Cup Spy: Emirates Team NZ resume mid-winter AC75 testing in Hauraki Gulf
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com 4 Jun 12:29 BST
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - Day 14 - June 4, 2026 © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com / nz
America's Cup Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, resumed its AC75 test program in the Hauraki Gulf today, June 4.
The resumption comes after the postponement of the second Preliminary Event, due to be held in Naples at the end of June. Whether the team always intended to conduct a test session at this time, instead of remaining in Europe, is not known.
However, it now appears that the team will continue testing until mid-September, when the rescheduled second Preliminary regatta takes place, in AC40 one designs, from September 24-27.
The Kiwi team are the only team to sail an AC75 in the current America's Cup cycle. Under the current rules, America's Cup teams were allowed to begin sailing on January 15, 2026, and are restricted in the number of sailing days they may have, based on their placings in the 37th America's Cup in Barcelona. The New Zealand team has the lowest allocation of sailing days, designed both as a €75million budget cap measure and to allow other teams to close out Emirates Team NZ's perceived design advantage.
As America's Cup Defender, Emirates Team NZ has an allocation of 45 sailing days. While they have used less than 15 days to date, their remaining 30 days of sailing-day quota must last another seven months (32 weeks) until mid-January 2027. There will be time out for the second Preliminary Regatta and AC40 sailing in Naples, as well as the sailing team being absent for SailGP events.
With the shortest day, less than three weeks away, and New Zealand now in winter, the team will pick its weather before using a valuable day.
Today's conditions in the Hauraki Gulf were a 7-12kt northerly breeze and flat water - ideal AC75 test conditions. The team splashed at 1000hrs and towed off the dock an hour later, before rigging off Narrow Neck beach, south of Rangitoto beacon marking the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf.
Having reached the distinctive red and white striped lighthouse, the team tacked and headed at foiling speed out into the outer Hauraki Gulf under overcast skies, and the occasional rain squall. The session ended at 1500hrs with the AC75 towing down the Rangitoto Channel.
While the obvious objective is the 38th America's Cup, part of the testing is sure to involve design thinking for the 39th America's Cup, three years hence, for which a new AC75 will have to be designed and built.
To date, Italian challenger, Luna Rossa, is the only one to have splashed an AC75 - taking their 2024 challenger for a test tow in for less than two hours in late May.