Team New Zealand's boat Taihoro is officially out of the shed and ready to hit the water ahead of next year's America's Cup.
The team relaunched their AC75 at their Wynyard Point base in Auckland on Monday, a milestone in a campaign that is focused on securing a historic fourth consecutive victory in Naples in 2027.
While Taihoro is the same vessel that dominated the waters of Barcelona, it has undergone a significant refit to meet the new 38th America's Cup rules.
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Team New Zealand chief executive officer Grant Dalton said "to outsiders, there may not be a huge amount that is apparently different".
"From the outside it looks similar."
Under strict cost-containment measures, teams are restricted to their legacy hulls used in the last Cup.
To remain compliant, Team New Zealand's designers worked within razor-thin margins, limited to three specific modification categories:
- Cockpit Reconfiguration: Extensive work to transition the deck layout for the new crew requirements.
- Structural Rebuilds: The team was permitted to rebuild up to 4sqm of the hull using the same shape but different materials, allowing for localised strengthening or weight optimisation.
- Functional Rebates: Modifications were made to add rebates to maximize aerodynamic efficiency.
Team New Zealand's head of design Dan Bernasconi said despite the same hulls being used again, the rules still allow for some significant technological developments and improvements in the AC75's.
"The hulls have always been one of the most noticeable features on an America's Cup yacht, but because the hulls spend so much time out of the water, there is actually not that much difference in the performance of hulls, maybe five seconds around the race course across all of the boats in Barcelona.
"So the class rule and design parameters still allow for important gains and difference in performance from the foils, sails and control systems for example. As with every iteration of the same class of boat, there is no doubt the racing will be a lot closer this time around between all teams.
"So, as always, winning will be a massive challenge for the whole team."
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