Emirates Team New Zealand have apparently wound up their Spring training session, ahead of crews departing for the remaining two SailGP events in United Arab Emirates, starting on November 21.

Jake Pye, a top international Moth sailor and member of the ETNZ sailing crew, was announced on Friday as joining the NZ SailGP team, the Black Foils, and is in Pensacola training with the Peter Burling and Blair Tuke-led team.

The Kiwi America’s Cup team rigged in a good breeze in the Rangitoto Channel, which looked to be within the range expected for Naples in the Americ’s Cup Match scheduled for July 2027. With the double-skinned mainsail eventually hoisted, they built boat speed and self-started before tacking and heading out into the Inner Hauraki Gulf. But apparently the breeze, which was more than useful in the Rangitoto Channel, dropped away to around the minimum for foiling, and well below the 7.5 kts minimum for racing to start.

 

 

They returned to a slightly stronger breeze, undertaking aggressive pre-start loops, figure-eights, and loops in marginal foiling winds.

From our limited vantage point, they had good control, and there appeared to be little let-up.

They rounded out the session with a short run up the channel, before stopping and waiting for the chase boat and support team to begin unrigging.

 

 

Recon Report – November 5, 2026 – Sailing Day 33 – Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand

Emirates Team New Zealand – Sailing Day 33 – November 5, 2026 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom / America’s Cup Recon

• AM: Sunny. Wind: 5 – 14kts 045° (NE)
• PM: Sunny. Wind: 10 -17kts 045° (S)
• Sea State: Flat (AM & PM)

Sailing Stats:

• Dock Out: 1030hrs
• Started Sailing: 0930hrs
• Stopped Sailing: 1314hrs
• Time sailed: 3hrs 30mins
• Foiling time: Not reported
• Tacks: No data. Gybes: No data

Crew List:

• Port Helm: Seb Menzies (NZL)
• Starboard Helm: Nathan Outteridge (AUS/NZL)
• Port Trimmer: Iain Jensen (AUS)
• Starboard Trimmer: Andy Maloney (NZL)/Josh Armit (NZL)
• P5: Jo Aleh (NZL)
• P6: Josh Armit (NZL)

Recon Unit Report – November 5, 2026

Key Points:

• Lower end of wind range.
• Lots of touchdowns.

With a wet and variable weather system forecast to roll in over the weekend ETNZ rolled out of the shed at 0910 Thursday morning for their likely last day of this training block. Its been a strong 5+ weeks for the team, getting a large amount of their allotted training days in during what is usually a wet and windy time of year in New Zealand.

There has been a strong focus this block on the commissioning of their new M2-1 main, and also a big step up in the intensity of race simulation and preparation. The crew today consisted of Nathan Outteridge, Seb Menzies, Iain Jensen, Andy Malone, Josh Armit, Jo Aleh and Woman’s AC trimmer Serena Woodall.

Off the dock at 1030 they towed out to Narrow Neck Beach where at 1046 they were off the tow. Hoisting their M2-1 and J2-1 in a light 4-7 knot NE. They sailed onto the foils at 1104 and proceeded to make their way out of the inner harbour out into the bay. Further out the breeze was patchier and there were several touchdowns in the tacks. They ended the session with a series of bear-aways and round ups.

Emirates Team New Zealand – Sailing Day 33 – November 5, 2026 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom / America’s Cup Recon

Lately in these manoeuvres it has seemed ETNZ’s stern would drop as they turned in the lighter breeze. It looks like that during this session they were working on a way to keep the pitch of the boat stable while making these turns as ETNZ remained noticeably more even and stern up than usual. The session ended at 1140.

The next session started at 1155 in a still variable 4-6 knots. ETNZ sailed upwind before bearing away and running through a large series of gybes in this bottom end of the range. There were multiple touchdowns out of the gybes; however, several of these seemed deliberate as a way for ETNZ to practice quickly getting back on the foils if they were to fall off mid-race. Each time ETNZ was able to quickly pop back on the foils in what looked like a practiced sequence. The session ended at 1230.

The next session started at 1247 and was a series of rolling prestarts using virtual buoys. In this lighter end conditions and with ETNZ pushing aggressively in the manoeuvres there was several times ETNZ pushed too hard and fell off the foils for extended periods. ETNZ would then reset and roll into the next prestart. The session ended at 1320 and with the breeze starting to build they then switched to their J3-1. This final session started at 1334 and consisted of more rolling prestarts and a sail down to Rangitoto Lighthouse where in the current of the incoming tide they practiced several more prestarts before calling it a day at 1416 off of North Head. Arriving back at the dock at 1425.

Overall, a solid light wind day practicing a variety of racing manoeuvres and prestarts. A large amount of touchdowns as they pushed the aggressiveness of manoeuvres in the lower end.

Additional Images:

Emirates Team New Zealand – Sailing Day 33 – November 5, 2026 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom / America’s Cup Recon Emirates Team New Zealand – Sailing Day 33 – November 5, 2026 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom / America’s Cup Recon Emirates Team New Zealand – Sailing Day 33 – November 5, 2026 – Auckland – photo © Sam Thom / America’s Cup Recon

by Richard Gladwell