America's Cup: Emirates Team NZ sails two AC40s in Auckland
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 20 Nov 15:31 PST
Emirates Team NZ sailing two AC40s in Auckland - November 20, 2025 © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com/nz
Emirates Team New Zealand ratcheted up their 2027 America's Cup Defence preparations today, sailing two AC40s on Auckland Harbour.
The team had a four hour on the water session, but had to wait for over an hour for the westerly breeze to settle in.
Then the decision was taken to tow the two AC40s to the usual training location "The Paddock" off Auckland's Eastern Beach or Course E from the 2021 America's Cup, where most of the racing was staged.
The boats sailed back individually a few minutes apart.
When two AC40s are on the water together, Budget Cap rulers permit the teams to sailing a maximum of 35 days until June 30, 2026. It is therefore unlikely that the team will sail every sailing day, as would have been the case without the restrictions
Under the same new Budget Cap restrictions, AC75s are not allowed to be sailed until January 15, 2026.
The expected sailing days, in addition to the budget cap, will also be restricted by conflict with SailGP regatta commitments. Six of the nine strong sailing squad have SailGP commitments, the first of which comes up at the end of the month, with the Season 5 Final being sailed in Abu Dhabi at the end of next week.
The same issue occurs with the first AC75 sailing date of January 15, 2026. That date clashes with the first regatta of SailGP Season 6, which starts in Perth, WA on January 16, 2026. SailGP generally takes members of an America's Cup team out a week each regatta. When the 13 event SailGP schedule is overlaid with an America's Cup sail training/testing wish list, the limitations begin to come clear.
Obviously the weather is a confounding factor, and chances are that while the SailGP sailors are absent, perfect testing weather will prevail in Auckland.
The additional over for AC/SailGP crews is the off the water, time overhead involved with being part of two professional teams. Both of which are very demanding of a sailor's complete focus. Several of the SailGP teams with very well-paid America's Cup rockstars aboard are performing below investors expectations - meaning that prizemoney income on a regatta by regatta basis is also below their expectations.
That conflict is believed to be part of the ultimatum given to Red Bull Italy's helmsman Ruggero Tita to make a decision between sailing for the SailGP team or full time with the America's Cup tea. His decision to run with the America's Cup team, means the Cup team can train in the AC40 and AC75s according to their own test plans, without having to take into account the scheduling of a rival competition.
Most America's Cup teams have about 120 members - of which only 10-12 are involved directly in sailing. The restrictions on sailing days, coupled with SailGP schedule conflict means that on the water testing becomes a scarcer commodity, while in the previous Cup cycles there were no budget days, and less conflict with SailGP.
While in previous years Emirates Team NZs testing efficiency may have been significantly better than the Challenger teams, the Kiwi team will still be under significant time pressure, further complicated by their intention to relocate to Naples for the 2026 sailing season.