Taihoro flies again

Since first joining the team in 1992, Toyota has remained a cornerstone of the Kiwi campaigns, evolving from a brand on a sail to a deep technical collaborator.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton said he was proud of what the occasion meant for the team and its supporters.

“So much hard work goes on behind the scenes at Emirates Team New Zealand from the design office to the build facility and in the shed here at our base that it is really important to mark these milestones,” he shared.

“To outsiders, there may not be a huge amount that is apparently different, from the outside it looks similar, we are proud to have the same sponsors Emirates, Omega, and of course, Toyota announcing they are back onboard. 34 years now, which I think must be the longest sponsorship in New Zealand sports.”

COO Kevin Shoebridge added, “Internally, our philosophy is to always drive innovation and technology, so we think Taihoro ‘2.0’ will be a great step on from what we saw in Barcelona.”

Shoebridge who has been building the strength of the team since 2024 and now looking ahead to what needs to be done over the next 16 months.

“There is a long way to go until 10 July 2027, so there is a lot of relentless development that will continue all the way until then. And that starts this week.”

Toyota New Zealand Chief Strategic Officer, Andrew Davis said the renewal reflects a shared mindset that has defined both organisations for more than three decades.

We see something of ourselves in this team,” he said. “They’re relentless about improving, brave enough to try what hasn’t been done before, and proud to represent New Zealand on the world stage.

For 34 years we’ve backed that spirit, and we’re just as committed as ever as they head into the 38th America’s Cup.”

The relaunch ceremony was centred around the cultural traditions that have come to define the team’s identity with Iwi Manaaki Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei presiding over the event, blessing Taihoro once again with a Karakia and mihi. The blessing reconnected the vessel with its name, meaning “to move swiftly as the sea between both sky and earth”.

While Taihoro is the same vessel that dominated the waters of Barcelona, it has undergone a significant refit to meet the new Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup rules. Under strict cost-containment measures, teams are restricted to their legacy hulls used in the 37th edition.

To remain compliant, Emirates Team New Zealand’s designers worked within razor-thin margins, limited to three specific modification categories:

Cockpit Reconfiguration: Extensive work to transition the deck layout for the new crew requirements.

Structural Rebuilds: The team was permitted to rebuild up to 4sqm of the hull using the same shape but different materials, allowing for localised strengthening or weight optimisation.

Functional Rebates: Modifications were made to add rebates to maximise aerodynamic efficiency.

Despite the same hulls being used again, the rules still allow for some significant technological developments and improvements in the AC75s said Dan Bernasconi, Head of Design for Emirates Team New Zealand.

“The hulls have always been one of the most noticeable features on an America’s Cup yacht, but because the hulls spend so much time out of the water, there is actually not that much difference in the performance of hulls, maybe five seconds around the racecourse across all of the boats in Barcelona,” Bernasconi explained.

“So, the Class Rule and design parameters still allow for important gains and difference in performance from the foils, sails and control systems for example. As with every iteration of the same class of boat, there is no doubt the racing will be a lot closer this time around between all teams. As always, winning will be a massive challenge for the whole team.”

The most radical visual transformation lies in the crew pod on either side of the AC75. In a fundamental shift for the class, the iconic cyclors, the leg-powered athletes who provided hydraulic pressure have been retired as per the Protocol of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup.

In their place sits a standardised battery system for use across all teams. This high-capacity battery is now the primary source of power for the yacht’s complex foil and sail control systems.

This technological leap has direct consequences for the crew, moving the challenge from physical exertion to digital discipline, as sailors must manage finite battery limits throughout the race.

The removal of the “engine room” has allowed for a streamlined crew, but one that carries significantly more individual responsibility for those onboard. With an odd number of crew (five), roles are becoming more fluid, or roles like flight control and sail trimming may be further consolidated. The change in number of sailors onboard are a hot topic of discussion with regard to how the teams will split the five roles most effectively.

Skipper Nathan Outteridge said, “There is a lot of anticipation around what the roles of the five sailors will be and in fact when you look across all of the teams, the question is who will be in the different positions.

“For us, we have a fresh new team which is an exciting mix of young talent and experience so what that eventually looks like in July next year we don’t know right now. That’s part of what the next block sailing Taihoro is about.”

One certainty in the coming days is Olympic gold and silver medallist, Jo Aleh will become the first woman to crew an AC75 as a new rule introduced to extend the pathways beyond the AC40s and the Women’s America’s Cup to the America’s Cup itself.

I can’t wait to get out there sailing on Taihoro,” Aleh said. “Seeing the boat in the shed, just illustrates the scale of the AC75 and the step up from the AC40s.

“It’s a really positive step in terms of completing the pathway for women in the America’s Cup and at the pinnacle of our sport. It’s a step everyone is really excited about and I’m excited about bringing my experience to strengthen the new sailing team we are putting together.”

A notable addition to the new layout is a dedicated guest racer pod, designed to allow a non-crew member to experience the raw G-forces of an AC75 at full flight, a feature not seen since the days of the version 5 IACC boats in 2007. Emirates Team New Zealand will be utilising the guest racer spot throughout their sailing block in Auckland over the coming weeks.

Aucklanders and America’s Cup followers won’t have to wait long to see Taihoro in action. With the AC75 ready to go sailing, the first seen in the 38th America’s Cup cycle, the team will begin an intensive testing block immediately.

On their first day on the water, 10 March, Mother Nature was not on their side, and the decision was made to cancel training and the boat went back into the shed after only two hours’ training.

The recon teams were on the ground and with the boat on its high-cradle, the striking ‘Napoli’ adorned Naples-blue foil arms and foils naturally were the focus – and there are some subtle differences from when we last saw Taihoro winning the 37^th America’s Cup back in Barcelona in October 2024.

Dan Bernasconi, the Chief Designer for ETNZ was quizzed about weight distribution in the new AC75 electro-set-up that has removed four cyclors from the sailing team, added in a sailor to have five inputting sailors and a guest racer and replaced the powerhouse cyclors with limited battery power. Dan commented “We’ve taken weight out of the foils and the most visible example of this is to compare the 2024 Taihoro foil arm fairings with today’s.

“What we see most starkly is a reduction in the volume of what was nicknamed the ‘foil spike’ in Barcelona. This was considered to be an area of ballast and with a focus on lower wind-speed take-off – the AC38 Protocol has a range today of 6.5 knots to 23 knots of raceable conditions – it is clear that ETNZ are looking at that performance profile. The new Taihoro no longer has the forward protruding inverse anvil shape that featured so heavily in Barcelona.”

Where this falls under the AC75 Class Rules is around the ‘foil arm fairings’ in rule 13.6 stating that: “Foil arm fairings shall not be capable of transmitting any significant bending, shear or torsional loads between the foil wing and the foil arm.” On Taihoro today we see a big reduction in volume in this area, and it’s something to look out for as the team progresses through early sea trials and commissioning of the new set-up. The anvils were a very late addition to the set-up in Barcelona.

He continued, “Furthermore, for the first time (we believe) we are seeing pitot tubes attached to the front of Taihoro’s foil bulb. These are non-permanent and would of course be taken off for racing but it’s worth looking at what pitot tubes are used for in the America’s Cup.

A direct take from the aviation industry, pitot tubes are primarily used to measure the precise water speed of the boat (speed through water) rather than speed over ground, which is essential for controlling the flight and performance of the yacht at varying speeds.

“This is crucial for calculating the actual hydrodynamic forces on the foils, especially considering the tidal currents that are sometimes present during training.”

The data from pitot tubes helps the crew understand when the boat is about to reach, or is maintaining, the necessary take-off speed and these tubes collect critical data that both the crew and the analytics teams on the chase-boats use to monitor performance in real-time, similar to Formula 1 telemetry. Pitot tubes are rumoured to offer much higher accuracy in measuring the yacht’s speed through water, preventing significant errors that can be up to 20 percent in test data caused by relying solely on GPS in high tidal flow such as ETNZ might experience in Auckland.

Components for the 38^th America’s Cup are strictly regulated and limited for cost-saving purposes. The teams all had four foil arms in the last cycle and are mandated to re-use those for this cycle. Only minor changes can be made and we most likely will not see any new foil development on the AC75s until much nearer the racing in Naples.

Looking at Taihoro’s foils in 2024 versus 2026 suggests that the team are running the same foils as used in the last Match, with the clever fairing that from the top makes the foil appear like a single piece of linear carbon when there are in fact two controllable flaps (see from underneath).

The slight anhedral nature of the tips at both end create an almost perfect ‘gull wing’ in profile. The recon teams will be getting detailed photos of this when Taihoro first sails.

Over the coming weeks, Taihoro will be a regular fixture on the Hauraki Gulf, flying across the water as the crew acclimates to the new dynamics of the freshly evolved AC75 before the team refocuses on AC40 racing at the first Preliminary Regatta in Cagliari, Sardinia on 21 to 24 May 2026.

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