Team New Zealand or TNZ is a

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' ( land yacht) over a chose ...

team based in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand representing the

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is a New Zealand yacht club, and the club behind New Zealand's America's Cup campaigns, under the guises of New Zealand Challenge and Team New Zealand. It held the America's Cup from 1995 until 2003, becomin ...

. Team New Zealand became a household name in their home country following their consecutive wins in the

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 ...

in 1995 and 2000, under the leadership of Sir Peter Blake, when becoming the first team from a country outside the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to win and successfully defend the America's Cup. Branded as

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...

Team New Zealand at America's Cup competitions since 2007, they won the 2017 America's Cup, skippered by

Glenn Ashby Glenn Thomas Ashby (born 1 September 1977) is an Australian sailor from Strathfieldsaye, a suburb of Bendigo, Victoria. He is a multiple multihull world champion. He has been part of Team New Zealand as the wing trimmer for the 2013 America' ...

. They are the winner of the

2021 America's Cup The 36th America's Cup in March 2021 was the latest staging of the America's Cup yacht race. It was contested on the inner Hauraki Gulf off Auckland, New Zealand, between the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Circolo della Vela Sicilia of I ...

History

Three challenges were launched before the founding of Team New Zealand, all of these backed by Michael Fay.

New Zealand Challenge New Zealand Challenge was a sailing team funded by Michael Fay that challenged for the America's Cup three times between 1987 and 1992. New Zealand Challenge was the first team from New Zealand to enter the competition. 1987: KZ 7 ''Kiwi Magic ...

competed in the

1987 Louis Vuitton Cup The 2nd Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1987. The winner, Stars & Stripes, went on to challenge for and win the 1987 America's Cup. Teams Twelve syndicates from six countries (Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand ...

, the

1988 America's Cup The 1988 America's Cup was the 27th America's Cup regatta, and was contested between the defender, San Diego Yacht Club represented by ''Stars & Stripes H3'', and the challenger, the Mercury Bay Boating Club represented by New Zealand Challenge ...

and the

1992 Louis Vuitton Cup The 3rd Louis Vuitton Cup was held in San Diego, United States in 1992. The winner, Il Moro di Venezia, went on to challenge for the 1992 America's Cup. The teams Eight challengers from seven nations contested the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup. Toget ...

Founding

Following the 1992 competition, Michael Fay withdrew from backing the New Zealand challenges and a new effort under the leadership of Sir Peter Blake began putting a team together, raising funds and gaining support for the

. Team New Zealand Limited was established as a registered company in 1993.

1995: ''Black Magic''

In 1995, TNZ beat Team Dennis Conner 5–0 in a major upset off

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 eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, California after winning the right to challenge in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Their boats were fast, they had an experienced crew led by skipper Russell Coutts, and they were ably led by Sir Peter Blake. As NZL 32 approached the finish line on the last race, sailing commentator Pete Montgomery made the now famous line "The America's Cup is now New Zealand's cup!" The winning yacht, '' NZL 32'', was shipped back to New Zealand and given to the

Te Papa Museum 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 ...

, and is now housed in an extension to the northern end of 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 Unite ...

in Auckland as part of a permanent exhibition, ''Blue Water, Black Magic'', about Sir Peter Blake.

2000: "Still New Zealand's Cup"

TNZ (''NZL 60'') beat Italy's Prada Challenge ( ''Luna Rossa'') 5–0 in the 2000 match held on

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Peter Montgomery (broadcaster), Peter Montgomery exclaimed "The America's Cup is still New Zealand's cup!!" – echoing his comment in 1995 America's Cup. A notable feature was Russell Coutts handing over the helm to Dean Barker in the final race.

2003: "Loyal"; Defeat

In 2003, Team New Zealand's eight-year reign ended after they were defeated 5–0 by Swiss-based challenger

Alinghi Alinghi, or Alinghi Red Bull Racing because of the sports marketing branding by Red Bull, is the syndicate set up by Ernesto Bertarelli, racing under the colors of the Société Nautique de Genève, to challenge for the America's Cup, as well as ...

. TNZ dubbed their campaign the "Loyal" campaign, featuring a Silver fern flag with the word "Loyal" and an existing song of the same name by New Zealand musician

Dave Dobbyn Sir David Joseph Dobbyn (born 3 January 1957) is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then ...

. This was largely due to the Swiss boat featuring many of the afterguard members from TNZ's previous campaigns (notably Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth) which, along with a fast boat and a lack of reliability aboard TNZ's

NZL 82 ''NZL 82'' was a 2003-generation International America's Cup Class racing yacht. Raced by defenders Team New Zealand in the 2003 America's Cup match, she was defeated 5–0 by challenger Alinghi ( ''SUI 64''). Design After the successful 2000 ...

, contributed to the win.

2007: Emirates Team New Zealand

In 2007, the re-branded

Team New Zealand won the Louis Vuitton Cup and advanced to the 32nd America's Cup against defenders

. Team New Zealand lost the series 2–5 to Alinghi, the last by a single second.

Valencia

In late 2003, TNZ announced their intention to challenge Alinghi at the 2007 Valencia America's Cup, with Emirates on board as title sponsor, and

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 ...

as Team Boss. Dean Barker skippered a more international team than ever before. TNZ were among the "big four" syndicates leading up to the 2007 Cup. The big four consisted of TNZ, Alinghi,

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. ...

, and Luna Rossa. In 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, t ...

to select the challenger to face

, TNZ lost their first match to Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, a team who they had beaten in each of their five encounters in the Louis Vuitton Acts. They then won their next 7 races, before losing the final two in round robin 1 to Luna Rossa and BMW Oracle Racing which put them in third place at the end of the first round robin. In Round Robin 2, Team New Zealand were undefeated throughout, taking first place from BMW Oracle Racing. They won their semi-final series 5–2 against Desafío Español 2007 and qualified for the Louis Vuitton finals against Luna Rossa. In the finals, they defeated Luna Rossa with a whitewash victory of 5–0, winning the Louis Vuitton Cup and the right to challenge Alinghi for the America's Cup. On 3 July 2007, Emirates Team New Zealand lost their final race to Alinghi bringing Alinghi's race wins to 5, successfully defending the 32nd America's cup. Americas Cup... * Race 1: Lost to Alinghi by 35 seconds * Race 2: Beat Alinghi by 28 seconds * Race 3: Beat Alinghi by 25 seconds * Race 4: Lost to Alinghi by 30 seconds * Race 5: Lost to Alinghi by 19 seconds * Race 6: Lost to Alinghi by 28 seconds * Race 7: Lost to Alinghi by 1 second Alinghi won the America's Cup, 5–2.

2009 Louis Vuitton Pacific Series

Team New Zealand hosted the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in January and February 2009 on the Waitematā Harbour in the

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

. Team New Zealand defeated Alinghi by a margin of 3 races to 1 in the final. The final races were reduced to the best of five due to difficult weather conditions resulting in the loss of one day's racing.

2010 Louis Vuitton Trophy

In March 2010, the Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta returned to Auckland after the first regatta of the series in Nice in November 2009 won by Italy's Azzurra team. On Sunday 21 March 2010, Emirates Team New Zealand won the final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta with a 56 sec win over Mascalzone Latino.

2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race

On 13 April 2010, along with Camper (company), Camper, the Spanish-based international footwear manufacturer, Emirates Team New Zealand announced that it would compete in the

Volvo Ocean Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Ra ...

in 2011–12. The campaign was run by Emirates Team New Zealand and skippered by Olympic and round-the-world yachtsman Chris Nicholson. Racing was very close with results of each leg often coming down to minutes and seconds at the finish line after thousands of miles of ocean racing. Emirates Team New Zealand came in second.

2013 America's Cup San Francisco

On 21 April 2011, Grant Dalton and Emirates Team New Zealand announced their entry for the 2013 America's Cup regatta to be held in San Francisco in 2013. New sponsor Nespresso came on board through parent company

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

. Grant Dalton expressed his gratitude to numerous corporate interests based around the world, namely Matteo De Nora and Stephen Tindall among others, in keeping the team afloat through the intervening years in what had been a difficult four years since the last multi-challenger event in Valencia 2007. The team also received a NZ$36m grant from the New Zealand government to compete in the 2013 America's Cup and to promote and export New Zealand expertise in the field of yachting. This followed on from an economic impact assessment of the 2007 campaign in Valencia had shown a direct economic benefit to New Zealand of $74.4m. Because of the high cost associated with developing the new AC72 catamaran and the rule limitation of thirty sailing days of development, Team New Zealand entered into a technology sharing programme with the Italian team who had an identical boat and were also based in Auckland. Since Team New Zealand's July 2012 launch, their first AC 72 boat proved fast and reliable, foil sailing for long periods of time at speeds over with no breakages. In August 2013, Team New Zealand won the America's Cup challenger series (Louis Vuitton Cup) by defeating the Prada Luna Rossa Syndicate 7–1 and in September 2013 Team New Zealand challenged the Oracle syndicate for the America's Cup. The race series was very dramatic, with a number of incidents including Oracle Team USA being docked two points (meaning they started the competition on −2 points) and having two main crew members banned – one for the competition, the other for 4 of the races. In Race 8, Team New Zealand nearly capsized the boat due to a lack of hydraulic pressure which caused the boat to move, but the sail to stay in the same place. By 19 September 2013, Team New Zealand lead Oracle Team USA 8–1 needing just one more win to take the Cup. In Race 13 Team New Zealand were minutes away from winning the cup when the race time limits came into effect, causing the race to be cancelled. The race was then replayed and Oracle Team USA won – and went on to win all last eight races to come from behind – and take the Cup. This win was facilitated by the American Syndicates ability

Hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains s ...

upwind. It had been the longest-ever event by both number of days and races, and the first since the 25th America's Cup to feature a winner-take-all final race. Emirates Team New Zealand ruled out any post-racing legal challenge, with ETNZ syndicate head Grant Dalton stating that Oracle's automated stabilisation system had been checked and approved by the official measurers before the start of racing, and that taking legal action would be "an incredibly bad thing to do."

35th America's Cup

In January 2014, Emirates Team New Zealand announced the signing of 2013 49er World and European Champions and 2012 Olympic Silver Medalists, Peter Burling and

Blair Tuke Andrew Blair Tuke (born 25 July 1989) is a New Zealand sailor who won the 2021 Americas Cup Held in Auckland and also won the 2017 Version held in Bermuda. He also won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and the silver medal at the 201 ...

. CEO Grant Dalton first said that the team would campaign two AC45's in future America's Cup World Series. On 25 June 2014 Team New Zealand confirmed their intention to challenge, as they had gained sufficient private financial backing to need no further government assistance. In the challenger series, Team New Zealand finished second in the round-robin stages behind America's Cup holders

Oracle Team USA 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 Clu ...

– the first time a Cup defender had participated in a challenger series. As the leading challenger, they chose to face

Land Rover BAR INEOS Britannia is a British sailing team that is the challenger of record for the 37th America's Cup. The team was established in 2012 with the ambition of winning the America's Cup for Great Britain and to 'bring the cup home' to the Uni ...

in the first playoff round. Despite suffering a capsize in race 4, the outcome of the series was a 5–2 series victory for Team New Zealand. In the finals match against

Artemis Racing Artemis Racing is a professional sailing team founded in 2006 by businessman and sailor Torbjörn Törnqvist, named after Artemis, the ancient Greek goddess. Timeline * 2007: won the MedCup circuit, then called Breitling Medcup, and the TP52 W ...

, Team New Zealand secured a second 5–2 series win, and therefore progressed to the America's Cup series against Oracle Team USA. Having won the challenger series, Oracle Team USA was able to impose a penalty point on the eventual challenger for the 35th America's Cup. Therefore, Team New Zealand started the 35th America's Cup racing with minus one point and would need to win eight races in order to get the 7 points needed to win the America's Cup. After five days of racing, which included nine races, Team New Zealand beat Oracle Team USA by eight races to one, or by 7 points to 1, and thereby won the Cup.

36th America's Cup

The

Prada cup The Prada Cup is the name of the Challenger Selection Series - a sailing competition to determine the Challenger that will earn the right to challenge the Defender for the conquest of the America's Cup. Prior to 2021, the series was named the Lo ...

series was sailed 15 January – 22 February 2021 to decide which challenger should race Team New Zealand; Luna Rossa, New York Yacht Club American Magic or

INEOS TEAM UK INEOS Britannia is a British sailing team that is the challenger of record for the 37th America's Cup. The team was established in 2012 with the ambition of winning the America's Cup for Great Britain and to 'bring the cup home' to the Uni ...

. It was a round robin format over 16 racing days. Ineos was the first to qualify, going into the final undefeated. The American boat Patriot suffered hull damage and the onboard electronics were likely damaged due to water in the hull. After concerted efforts to get the boat ready again, with their competitors rallying to help, the boat met Luna Rossa but it became obvious there were still problems onboard. The Italian team won every race to proceed into the final to race Ineos. Luna Rossa defeated Ineos 7 – 1 and faced Emirates Team New Zealand in the 36th America's cup from 6 – 18 March 2021. Emirates Team New Zealand was successful in their defence of the cup, winning 7 – 3.

Results

Yachts used by Team New Zealand

* '' NZL 32'' – "Black Magic I" International America's Cup Class. 1995 America's Cup winner * ''NZL 38'' – "Black Magic II" International America's Cup Class. 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup winner * ''NZL 57'' – "Black Magic III" International America's Cup Class. Training boat for 2000 defence * ''NZL 60'' – "Black Magic IV" International America's Cup Class. 2000 America's Cup winner * ''NZL 68'' – International America's Cup Class. Training boat bought from Illbruck Challenge (formerly GER 68) * ''NZL 81'' – International America's Cup Class. Training boat for 2003 defence * ''

'' – International America's Cup Class. America's Cup defender in 2003 but defeated 5–0. Used for Louis Vuitton Acts in preparation for the 2007 America's Cup and won the 2004 season * ''NZL 84'' – 2007 generation International America's Cup Class. Launched in 2006. Won 2006 Louis Vuitton Season * ''

NZL 92 ''NZL 92'' is an International America's Cup Class racing boat sailed by Emirates Team New Zealand that won the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 but was beaten in the 2007 America's Cup by the defender Alinghi team sailing '' SUI 100''. Design In 2004, E ...

'' – 2007 generation International America's Cup Class. Launched in October 2006. Won the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup. Lost the America's Cup 2–5 * '' CAMPER'' – 2011 generation Volvo VO70 – Volvo Open 70. Launched in April 2011 for the 2011–2012 Volvo Ocean Race, which they finished in second position overall. * Other boats related to the 2013 America's Cup campaign: two SL33 catamarans, one AC45 catamaran * ''NZL 2'' – "New Zealand" AC72. Training boat for 2013 campaign * ''NZL 5'' – "

Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and Sout ...

" AC72. Race boat for 2013 campaign. Won the

2013 Louis Vuitton Cup The 8th Louis Vuitton Cup was held during July and August 2013, in San Francisco, California, United States of America. The three contenders were Artemis Racing (Sweden), Emirates Team New Zealand (New Zealand), and Luna Rossa Challenge (Italy). A ...

. Lost the 2013 America's Cup 8–9 * ''NZL '' – "

RNZYS The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is a New Zealand yacht club, and the club behind New Zealand's America's Cup campaigns, under the guises of New Zealand Challenge and Team New Zealand. It held the America's Cup from 1995 until 2003, becomin ...

" AC45. Modified Race boat for 2017 campaign. Won the

2017 Louis Vuitton Cup The 2017 Louis Vuitton Challenger's Trophy (officially, the Trophy was given to the winner of the 2017 Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Playoffs) was a sailing competition held to determine the challenger in the 2017 America's Cup. The tourn ...

. Won the 2017 America's Cup 7–1 * ''NZL '' – "

Te Rehutai ''Te Rehutai'' is the AC75 foiling monohull yacht that Emirates Team New Zealand used to successfully defend the America's Cup for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in March 2021. It beat the winner of the 2021 Prada Cup, ''Luna Rossa Prada Pi ...

" AC75. Foiling Race boat.

Winner

References

External links

Official Website of Emirates Team New Zealand

Peter Lester
NZ yachting commentator , - , - {{Authority control 1993 establishments in New Zealand America's Cup teams The Emirates Group Waitematā Harbour