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How fast can Team New Zealand's AC75 go? Grant Dalton explains the new boat's design

September 6, 2019

The syndicate boss said America’s Cup fans can expect the yacht to hit speeds of up to 50 knots on the Hauraki Gulf.

As Team New Zealand launched its AC75 this morning , the team's chief executive Grant Dalton talked about the boat's intricate design - specifically how fast the foiling monohull can go.

Dalton told TVNZ1's Breakfast today it was a special morning and had been a long time coming.

"It's almost a little bit emotionally stressful watching it launch when it's up in the air. They're supposed to be either on the ground or in the water, not in the air," he said of watching the launch this morning at Auckland's Viaduct.

But he said there was a good atmosphere and a bit of rain which is meant to be good luck.

Dalton said Team NZ wanted to go back to the monohull design as opposed to the catamarans used in the last two America's Cup campaigns because of sailing tradition, but added "we couldn't leave the foiling generation behind, so we had to deal with something that really is counter-intuitive - a monohull that foils".

"We've come up with this concept and basically it's a light boat, it doesn't weigh very much, and as it lifts onto the foil it's not different to a cat[amaran] in that respect. There's trim tabs on the back of the foils - just literally like an aeroplane - that help it lift off."

Te Aihe was unveiled in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour today.

Dalton said the boat also had deep cockpits because of the speed it's able to reach.

Team New Zealand say it will be faster than its predecessor - the AC50 catamaran called Aotearoa. 

"It always depends on the weather and basically the wind forecast but it's going to do 50 knots. Certainly our simulation projections, because this is a computer boat, it'll do 50 knots (almost 93km/h).

"Now, to put that in perspective - that'll make the harbour go very small, very quickly."

He said the boat could go faster with super-cavitation foils, but "you've got to get it going too so everything's a compromise".

The boat will defend the 2021 America’s Cup.

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