''NZL 92'' is an

International America's Cup Class The International Americas Cup Class is a class of racing yacht that was developed for the America's Cup between 1992 and 2007. These yachts, while not identical, were all designed to the same formula to offer designers the freedom to experiment ...

racing boat sailed by

Emirates Team New Zealand Team New Zealand or TNZ is a sailing team based in Auckland, New Zealand representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Team New Zealand became a household name in their home country following their consecutive wins in the America's Cup i ...

that won the

Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 The 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup held in Valencia, Spain, from April 16 to June 6 was the event used to select the challenger for the 2007 America's Cup. Eleven potential challengers competed in the competition which consisted of two round robins, ...

but was beaten in the

2007 America's Cup The 2007 America's Cup was the thirty-second challenge for the America's Cup and was won by Alinghi in the 7th race. The Cup is the most famous and most prestigious regatta and '' Match Race'' in the sport of sailing. As per the Deed of Gift o ...

by the defender Alinghi team sailing '' SUI 100''.

Design

In 2004, Emirates Team New Zealand head

Grant Dalton Grant Stanley Dalton (born 1 July 1957) is a New Zealand sailor who has competed in five Whitbread Round the World Races and currently manages Team New Zealand. Background Dalton is a professional sailor who started sailing at the age 8 in th ...

revamped the Team New Zealand program. Following the unfortunate defeat of a design-led campaign in 2003 which was mainly due to deficiences in the boat, Dalton saw the need for a combination of a sailor-led campaign with a 'good all round boat' as seen in the 2003 America's Cup winner Alinghi's '' SUI 64''. Two new yachts were designed and built relatively quickly and were assigned the sail numbers ''NZL 84'' and ''NZL 92'' respectively. The two new TNZ yachts were among the first of their generation to be built. ''NZL 84'' debuted in Louis Vuitton Act 10, and beat Alinghi in Act 12. With its "full" bow similar to ''NZL 84'', ''NZL 92'' quickly mirrored the race-winning results that ''NZL 84'' had established in the Louis Vuitton Cup Acts leading up to the

. Initially considered unattractive, the unique full bow on both ''NZL 92'' and ''NZL 84'' are quickly appearing to set a new evolution of yacht design and style in the 2007 America's Cup. This is reflected in the comments of race commentator and Cup organizer Bruno Trouble who remarked, 'ugly boats quickly become attractive once they start winning races!' When compared with ''NZL 82'' and ''NZL 81'', and most of the 2007 America's Cup edition boats which have a very flat double-knuckle bow, with exception of both Alinghi's ''SUI 64'' and

BMW Oracle Racing Oracle Team USA is an American yacht racing syndicate initially formed to compete for the 2003 America's Cup. They competed again in the 2007 event before winning the 33rd America's Cup regatta in 2010 – representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club ...

's ''USA 71''. Both the benchmark in aesthetics and speed with some of the other 10 challengers mimicking its design, particularly in the bow. This can be seen especially on Areva-Challenge and CHINATeam, FRA 93 and CHN 95 respectively.

Career

''NZL 92'' won the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup in five races on the 6 June 2007 against

Luna Rossa Challenge Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, originally named Prada Challenge, then Luna Rossa Challenge, is an Italian sailboat racing syndicate first created to compete for the 2000 America's Cup. It won the Louis Vuitton Cup on their first attempt in 2000, but ...

''ITA 94'', but was defeated by the defender Alinghi ''SUI 100'' in the 2007 America's Cup, losing 5 races to 2 on 3 July 2007.

Design

Career

References

See also