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Emirates Team New Zealand took its second AC72 catamaran sailing for the first time today. It was a much-anticipated day, another step on the way to the 34th America’s Cup competition at San Francisco.
Chris Cameron’s pictures from today are here and here
Racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the challenger elimination series, start in less than five months.
Before that, the team has to complete an exhaustive two-month testing and training programme on the AC72 at Auckland, before packing the base and shipping race yachts, chase boats and the team’s entire support infrastructure to San Francisco.
The team expects to be sailing on San Francisco Bay towards the end of May.
Today, after waiting for the breeze to fill in, the cat left the dock at 12.30pm in a north-easterly between 8-11 knots.
Under the watchful eyes of designers, engineers, and system specialists on chase boats, the sailing crew eased into the day’s sailing programme.
The race yacht returned to base late afternoon, having completed the day’s schedule. The team stays on shore tomorrow with the second sailing day on Thursday.
