Sailing: Team New Zealand's turmoil before their America's Cup win

Team New Zealand in action at the 35th America's Cup in Bermuda. Photo / Supplied

A top yacht designer has shed new light on the turmoil Team New Zealand had to overcome on their way to winning the America's Cup.

Yacht designer Juan Kouyoumdjian claimed that Team New Zealand had foil breakages even before they went to Bermuda.

"People don't know all these details but a few months before the America's Cup they had some breakages with the foils. They were in a tough spot in New Zealand," Kouyoumdjian told Nautical Channel.

"They solved – and there was a little rule change that helped them a lot – what could've been an end gamer for them."

Team New Zealand had previously revealed that they suffered irreparable damage to their foils in their challenger final match against Artemis Racing, when they were caught with the wrong foils for the conditions.

But it appears Team New Zealand were having further troubles even before they arrived in Bermuda.

The top designer guru was complimentary of Team New Zealand saying they were smarter and more creative.

"I think it just shows that creativity and intelligence matters, hopefully and thankfully.

"I think that they just were smarter … [and] they were not scared to take risks. And they did that on their corner, they did that isolated from the rest of the teams and they came out with something extraordinary."

Kouyoumdjian also talked up the Kiwis' new concept for a revolutionary AC75 flying monohull.

"But outside of all these things they obviously outsmarted everybody else. And they've shown yet again the other day when the presented the new class for the monohulls.

"They showed how clever and how good they are. They haven't got much time to do it. They were under a lot of constraints because of their relationship with Luna Rossa. And within all that and within a pretty tight schedule, they came out with a brilliant concept really."