America's Cup: Team New Zealand's Te Aihe AC75 returns to base

Team New Zealand's return to preparations for next year's America's Cup have received another boost.

After travelling from Auckland to Italy and back again, the sailing syndicate's first AC75 'Te Aihe" arrived back at their base on the Viaduct Harbour on Tuesday morning.

The 75-foot foiling monohull - along with 16 containers storing workshops, chase boats and other items - left the team base on 2 February bound for Europe, where it was due to be raced in America's Cup World Series events in Cagliari, Italy and Portsmouth on England's southern coast.

With the Covid-19 crisis causing the cancellation of those regattas, Te Aihe was redirected to New Zealand.

The boat and containers had travelled on four ships and visited 15 ports on it's journey during the past almost four months.

Team New Zealand logistics manager Andy Nottage successfully managed to juggle the fluid timeframes and shipping schedules to keep track and control of the precious shipment.

"It is good to see her back sooner than expected," he said.

"She has been on quite the adventure, but it is good to have her home in one piece thanks largely to the ongoing support of Maersk."

Nottage said because Te Aihe had been sent away in a relative state of readiness, it wouldn't be long before she was sighted back out on the Hauraki Gulf again.

"We have had some new components and systems that were ready for the ACWS racing so the guys are chomping at the bit to getting back out testing the new set ups and continuing our developments and obviously making up for lost time."

The return meant Team New Zealand had two boats at their disposal.

In late January, the syndicate launched 'Te Kahu', a 38-foot test boat which allowed them to continue design development while 'Te Aihe' was offshore.

Team New Zealand will build a second AC75 this year which they will use to defend the America's Cup when the regatta is held in Auckland in March next year.