'Three-peat' for ETNZ

As Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand came into this year's 37th America's Cup as clear favourites. But the Kiwi camp has far more than just the structural advantage of being the ones that wrote the Protocol for the competition, and the originators of the AC75 concept.

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To win in 2024, having defended in 2021 and won in 2017, would be a truly historic 'three-peat' (or 'three-Pete', as it would also be helmsman Peter Burling's third win).

It was American Magic that won the first Preliminary Regatta, the teams' first outings in the smaller one-design AC40s just along the coast from Barcelona last September. But the Kiwi response was forceful, and at the next event in Jeddah they won five of the eight races.

When their second generation AC75 Taihoro was launched the Kiwis signalled their confidence in the design straight out of the box literally, launching and flying within hours of the brand new boat touching water in Auckland.

Once Taihoro was shipped to Barcelona, some of its advantages became evident, including a highly sophisticated mainsheet system, and an efficient hull package. On the water, the boat's high, fast mode, tight tacking angles and speed out of manoeuvres looked tough to beat.

RAZOR SHARP