New Team NZ yacht launched

By JULIE ASH

Shrouded in black from the deck down, Team New Zealand's second America's Cup yacht, NZL82, slipped into the Viaduct Basin for the first time today almost unnoticed.

While the nine challengers were out on the Hauraki Gulf fine-tuning their boats for the start of the second round of the Louis Vuitton series on Wednesday, Team New Zealand carefully lowered their second boat into the water.

In keeping with tradition, the yacht's entry into the water was a private affair without the fanfare of a public christening ceremony which in the past has been reserved for Team New Zealand's first-built yacht - which this time was NZL81.

It was too windy for NZL82 to make her maiden voyage, but Team New Zealand syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg said the yacht was expected to be out the "next nice day."

"The boat is a combination of a lot of hard work," he said. "Because we had NZL60 available we weren't in a great panic to get NZL82 in the water.

"But she looks very sharp."

Like her sister yacht NZL81, christened by Lady Pippa Blake in August, NZL82 will also be skirted when being towed out to the Hauraki Gulf.

Most other syndicates keep the hulls and keels of their boats covered as they are lifted into and out of the water, but no others tow their boats to the gulf in skirts.

"NZL82 will be just the same as NZL81," Schnackenberg said.

The buzz around syndicate row is that Team New Zealand have created an "innovative" mast, something Schnackenberg would not be drawn on.

Team New Zealand introduced the three-spreader millennium rig in the last cup - something nearly all of the challengers have adopted this time.

Schnackenberg said that once NZL81 was "settled in" the next step for the team would involve a mixture of "racing and testing."

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