Emirates Team NZ Unveil Buzzy Bee

by Emirates Team on 2 Apr 2007 Emirates Team New Zealand revealed today what it had been hiding under the skirts of NZL 92 and NZL 84 – and it turned out to be 100% pure Kiwiana.

At 9.30am on Sunday April 1, the skirts came off all yachts competing in the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup. Media, members of rival syndicates and the public were given free access to all bases for four hours.

The skirts hid arcane design detail of hulls, keels, rudders and bulbs – jealously guarded design secrets that are now revealed to the world.

Equally secret for members of Emirates Team New Zealand were the designs painted on the bulbs of NZL 92 and NZL 84. Team New Zealand started the bulb decoration tradition in 1995 with its now famous flames on NZL 32.

And in 2007, the world now knows that NZL 84 sports a dashing paint job inspired by Buzzy Bee. While every New Zealander knew immediately where the inspiration came from, for the rest of Valencia it was a question of Buzzy who?
Anticipating that reaction, the team prepared a brief on Kiwiana to give to media and the public.

So now the world’s media is better informed about a variety of Kiwiana – from paua shell (abalone) ashtrays, pavlova and pohutukawa to L & P and gumboots.

On NZL 92, the bulb paint job is a more restrained stylised New Zealand flag.

Buzzy Bee is a New Zealand icon, a wooden toy that was first manufactured in the mid-1940s, Buzzy Bee has delighted generations of New Zealanders ever since.

Its manufacturers describe Buzzy Bee as a wooden, pull-along nursery toy. For a child, Buzzy Bee is an intriguing blend of bold colours, buzzing sound, quivering antennae, and spinning wings.

Emirates Team New Zealand has chosen the distinctive Buzzy Bee design for NZL 84’s bulb. Every New Zealander can identify with Buzzy Bee, Grant Dalton says. 'It seems fitting that a simple wooden New Zealand toy should grace the bulb of a hi-tech America’s Cup class yacht.'