ETNZ's AC72 catamaran nearly ready to hit the water after development work

After a week in the shed for modifications, Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC72 is almost ready for another intensive round of tests and crew development.

With 16 of the 30 allowed AC72 sailing days used, the team now aims to make the most of the 14 days remaining. Skipper Dean Barker says there’s a lot to accomplish – and the 14 days will go very quickly

Starting next week, the team will be out on the Hauraki Gulf checking the modifications and changes made this week.

'We’re trying to improve and refine in a number of different areas. There’ll be some obvious visual changes – fairing on the aft beam for instance.

'We’ve sailed the boat for three months and now we’re seeing ways of modifying some of the systems. That’s just part of the process with any new boat. It’s important to learn what we can now and feed the refinements into the design and build of Boat 2.

'We still have a lot to learn about sailing this boat. We have countless drills and manoeuvres to work on and there’s always demand from the designers to need to understand more about performance at different settings.

more of the Sail-World article here

etnz AC72 catamaran Chris Cameron/etnz