AC75 TESTING RESUMES WITH NEW UPGRADES FOR TAIHORO
The pursuit of the America’s Cup is relentless and there is no time for jet lag or rest for the team fresh off the plane from the Preliminary Regatta in Naples at the end of September.
Emirates Team New Zealand got straight back to work on home waters in Auckland rolling out their AC75, Taihoro, marking the start of an extensive speed and performance development block on the Waitematā Harbour that will run until the Christmas break.
While the team were in Naples for the Preliminary Regatta, a dedicated shore crew and design team remained at the home base in Auckland, integrating a series of new component upgrades onto Taihoro, which was ready to roll out of the shed and evaluate the moment the sailing team returned this week. With just over seven months remaining before official racing gets underway in Naples, every hour on the water counts.
For helmsman Seb Menzies, getting Taihoro back out into the Auckland breeze provided the perfect platform to put the newly implemented upgrades through their paces.
"It was nice, it's a beautiful day here back in Auckland," said Menzies. "We had a solid breeze the whole day and sun. It's still pretty cold, and we are still in dry suits. But all in all it was a really nice day."
The initial testing sessions have been focused heavily on boat handling, manoeuvrability, and testing the limits of the AC75’s latest components under race-simulation loads, particularly in tight, tactical scenarios.
"One part of what we are working on is preparing for match race starts where the boats have to do really aggressive turns, so checking through a number of different things," Menzies explained. "We're anticipating the boats having to do high turn rates and a lot of low-speed manoeuvres as well. Obviously, the starts are one of the most important parts of the race, and there are always areas that we look towards in all the design aspects."
Transitioning from the one-design fleet racing on the smaller AC40s in Europe back to the powerhouse AC75 requires a sharp mental and physical recalibration. Menzies noted the team's drive has never been stronger.
"It's hard going between the two boats because they're so different given the one-design aspect of the AC40s," Menzies reflected. "But for us, it's an overall hunger that'll keep going and keep pushing the boats, and as a team, we push forward together."
With a packed schedule of testing planned between now and the Christmas breaks, the Defender is determined to continue to extract every fraction of a knot from Taihoro before the clock runs down to Naples.
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