''NZL 32'', or ''Black Magic'', is an

International Americas 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 experime ...

yacht which won the 1995

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

by defeating the American defender ''Young America'' in a 5–0 victory off San Diego, California.

Design

''NZL 32'' was, in many ways, the complete opposite of her predecessor ''NZL 20'' which contested the 1992 edition of the

Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup was the name of the Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the challenger to compete with the defender of the America's Cu ...

.Louis Vuitton 1995
Instead of being the brainchild of one man (in the case of ''NZL 20'', Bruce Farr) she was designed by a team of

Tom Schnackenberg Thomas William Schnackenberg (born 11 May 1945) is a New Zealand sailor and yacht designer best known for his involvement with the America's Cup. He was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 2000. Schnackenberg attended Auckland Gram ...

, Doug Peterson, Laurie Davidson, David Egan, Peter Jackson, Maury Leyland, David Alan-Williams, Anthony Lehmann, Richard Karn, Wayne Smith, Mike Drumond, Chris Mitchell and Neil Wilkinson. The idea was to produce a yacht that suited the crew, catering to their specific wants and needs. ''NZL 32'' was built of

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

by the McMullen & Wing yard, Auckland, in 1994. Her sister yacht, ''NZL 38'', or ''Black Magic II'', was used in the initial stages of the Louis Vuitton Cup in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

winning all but one race. However,

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 in ...

believed ''NZL 32'' to be faster than ''NZL 38'' and so retired her early, before the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals. ''NZL 38'' became a trial horse for Team New Zealand's 2000 defence of the America's Cup in Auckland, and was purchased for the 2003 Cup by the Swedish

Victory Challenge Victory Challenge was a Swedish yacht racing team that competed in 2003 America's Cup and 2007 America's Cup. The team was initiated in 1999 by Swedish businessman Jan Stenbeck, and after his death in August 2002, his son Hugo Stenbeck took over. ...

. She was eventually renamed ''Cristina''.

Career

Louis Vuitton Cup finals

With ''NZL 38'' now retired, ''NZL 32'' was brought out for the final stages of the Louis Vuitton Cup. She proved to be faster than ''NZL 38'', winning 9 of 11 races in the semi-finals and 5 out of 6 in the finals against ''oneAustralia''. As the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup, she now had the right to challenge for the America's Cup itself.

1995 America's Cup

By this stage, it was clear ''NZL 32'' was far superior to any of her rivals, including the winner of the defender series ''Stars & Stripes'' (USA-34). With that knowledge, ''Stars & Stripes'' skipper

Dennis Conner Dennis Walter Conner (born September 16, 1942) is an American yachtsman. He is noted for winning a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and three wins in the America's Cup. Sailing career Conner was born September ...

swapped boats for the Cup matches, taking the helm of ''Young America''. While ''Young America'' didn't win the Defender's Series, she was widely believed to be faster than ''Stars & Stripes''. ''Young America'' was however no match for NZL 32. In what became known as a "blackwash", ''Black Magic'' trounced ''Young America'' 5–0 in the Cup match, and thus remains unbeaten in an

race.

After the America's Cup

''NZL 32'' was used as a trial boat for the 2003 challenge of Le Défi and

China Team China Team is a yacht racing team formed in 2005. China Team first appeared in competition in the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007, the challenger series held prior to the America's Cup. They had an alliance with French team, Le Défi, increasing their acce ...

. In July 2002, she was donated to the

Museum of New Zealand The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

, however there was much debate over how she should be displayed to the nation. The initial proposal was for a 'glass case' with the yacht placed inside – a giant "ship in a bottle" – however this was likened to a "glass coffin" by many and as such was abandoned. Eventually, following the murder of Team New Zealand's inspirational leader Sir Peter Blake, it was decided ''NZL 32'' would form the centrepiece of a tribute to him. This was constructed at the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...

in Auckland and was named 'Blue Water Black Magic' – an interactive exhibit and tribute to Sir Peter. ''NZL 32'' is suspended from the ceiling and can be viewed from all angles, with much of Sir Peter's yachting memorabilia exhibited around it.

References