Emirates Team New Zealand, the America’s Cup holders, are Barcelona Bound for their defence of the “Auld Mug”.
Emirates Team New Zealand’s shore crew have been packing up and shipping out container loads of endless equipment and supplies, chase boats and of course Te Rehutai, their AC75, bound for Barcelona, Spain.
Te Rehutai and the full shipment was trucked out of the Auckland base to the Port of Tauranga where it was loaded onto its vessel before heading on its way to Barcelona.
It is a familiar juggle for the team who have many campaigns experience packing up and shipping out to offshore locations to race.
With time being such a precious commodity for all teams, minimising downtime while transitioning locations is a critical consideration in campaign planning.
“We came through in the night to get here, and now it has a very quick three and a half week run through to Europe.” said Shore Crew Manager Sean Regan.
“The first bunch of guys will head up to Barcelona very shortly to start unloading Te Rehutai there, while the team finishes packing up the remaining stuff here in New Zealand, so it should be a very brief hiatus from the water for the sailing team.”
As the bulk of the operation is Barcelona bound across the Pacific Ocean, AC40 sailing continues for a little longer before team members themselves start their own migration north over the next month.
They will then start preparation for the first day sailing in Barcelona, in July – joining most of the Challengers testing on the waters of the 37th America’s Cup.
