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Team New Zealand waste no time preparing to defend America's Cup

February 22, 2021

The race for the Auld Mug begins in under two weeks’ time.

Down on Auckland’s Viaduct, the focus has shifted firmly to the America's Cup match which begins in under two weeks’ time.

While the Italians probably had a slow start to the day as they celebrate yesterday’s Prada Cup win, the Kiwis wasted no time at all.

They were already out practising as Luna Rossa hoisted the cup.

Both boats have undergone changes since Team New Zealand won the Christmas Cup.

“We've had that advantage that we can keep developing our boat. We don’t' have to be in a race legal configuration the whole way through, so we've been pushing that development hard,” Team New Zealand skipper Peter Burling says.

Both boats have new foils, and Luna Rossa seem to have sorted out their communication issues.

Having found a way for their two very different helmsmen, Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni, to gel.

Burling isn't concerned that he doesn’t have a second helmsman.

“I'm pretty fortunate I’ve got Glenn [Ashby] sitting on the other side of the boat who can deal with a lot of things on that side the whole time and I’ve also got Blair [Tuke] who I’ve done a lot of sailing with over the past 12, 15 years helping me out with the flight.”

The first race between Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, March 6 at 4.15pm.

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