Emirates Team New Zealand AC45 Surrogate or Test/Development boat sailing on Auckland harbour in the late afternoon of September 1, 2016. The articulated rudder can be seen in this image. Richard Gladwell
www.photosport.co.nz
The team were sailing their recently launched AC45 Surrogate test boat which features an articulated rudder gantry - taking the AC45 close to the geometry of the AC50 to be used in the 2017 America's Cup.
The session on Thursday evening appeared to be a development test session without a lot of emphasis on crew training, with the boat doing long runs in the Hauraki Gulf in a 10-12kts SW breeze and flat water. The AC45S was easily able to maintain flight in these conditions without splashdown for the duration of the many straight line runs downwind and was mostly foiling upwind even though the breeze was fading to 8-10kts later in the session.
Sail-World.com captured the action in a test that ended around 5.30pm - 30 minutes before sunset. Apologies for quality of the images in the soft, fading light, compounded by overcast skies.
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