The 36th America’s Cup entered a new phase today with the launching of New York Yacht Club’s AC75 this morning from the BBC Destiny which had carried her from Pensacola Florida.

Defiant will spend her first night on New Zealand soil as the first occupant of the Wynyard Point, and within sight of the defenders, Emirates Team New Zealand, across the other side of Wynyard Basin.

More than 20 containers arrived with the US Challenger, plus a couple of chase boats. All are outside on the tarmac awaiting the construction and assembly of their bases which will house two AC75’s.

Meanwhile out on the Hauraki Gulf, Emirates Team NZ’s AC75, Te Aihe went sailing for the first time in more than four months, after a regatta-less trip to Italy and return with two America’s Cup World Series regattas cancelled.

Te Aihe put in a three hour session punctuated with plenty of stops as adjustments were made to the AC75. As for the wings, the defenders appear to have reverted to running the same bulbless wings as they used up to when Te Aihe had her last sail in mid-January.

Speculation is that the old wings were used to recalibrate the control systems and settings on the boat to be the same as when it stopped sailing, and that state will be used as a benchmark when the new design developments developed on their 12metre test boat Te Aihe are tested in full scale.

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz