Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out and launched the old AC75 ‘Te Aihe’ of Emirates Team New Zealand.
This revealed a whole load of thinking and new technology that has been sitting on Marcelino Botin’s super-computer for the last few months.
Once the yacht was craned in, the new deck layout was revealed.
The cockpit has been covered with a fairing, including six pods, three on each side.
The exterior pods are smaller than the interior pods. With the larger interior pods, there could be space for a cyclor, however it was not evident that a cycling system has been setup.
There was enough space in this interior pod for a crewmember to fully move around in, while the exterior pods had limited space.
The helm positions either side, may well have stayed in the same position or possibly slightly forward but the overall effect is that this boat has the capacity to be sailed by eight sailors, as per the rules governing the new build AC75s that will be sailed in the 2024 America’s Cup.
The deck fairing tapers inward from the drivers position back to where it joins the vertical interior wall of the cockpit, leaving the aft end of the cockpit open.
Whether the team actually sail initially with just eight crewmembers is something we will find out after the first sail which is hopefully going to be on Thursday 9 March.
But the recon unit noted that there was plenty of space onboard to carry additional personnel.
Perhaps the team will keep running with a coach onboard either side aft of the helmsmen initially?
For this first roll-out the shore team opted to launch and run through a heap of systems test on this highly technical boat.
The chase boat took the Swiss boat out of the harbour for one tow run out and back again to run through systems analysis before calling it a day and craning out.
