Are Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa already way ahead in the 38th America’s Cup? These two teams look like the only ones anywhere close to being ready to launch their modified AC75s – and whoever does so first will be making a bold statement of intent about their AC38 campaign.
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The Italian AC75 – given the atypically un-romantic moniker of ‘Boat 3’ – arrived at the Luna Rossa team base in Cagliari on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia at the end of November last year. Since then the Italians are believed to have been busy making the modifications necessary to get the silver-hulled yacht class-compliant under the new rules for AC38.
Yesterday the Kiwis announced the return of their AC75 Taihoro to the team base in Auckland, after undergoing a lengthy modification process complete with a modified deck layout and reportedly ready to be fitted out with latest generation internal electronic and hydraulic control systems.
Neither team has publicly indicated when they plan to launch their AC75s for the first time in this latest America’s Cup cycle but the New Zealanders have said they plan to sail their boat for the first time locally on the Hauraki Gulf before it is time for the sailors – some at least – to head up to the northern hemisphere for the first of the AC38 preliminary regattas, scheduled to be held in Cagliari in May...
I check-in with Tudor Team Alinghi’s director for technical and sailing, New Zealand America’s Cup veteran Dave Endean – the man in charge of making sure that in AC38 the Swiss syndicate improves on its somewhat lacklustre performance in the last Cup in Barcelona.
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