America's Cup: Kiwis mark their 30th sailing day with a Race Rehearsal
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 29 Oct 02:02 GMT
Emirates Team New Zealand - Sailing Day 30 - October 28, 2026 - Auckland, NZ © America's Cup Recon
With four teams yet to launch, Emirates Team New Zealand marked their 30th day of sailing with a Race Rehearsal day on the 2021 America's Cup Course.
It seems the ETNZ sailing team have started Finishing School, calling a Rehearsal Race day on Wednesday.
The Recon Unit boat track gives a good indication of what looked to be a frenetic session.
In the post-session interview, skipper Nathan Outteridge was refreshingly candid about the team's objectives and progress.
“Today was a nice day. It's been a bit of a windy forecast this week, so it was nice to get out a little bit early today before it got to top-end conditions."
“As always, we’re looking at some equipment, some new sails, but also just doing some race laps and just working on handling and things like that.”
Instead of rigging off North Head at the entrance to Auckland Harbour, the team towed out to Browns Bay, several miles up the coast, rigging up and starting the training session in the area, known as Course A in the 2021 America's Cup, and also where the 2000 and 2003 America's Cups were raced.
Outteridge explained that the team were using the shortened day as a race practice day, where the team practices its race procedures, like an F1 team testing its pit drills, times, and general efficiency.
“We were planning to do timed stops and blocks, and practising build-up to a race today, what the timings would look like, and trying to test how long it takes to do a jib change and stuff like that."
“The stops and starts were procedural stuff."
"The boat was doing just fine,” he said, denying there were any recurring technical issues.
Other teams have been questioned whether they were paying any attention to the Recon Team output. Despite Luna Rossa's Max Sirena describing it as a "distraction", Outteridge outlined how each team analysed the Recon output.
“I assume there'll be a couple of people in every team keeping track of what we're up to. We're doing the same with the other teams. There's a few people assigned to just keep an eye on what the other teams are up to."
Usually, the recon analysts clip what they believe will interest various departments on their team and pass on a regular reading file.
Questioned about the "mix-up in circles and directions" during the session (again see the Recon Unit GPS track, which is a more conservative portrayal of the AC75's actual movements), the ETNZ Recon Unit asked if Outteridge believed traditional match racing was possible in these boats, or if the playbook was completely different?
“The playbook is a bit different. Like we're foiling, and the speed you're going's pretty fast. But when you turn one way versus the other, you can increase the turn rate quite a lot, depending on which way you turn and how you enter those manoeuvres. Same with double tacks and things like that. "
“We practice a lot of stuff on the simulator, then go on the water and see if it's actually achievable."
"We’re trying to push the envelope - just trying to see what the boat's capable of doing.”
Outteridge expects the new gear to be a small refinement on the last Cup, rather than a radical shift.
“Ultimately the foils are really important. I think there's still some good gains to be had in foils. As for sails, it's just a matter of trying to get good range out of sails overall. Making sure they get to the bottom and top end of their range as much as you can."
Towards the end of the session on Wednesday, Emirates Team NZ were on an M2 mainsail and J5 jib as winds gusted to 25kts just before they dropped the sails and towed back to the team base.
“You're never going to be on the right sail, but so long as it can get through the range, you're pretty happy," Outteridge explained.
Turning back to the vexed issue of changes that have been made to the AC75 class rule for the 2027 America's Cup he made the much-traversed point that “the systems are reasonably different in that the power pack is now a battery, as opposed to four guys that are training super hard in the gym all week or year round."
“We're doing quite a bit of development on the systems side, but you can't see any of that development."
“Every day we go out there with new things to try in terms of the functionality and how to make the boat as efficient as we can."
“Unfortunately for this Cup, most of the development is all under the hood.
"Next year we all get to Naples, you're going to start seeing the new foils come out, which I think will be the really important part of this Cup.”
Recon Report - October 28, 2026 - Sailing Day 30 - Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand
- AM: Sunny 10-15kts 225° (SW)
- PM: Sunny. Wind: 10-20kts 225° (SW)
- Sea State: Flat (AM & PM)
Sailing Stats:
- Dock Out: 1003hrs
- Started Sailing: 1030hrs Stopped Sailing: 1420hrs
- Time sailed: 3hrs 50 mins
- Foiling time: Not reported
- Tacks: No data. Gybes: No data
Crew List:
- Port Helm: Seb Menzies (NZL)
- Starboard Helm: Nathan Outteridge (AUS/NZL)
- Port Trimmer: Iain Jensen (AUS)
- Starboard Trimmer: Andy Maloney (NZL)/Josh Armit (NZL)
- P5: Jo Aleh (NZL)
- P6: Josh Armit (NZL)
Recon Unit Report – October 28, 2026
Key Points:
- Increased emphasis on training for racing days.
- High volume of practice starts and races.
Another early roll out of 0841 for ETNZ as they pushed to get out ahead of forecasted strong SW. Pushing off the dock at 1003 and towing out much further than usual up the coast to the Northern Beaches. The crew consisted of Nathan Outteridge, Seb Menzies, Iain Jensen, Andy Maloney, Josh Armit, Jo Aleh.
They came off the tow at 1033 and hoisted their M2-1 and J3-1. Towing onto the foils in a gusty, offshore 8-16 knot SW. Recently ETNZ has chosen to almost exclusively sail onto the foil but today they towed up every time. This was explained by Nathan Outteridge in the post session interview as a part of their race day simulation training. The session started at 1053 and consisted with shorts laps, close to shore around virtual marks with a couple of speed runs at the end. The breeze was gusty and shifty. ETNZ was seen doing a bigger roll tacks than usual in these strong gusts. The session ended at 1132.
Some marks were laid and the breeze eased off slightly as the next session started 1154. ETNZ towed onto the foil before briefly stopping at 1207. Chase One remained next to ETNZ but not onboard, 5min later ETNZ sailed back onto the foils. Another small stoppage at 1217 with a similar routine. Before a couple of starts and a big shift to the W. ETNZ then did several practice races against Chase One before ending the session at 1303.
The next session started at 1320 and consisted of a series of rolling prestarts, ending 20min later at 1340. The breeze then came in a lot stronger and ETNZ changed to their J5-0. ETNZ seem to have avoided their J4 a lot lately, preferring to run their J3 much further up range and then switching straight to the J5.
The final session of the day started at 1354 and was a long sail downwind out to the outer harbour before turning around and heading home. Stopping at 1420 off Narrow Neck Beach in the now fresh 18-20 knot westerly. They were back at the dock at 1550.
Overall, a focused day of practice starts and racing, in a building westerly.