America's Cup Recon: Emirates Team NZ's Black Friday launch
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 13 Mar 11:09 GMT
Emirates Team NZ - First Sail - March 13, 2026 - Auckland © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com/nz
America's Cup fans got their first look at Emirates Team NZ's repurposed AC75 when Taihoro was splashed in Auckland this morning - over 500 days after sailing in the final race of the 37th America's Cup in Barcelona.
It was the first look at a deck layout for the repurposed AC75, whose crew have been cut to five sailing crew and one spectator spot.
Unsurprisingly Emirates Team NZ have just closed down one of their four previous crew fox-holes, each side - leaving three available. Our guess is that as previously the aft fox-hole is for one of the co-helms. Jo Aleh was seen trying one of these for size, and it will be interesting to see if she is one of the co-helms for the Cup.
There were not a lot of obvious changes, except a new version of the mainsail sheet hydraulic control seems to be installed. But that will only be fully revealed when sailing shots are available.
From the viewing position on the dock, it was not possible to see into the fox-holes to get an understanding of where the various controls were located, now the the AC75 is solely powered by battery.
The team said at the launch ceremony last Monday that the AC75 would be sailing in its Barcelona configuration - aside from the removal of cyclors and the weight reduction permitted by the latest version of the AC75 class rule. In that regard the corrector weight, on the main foil arm where the standard one design arm joins the custom design wingfoil, is a different smaller shape - reflecting a lighter corrector weight.
As can be seen in the video, the team went through a series of dockside checks, before being towed to the eastern side of Browns Island, and into the "Paddock" - the team's usual training ground.
Condition were overcast in Auckland, with a lot of haze, and moderate easterly winds, with a flat seastate.
The team could be seen training in the Paddock, or Course E, in the 2021 America's Cup. They towed home around 5.00pm after a longish day on the water in 15-20kt north easterly breeze, which is top-end for breaking in a new crew.