was said about the crew technique, their smoothness and co-ordination.
Today on a beautiful Auckland late summer’s day, with the wind in the 6-8 knot range, it was all about technique and building pop-to-flight data at the lower end of the wind range, on this the Kiwi’s fourth day out of a potential 45 days of training before the cut off on 14thJanuary 2027 and a reset. These are valuable, carefully curated training days under the watchful eye of Ray Davies, the highly experienced ETNZ Team Coach, and the Chief Operating Officer Kevin Shoebridge.
Today’s session was a solid six hours that saw much emphasis on tacking practice with the Kiwis really leaning into the cant on the leeward foil to accelerate the turn, and the recon team noting “repeated tacks using big traveller up through the manoeuvre.” Twisting the sail that much in the light is an aggressive forcing that accentuates the pressure on the foils, leading to a rapid entry and a full-flight exit.
Jake Pye, the former International Moth World Champion spoke about the accuracy the team were trying to build into the tacking manoeuvres saying: “Well, obviously, to help turn the boat, everyone knows we make use of the cant and then it's just about doing a good enough job through that tack to just transition well and not hit the water.” On that note, the recon team noticed a good deal of bow-up through the tacks just to ensure no dips that could cause a splash-down.
Other observations on a busy day included pre-start practice where “several timed approaches were observed, including low reverse-circle style entries and one higher circle above the line, with the boat appearing late and behind the line on at least one run.” Starting practice is expected to intensify as it was considered an area in Barcelona where the Kiwis could make major improvements.
Chris Draper today rotated out with Nathan Outteridge in the port helm whilst Seb Menzies had another long run in the starboard helm position. Jo Aleh was heads-down on systems monitoring and control whilst Andy Maloney and Jake Pye trimmed from the forward pod positions.
Overall another solid day and the full recon report follows here:
The boat rolled out at 10:00 and remained at the dock for an extended setup period. Early activity included a large thump during preparation, Peter Knight an electronics technician onboard coming on board which looked to resolve an issue holding up their rigging progress, a delayed forestay attachment, a fibre connection change, and a new mark noted at the front of the mast.
ETNZ left the dock at 11:54 in J2-2 and M2-0 and entered the sailing area in light conditions. Once sailing, the main focus appeared to be leeward heel tack development, with repeated tacks using big traveller up through the manoeuvre. Take-off threshold initially looked to be around 15 knots, later dropping to approximately 12 knots. Several touchdowns were observed through the tacks, along with notes of bow rise out of the manoeuvre and work on speed-build “pop” characteristics.
At 13:09 ETNZ stopped sailing, before resuming at 13:27. During this phase, observations included the jib appearing wide and a large traveller input being used into the tack. A further touchdown tack and a bear-away sequence were noted, with the boat continuing to work on low-end acceleration and exit behaviour.
At 14:05 ETNZ stopped again and took VIPs onboard. At 14:15 a sail change was carried out to J3-2 in approximately 6–7 knots of breeze. The J3 appeared to have a more favourable mid-girth shape than the J2, although the overall trim balance between jib and mainsail looked slightly out. The jib also appeared to show hollow through the leech and mid-leech area.
The crew changed during this period and sailing resumed at 14:30, before another stop at 14:52. A long period was then spent working downstairs on the port side before ETNZ resumed sailing at 15:37.
The latter part of the session shifted into pre-start practice. Several timed approaches were observed, including low reverse-circle style entries and one higher circle above the line, with the boat appearing late and behind the line on at least one run. ETNZ stopped again at 16:11 for guests to disembark, resumed sailing at 16:22, then carried out a battery swap at 16:47 before returning to the water at 16:59.
A second short pre-start block followed at 17:14 before ETNZ stopped sailing at 17:27. The boat then sailed home in snake mode and ended the session at 17:47.
Overall, the session appeared to be focused on light-air handling and low-end performance development, particularly around leeward heel tacks with aggressive traveller use and speed-build take-off behaviour. There also appeared to be an ongoing effort to improve jib and mainsail trim balance, with the later shift into pre-start work suggesting a secondary racecraft focus once the testing blocks were complete.
Crew onboard:
Starboard helm: Chris Draper / Nathan Outteridge
Port helm: Seb Menzies
Trimmer: Andy Maloney
Trimmer: Jake Pye
Starboard hull (behind helmsman): Jo Aleh