America's Cup: Australians get a head start with their "new" AC75

by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 16 May 04:36 PDT 16 May 2026

While the newly minted Australian America's Cup Challenge claim they are still in the "mustering" phase of their campaign, they do start a lot further down the runway than many would give them credit.

At this stage, the Australians will be the only team sailing with an AC75, which raced in the Auckland-hosted 2021 America's Cup cycle.

Most will expect that Team Australia, unlike Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI) in the 2024 Cup cycle, will be classified as a New Team. That entitles them to 20 extra sailing days, and not having to use any "legacy" gear from the last Cup cycle.

"We'll have a new rig, we'll have new sails, we'll have new foils, foil arms. We'll have all-new control systems, all our foils and flight control units, and everything will be updated," skipper Tom Slingsby told Bow Caddy Media's Crosbie Lorimer after the official launch at the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club on Thursday.

"So it really is just the shell of the hull, and we're also modifying that, too."

"Being an older boat, not from the 2024 Cup, we're allowed to modify it below the deck, and so the shape will be slightly different to what it is now. And then we're also modifying the deck to make it rule-compliant and have the right amount of cockpits and the right layout for this upcoming America's Cup. So there's a lot of changes happening, and there's a lot of work to be done."

"It's all beginning", he added.

The word "new" has multiple meanings in the hundreds of pages of Protocol, Class Rules, and Technical Regulations. "New" and "Veteran" competitors have different restrictions/allowances on the use of legacy gear and designs.

With a design partnership with Emirates Team NZ, the Australians have cut the corner on building a design team, software tools, and know-how, drawing on the Kiwis' 40 years of continuous America's Cup experience.

Add into that mix the fact that Team Australia's Glenn Ashby, now overseeing design and performance, worked within Emirates Team NZ for over a decade and three America's Cups - as part of the sailing squad - but also interacted with the design team and will be throughly familar with the systems running within the three times America's Cup champions. That insight puts Team Australia in a very strong position to leverage their relationship with the Kiwis, more so than others have been able to do in previous partnerships with Italy's Luna Rossa and, more recently, France's K-Challenge.

The "new" Australian AC75, the 2021 America's Cup winner, is in bits and getting a birthday in more ways than one, in the Emirates Team NZ build facility in Glenfield, 20 minutes from the team base in Auckland's Jellicoe Harbour.

The new Team Australia comes with a well-established SailGP team, the Bonds Flying Roos - the most successful team in the League's six-season history.

Only two other America's Cup teams - Great Britain and France - have close ties with SailGP teams, which allow crew combinations to be worked up in a competitive racing situation in foilers across 14 events in 12 months.

"It actually works really well as a sailor," Slingsby said of the interplay between SailGP and the America's Cup. "In previous America's Cups, it's been tough because you just don't get much racing.

"You can train all day, every day, but you don't get that race experience.

"Whereas SailGP is pure racing.

"We rock up at the venue. We get an hour-long training session on Friday, and then we're into two days of racing, and then we leave.

"You get that race training at a very, very high level with Sail GP. And then we come back, and we join our America's Cup team. I think both will complement each other, and the racing in this America's Cup will definitely benefit from all these athletes competing in SailGP."

Slingsby says the team will launch their AC75 "in March", but doesn't say where. Our pick is that "in March" refers to Naples in late March 2027, and by our reckoning, Team Australia will be sailing in Auckland in late Spring 2026. The teams are not allowed to sail against each other in Auckland in AC75s or AC40s.

Our calculations, based on 2024 timings, indicate that the teams need to be sailing in Naples in late March to have seven weeks workup before for the Final Preliminary Regatta, raced in AC75s around May 19-21. Based on the 2024 durations, our calculations indicate the Louis Vuitton Cup will start on May 27 and run to July 5, with the America's Cup Match starting on the announced date of July 10.

Last sailing day in Auckland will be February 1, with the AC75s leaving Auckland three weeks later for Tauranga and a 30 day voyage to Naples. The AC75s should be unpacked seven days after arrival. For Team Australia, every day is vital, as they have to compete and survive the opening round of the 40-day Louis Vuitton Cup. With six challengers entered and four progressing to the Semi-Finals, two teams will go home before the Semi-Finals. Team Australia will be keen not to be one of those taking an early shower.

As the America's Cup Defenders, Emirates Team NZ are straight into the Match, and are not under the threat of early elimination. They will sharpen up by sailing in the Round Robin phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

On this basis, we expect both the ANZAC teams to be sailing in Auckland sometime in October 2026, maybe earlier. Emirates Team New Zealand has already launched, having completed two blocks of its 2026 program and used 13 of its 45 allowed sailing days.

In the interim, the Australians have a lot of work ahead to complete their "mustering", as CEO Grant Simmer put it at the media conference at Royal Prince Edward YC.

Simmer now on his 13th America's Cup campaign, is responsible for the team management. Three-time America's Cup winner Glenn Ashby, is managing design and performance.

Skipper-designate Tom Slingsby rounds out the trio. He revealed earlier this year that he had turned down the biggest offer of his sailing career, after American Magic, his 2024 Cup team, announced they were not going to participate in the 2027 America's Cup. In a nod to Thursday's announcement, Slingby said that his preference was to sail for Australia - a broad hint that Team Australia had beckoned.

With three America's Cups and one win to his credit, Slingsby said on Thursday, that the decision to Challenge had been taken 18 months previously after a meeting with Team Principal John Winning. It is hard to believe that the Australians have been sitting on their hands since then, despite the Code of Silence they have been able to impose on the Chattering Classes and some of the Sailing Paparazzi.

As well as getting their sailing team into an AC75 simulator, if they have not already done so, the Australians desperately need one, preferably two AC40s, both for crew training and as test boats.

In the 2024 Youth and Womens America's Cups, the two Australian teams sailed borrowed AC40s. The feisty foiling 40fters are not easy to acquire, and it may be that the Australians have to come to an accommodation with the Kiwis, who will race two AC40 crews in the first Preliminary Regatta in Cagliari, next week.

For those interested in the nitty-gritty of the America's Cup Rules, the new 2.7 metre bow section required to comply with the Constructed in Country requirements of the Protocol is currently being built in Australia. It will be freighted to Auckland and laminated to the existing hull later this month - all of which points to a launch date of several months earlier than early March 2027 in Naples. The new bow must be to the exact design and specification of the one it replaces, under the arcane Constructed-in-Country rules applicable to new teams. Team Australia is the only one of the seven entered teams affected by this bow-switcheroo requirement.

They do have sailing days to burn with 45 available until mid-January 2027, plus an additional 20 days as a New Team. They get a second allocation of 45 days starting in mid-January 2027 and running through to the end of the Cup Match.

While the Australians might be off to a late start, several other teams are in the same position, and thanks to their Trans-Tasman partnership, Team Australia should avoid the usual start-up mistakes.

However, as always with any Cup campaign, the one thing that cannot be bought is more time, and Team Australia have to spend theirs wisely if they are to avoid an early exit in Naples - now just a year away.

Calculated Key Milestone Deadlines for 2027 (Based on 2024 AC):

• February 1, 2027: Final day of sailing operations in Auckland, New Zealand.
• February 22, 2027: Deadline to depart Port of Tauranga to ensure on-time arrival.
• March 31, 2027: Arrival and commencement of the 7-week workup at the Naples venue.
• May 19, 2027: Start of the 3-day Final Preliminary Regatta.
• May 27, 2027: Start of the Louis Vuitton Cup (following exactly a 5-day mandatory gap).
• July 10, 2027: Start of 38th America's Cup Match - expected to be completed by July 18, 2027