America's Cup: Recon Diary - Excellent foiling conditions for extended Day 2
by America's Cup ETNZ Recon Team 16 Mar 18:30 PDT
17 March 2026
Emirates Team New Zealand, Taihoro, AC75, Day 2 - March 16, 2026 © Sam Thom / America's Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand had their second training session, under ideal sailing/foiling conditions on Monday.
It was their second of 45 allowed sailing days.
All crew except Andy Maloney (s'bd trimmer) rotated. Blair Tuke and Chris Draper were not mentioned on the Recon team's crew list. The extended session finished at 1822hrs.
Summary: Overall, after a light front passed over the city ETNZ started their day in a light 3-5 knots SW and sailed very consistently as the breeze built to 13-14 knots. The used the same jib for the entire day, and their manoeuvres remained extremely consistent throughout. Although they declared a new J5-1 they did not use it.
There was little to no adjustments to the boat between sessions. Only food and crew swaps.
They steadily rotated through crew members after each session, however Andy Maloney remained throughout the whole day. The other crew members who sailed today were Jake Pye, Jo Aleh, Seb Menzies, Iain Jensen, Nathan Outteridge and Josh Armit.
Crew positions:
- Starboard trimmer: Andy Maloney
- Port trimmer: Jake Pye
- Starboard helm: Nathan Outteridge
- Port helm: Seb Menzies
- Starboard hull (behind helmsman): Jo Aleh
- Guest spot: Nick Burridge
Sailing Routine:
Duration: The boat left the dock at 12:00 and arrived off Takapuna Beach at 12:18.
Wind: Conditions were TWD 340° - 000° with 2-3 knots variable wind speed, initially building to 6-14kts.
After a short tow down past Takapuna Beach ETNZ hoisted sails at 1218hrs in a light 2-3 knot NNW. The breeze then dropped further to 0-1 knots before building again to 3-5 knots from the SW. It was at this point that ETNZ towed up on to the foil and proceeded to manoeuvre around the inner bay to stay in the small puffs coming off the shore. Very stable in all manoeuvres and maintaining 100% flight time.
- The first session lasted until 1330hrs at which point the breeze had built to a steady 8-9 knots.
- Second session started at 1351hrs in a slightly lighter 6-8 knots and lasted until 1421hrs. Towed onto foil and maintained 100% flight time. At the end of this session they carried several heavy silver items out from below.
- Third session started shortly after at 1430hrs. ETNZ sailed onto the foil in a shifty 6-8 knots. The sailed for about 5 minutes before reaching take off at about 17 knots boat speed.
- Third session ended at 1516hrs. At this point they swapped more silver boxes (batteries?) and made some small adjustments to the the mainsheet system.
- Fourth session started at 1538hrs and was two prestart practices. It ended at 1554hrs. Breeze was more steady 8-10 knots.
- Fifth session started at 1603hrs and ended at 1633hrs.
- Sixth session started at 16:53hrs and ended at 17:18hrs. Breeze was continuing to build to steady 10-12 knots across the whole harbour. Runs were a lot longer in this session.
- Seventh session was a long sail back up the harbour in a steady 13-14 knots with multiple practice starts on the way up.
At 18:22, ETNZ lowered the sails off Narrow Neck and returned to the dock.
Recon Images: