Newstalk ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave and the NZ Herald's Bonnie Jansen get together to preview the weekend's sport. Video / NZ Herald
The covers have come off for Team New Zealand.
With less than six months to go before the America’s Cup in Barcelona, the defenders have revealed their new AC75 race boat. Team New Zealand are the second team to show off their new vessel, after Alinghi Red Bull Racing did so last weekend. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli will unveil theirs this weekend.
Team New Zealand chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge said it was another milestone ticked off.
“It is always a pretty significant moment for any team. The first time their race boat emerges from the shed and sees the light of day,” Shoebridge said.
The boat was wheeled out on Friday to have its rig stepped and rigging checked in preparation for its launch and first sail. The vessel will be officially revealed in a naming ceremony on Thursday next week.
“These moments are some of the most revealing of any campaign. So much of any America’s Cup campaign goes on behind closed doors and with the utmost secrecy protecting designs and plans, but there always comes a time when you need to show some of your cards. And although what we have revealed today is not all of our cards, it sure gives everyone an indication of our design path.”
Team New Zealand's new AC75 was rolled out of the shed for the first time in preparation for commissioning. Photo / Hamish Hooper, Emirates Team New Zealand
It follows the announcement of the America’s Cup going virtual.
Ahead of their America’s Cup campaign in Bermuda in 2017, Team New Zealand didn’t have the budget to build yachts to test on.
Instead, they developed simulation tools to test designs before committing to the vessel on which they would ultimately dethrone Oracle Team USA.
Now, in a bid to open up the regatta to a wider audience, those tools have been released in the form of an America’s Cup video game, with an online America’s Cup regatta to be contested as part of the schedule in Barcelona later this year.
“We see eSport as a fundamental part of sport going forward. It’s increasing in audience every year really dramatically and we want to be a part of that,” Team New Zealand head of design Dan Bernasconi said.
“I think sailing is super well suited to being an eSport. The simulation tools are there, it’s a game which takes some skill to master but anyone can get into it, and it’s a beautiful thing to play. The yachts are great things to look at and you get to race in some exciting venues. We’re really excited to open up the sport of sailing to everyone and bring in a new audience and see where that leads.”
The simulation tools have been continually developed by the team over the campaign in Auckland and during the current cycle, with the technology being a particularly important tool to help Women’s and Youth America’s Cup teams learn how to sail an AC40 foiling monohull before actually getting to sail one on the water.
“Those teams would only get a small amount of time to actually sail on the yachts before the racing, so we committed to developing a simulator,” Bernasconi said.
“All the teams have been using that simulator now for their training so that they can go straight into the actual AC40 yachts and be competitive.
“Through developing that, we just saw a massive opportunity to turn it into a game.”
The game, AC Sailing, is developed from the same physics engine used in the team’s simulators. The game will be the platform for the America’s Cup E-series, which will consist of online qualifiers and a grand final in Barcelona in September.
The simulator proved helpful for Team New Zealand’s teams when their one-design AC40 was held up in shipping delays after early December, arriving back in Auckland only last month.
Sailors in those teams were now getting their opportunity to hone their skills on the actual boat, working alongside the main America’s Cup team in two-boat testing.
Speaking of the new training opportunities for the youth and women’s teams, Team New Zealand’s Josh Junior said it was important not to throw them in the deep end.
“We’ll slowly build up with the crews, obviously we don’t want to just throw them all on the boat at once,” he said. “But as everyone gains more confidence and with all the training they’ve done on the simulator, they’ll be out there on their own soon enough.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
