The league knew it would only have 11 boats available for the start of the season, so rather than dropping a team as initially planned, SailGP purchased an AC50 foiling catamaran from Emirates Team New Zealand’s campaign in the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda.
As SailGP’s fleet of F50 is made up of one-design vessels, the league set out converting the AC50 to meet SailGP specifications – a task that league chief executive Sir Russell Coutts told the Herald before the Auckland event was a significant undertaking.
Among the changes, Coutts said almost every element of the AC50 had to be changed, from moving the cockpits to changing the electronic and hydraulic systems, installing battery packs on board to making changes to the rudder.
“It’s a pretty significant rebuild and pretty significant modification.
“In fact, if you take the cross beams and the centre pod, they’re pretty much the only things that don’t get modified on the boat.”
It will come as a disappointment for the French team who, for the second time in as many events this year, find themselves having to borrow another team’s boat for practice before watching the racing from the sidelines.
It will, however, mean one less boat on the starting line of what shapes up as a tight racecourse on the Waitematā Harbour this weekend as New Zealand’s Black Foils look to back up their win in the season five opener – and retain their home title after winning in Christchurch last year.
“It looks pretty small. Especially with the new T-Foils, there’s going to be a lot going on,” Great Britain strategist Hannah Mills said.
“Everyone’s still learning, the boats are probably a lot more unstable than they would have been if we were still on the L-Foils just because no one’s used them before, really.
“So, that’ll add an extra layer of carnage, I think. The racing is going to be super tight [and I’m] just buzzing to get going.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
