The first America's Cup Class boat to be built in Britain, GBR70 Wight Lightning, was launched into Auckland's Viaduct Basin after a short ceremony at the GBR Challenge base today.
The first British boat to enter the Louis Vuitton Cup since 1987 was towed out into Auckland harbour by the GBR Challenge team for the first of her sea trials, now that a series of load testing has been completed ashore.
"Wight Lightning is a credit to our design and build teams," said Ian Walker, GBR Challenge skipper.
"Myself and the team are very excited about getting her on the water and are looking forward to the first sail."
Wight Lightning was developed by the GBR Challenge design team and it took the 30 strong build team 24,000 man hours over five months to build her at the GBR Challenge base in Cowes.
The name Wight Lightning was chosen from 18,940 entries into a competition held on the flagship BBC Children's programme, Blue Peter, and HRH The Princess Royal named the boat at a ceremony in Cowes on 12th April.
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Wight Lightning tastes the Waitemata Harbour
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