American Magic, the New York Yacht Club’s challenger team for the America’s Cup has shipped their first AC75 to New Zealand.
They are the first challenger team to start the process of shipping their boats to Auckland, the venue for the 36th America’s Cup, scheduled to take place in March 2021.
The American team apparently decided to re-direct their containers to Auckland after the Cagliari and Portsmouth ACWS events were cancelled.
The next proposed event – the first – for the AC75 yachts will be the Christmas Races in December 2020 . . . if they remain on the AC36 schedule.
The American team also need to build a team base in Auckland, and will most likey use a temporary structure as they have used in Pensacola, Florida, at their winter training base.
New Zealand still has a strict entry restriction in place, only allowing New Zealand citizens entry after they have completed a 14 day quarantine, with all others barred.
A number of the American Magic team hold New Zealand passports, so will be able to enter and complete the quarantine requirement before their containers arrive in early June.
Work continues on the second American Magic AC75 in the States, which will be air freighted to Auckland in August, hopefully complete with a set of foil arms.
Problems have arisen over supply of the foil arms by Persico Marine, located in Northern Italy, who were shutdown by the Covid-19 virus, and have only recently been able to re-start manufacturing.
All the teams will have the same problem to get the foil arms for their second AC75 hulls.
New Zealand, which had had no new COVID-19 cases for a second day in a row, has recorded 20 fatalities and 1,137 infections.
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