America's Cup: First Challenger arrives in Auckland
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 29 Jun 2020 13:55 NZST
29 June 2020
American Magic arrives in Auckland - June 29, 2020 © Richard Gladwell / Sail-World.com
The first America's Cup Challenger has arrived in Auckland.
The New York Yacht Club's American Magic arrived, aboard a chartered vessel around 1030hrs local time and docked at Fergusson Wharf West before being unloaded tomorrow.
The AC75, Defiant, was in the hold of the BBC Destiny, which had come directly to Auckland from Pensacola, Florida, leaving on May 27.
Also travelling with the AC75 were several containers of equipment and a chase boat.
The yet to be completed team base is alongside the building under construction for British Challenger INEOS Team UK on Wynyard Point. Concrete pads were being poured last week to take the container walled base and flexible roof.
The marinas to take the two teams AC75's are in place, and once the base is erected, a crane will need to be situated on Wynyard Wharf to launch the AC75, which will cross to the wharf via temporary bridges.
There is no date announced as to when the team will fly to New Zealand and then undergo a 14 day quarantine, supervised by the New Zealand Government, but with the total cost being covered by the team. The quarantine system was audited last week after some serious issues were found with testing process, and was declared to be "under extreme stress".
Emirates Team New Zealand were due to start sailing their AC75 Te Aihe today, however the session was called off because of inclement weather and may take place on Tuesday or more likely Wednesday.
An Antonov freighter was spotted at Auckland Airport over the weekend. It is not known if its presence was America's Cup related.