As America’s Cup Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand came into this competition as clear favourites and the team to beat.

But the Kiwi camp has far more than just the structural advantage of being the ones that wrote the Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup, and the originators of the AC75 concept.

The most successful America’s Cup team in modern history demonstrated from the very first events in this Cup cycle that they were looking for nothing less than absolute dominance. To win in 2024, having defended in 2021 and won in 2017, would be a truly historic ‘three-peat’.

It was the American Magic team that took the overall win at the first Preliminary Regatta, the teams’ first outings in their one-design AC40s in Vilanova just along the coast from Barcelona, last September. But the Kiwi response was forceful, and at the next event in Jeddah they won five of the eight races.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Winning AC75 Taihoro

When their second generation AC75 Taihoro was launched, it appeared – very briefly – deceptively similar to Te Rehutai, their winning AC75 from 2021. But the Kiwis signalled their confidence in the design straight out of the box – literally, launching and flying their AC75 within hours of the brand new boat touching water in Auckland.

Once Taihoro was shipped to Barcelona, some of the Defenders’ developments began to become evident, with early footage of the team rigging and testing the yacht hinting that they had developed a highly sophisticated mainsheet system, and potentially automated controls that linked foil lift/drop, rig rotation and headsail trim.

On the water, the boat’s high, fast mode, tight tacking angles and speed out of manoeuvres pointed to impressive finger-tip control for the trim and flight control team.

The Emirates Team New Zealand sailing team congratulate each other. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Burling and Outteridge

The previous two Cup victories had seen the emergence of ‘Pistol Pete’, the laser-focussed helmsman Peter Burling and his partnership with 49er Gold Medal-winning crew Blair Tuke as trimmer (together with Australian Glenn Ashby in a skipper/trimmer/flight controller role).

But following the clear advantages of the twin helms setup that Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni demonstrated on Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in 2021, for 2024 the Emirates Team New Zealand AC75 needed a second helmsman.

Enter Nathan Outteridge, one of the greatest high performance and foiling helmsmen of his generation. And, happily, a New Zealand resident (though an Australian by birth).

Burling and Outteridge’s relaxed onboard chat belied a razor-sharp partnership that has been honed since the beginning of their 37th America’s Cup campaign, the pair driving with incredible precision.

Together with experienced trimmers Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney returning, the four-way communication onboard Emirates Team New Zealand was impressive to listen to – and truly came into its own on some of the shiftiest days of the America’s Cup.

Taihoro is by some margin the quickest AC75

Together, boat and crew proved a near unbeatable package. Emirates Team New Zealand dropped a single point in the AC75 Preliminary Regattas, being beaten only by American Magic.

There was just one moment that might have drastically altered their path to victory, when Taihoro dramtically slipped while being craned back ashore after racing in the Preliminary Regatta, crashing onto her cradle with force. So great was the impact, the sound reverberated around Barcelona’s Port Vell like an explosion.

It could, team boss Grant Dalton admitted, have been a campaign ending moment. But the boat escaped relatively undamaged, apparently requiring only some minor work to their foils (which were ultimately upgraded for the Match anyway).

In the Round Robin, there were a few early clues as to how this Cup might shake down, with both INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa taking a single race from the Defenders.

October 12, 2024. Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, Race Day 1.

Emirates Team New Zealand dominance

But once the America’s Cup match got underway, the Kiwi performance levels were frankly ominous, easily winning the first four races on the bounce.

Barcelona filled with a tide of black shirts, the country’s fanatical sports fans descending on the Spanish city in huge numbers to will their team to victory.

Day four of the America’s Cup saw a shift of gears, with Emirates Team New Zealand making a couple of uncharacteristic errors, while INEOS Britannia found favourable conditions in the bigger waves. The Kiwis may have appeared relaxed, but they were surely at least slightly rattled.

The Brits picked up two wins on Day 4. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Whatever was said by the no-nonsense team boss Dalton and his hugely experienced coaching team that night, next day the Kiwi crew came out fighting, and Day 5 was a display of total dominance – the Emirates Team New Zealand team demonstrating speed, tactical confidence, and a calm ruthlessness to easily win two significant races and go 6-2 up.

With the British team fighting for their lives, the final day’s racing was a light winds, flat seas affair: exactly the conditions Taihoro revelled in. There were also some tricky shifts – the conditions Burling and ‘wind whisperer’ Outteridge excel in.

The British took the challenge to them – throwing everything at the red and black boat to try and shut them out at the start, and at one point climbing to within 30 metres of them on the penultimate upwind. But the Kiwi’s calm demeanour never cracked under pressure, and they controlled the final stages to take their seventh win and third America’ Cup.

“Beautiful, boys,” said Burling as they crossed the line, a master of understatement.

Defeated Challenger Ainslie paid tribute to the win, saying: “They’re the best team ever in the America’s Cup.” Few would disagree.

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