America’s Cup: Team NZ boat returns from Jeddah after delay; Youth and Women’s teams finally get on the water

When Team New Zealand left Jeddah after the second America’s Cup preliminary regatta, they expected their one-design AC40 to soon follow.

Shipping delays in the Red Sea delayed things, but the vessel has landed back in Auckland which has allowed the Kiwis to tick off a vital part of their overall campaign.

While the core sailing group for the America’s Cup defence have been busy on the water aboard the team’s LEQ 12 testing vessel, the women’s and youth teams have finally been able to get out for some real sailing as they prepare for their own campaigns in Barcelona.

The women and youth teams will both sail the one-design AC40 in their respective regattas, which run concurrently with the Challenger Series and Cup Match. After the lineups were confirmed just before Christmas, they have been limited to work in the AC40 simulator getting comfortable with the ins and outs of how the boats work.

However, youth sailor Oscar Gunn said nothing compared to the real thing.

“It was pretty unreal actually getting the feel of the boat. In the simulator, you can play all the controls and watch it on the screen, but you just don’t get the feeling [of] blasting along,” Gunn said after an on-water session this week.

While several members of the youth and women’s teams are away with Olympic sailing and other commitments, those at home have been getting some vital time on the AC40 proper.

Gunn and women’s team sailor Gemma Jones got their first opportunity to sail the vessel this week, while Leo Takahashi and Liv Mackay were able to refamiliarise themselves with the set up, having been part of Team New Zealand’s two-boat testing programme last year.

“Getting on the water is a huge step forward for the women’s team,” Mackay said. “Gemma and I were both sailing on board with Josh [Junior] and Marcus [Hansen], for me it all came back pretty quickly from my sailing last year and Gemma was doing an awesome job straight off. So it’s a really exciting time, we can’t wait for more.”

Team New Zealand sailors Junior, Hansen and Sam Meech were on the water to oversee the quartet, as the team eye more opportunities for two-boat testing now the AC40 is back on home waters.

Speaking of the new training opportunities for the youth and women’s teams, Junior said it was important not to completely 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.