America's Cup Defender hard at it in Auckland

With Boat Captain Spencer Loxton and the shore crew ensuring the two AC40s are ready for action each day, the team have maintained the expected high levels of operational smoothness. This stability has been key to integrating the new talent, as Loxton explains: “It’s been really good. We picked up where we left off operationally. Everyone is pretty happy and the new team members are fitting in really well. Not much has changed for us really, so it’s good."

The past year has seen a transition from set up and planning for the defence of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup in Naples, to getting back out on the water and into race mode, all the while the never ending innovation and design race focused on the AC75 Taihoro to race in 2027 continues to ramp up.

For the sailing team, the focus in these final weeks of 2025 has been strictly competitive. The two-boat testing program has pitted the AC40s against one another, simulating the tight, aggressive pre-start maneuvers that decide America’s Cup races.

For Flight Controller Andy Maloney the current block of training is vital for sharpening the team's instincts before the calendar turns. "We're just using these couple of weeks before Christmas to try and get quite a few two boating days under the belt and get some match racing in the books to start the on water campaign off with intensity," said Maloney. "It feels great to be into it and to get some good competitiveness going amongst our group of sailors out there."

The AC40s, nimble and identical in design, have provided the perfect platform for this phase of the campaign, allowing the sailors to push limits with confidence. "They’re awesome little boats to throw around. Especially with the one-design foils on. You can really chuck them around. And I think as we get more and more days out there, it's going to get pretty spicy and some pretty fun match racing," said Maloney.

Looking ahead to 2026: the return of the Big Boat

While 2025 has been about honing skills in the smaller AC40 class, 2026 promises the return of the big boat: Taihoro. The team are preparing to shift focus back to the AC75 while also preparing to face the other America’s Cup Challengers in the anticipated AC40 Preliminary Regattas in 2026 also.

"Heading into the New Year, it will be a mixture of AC40s and then the AC75," Maloney explained. "We’ll relaunch the big boat at some stage and get back out on that for the first time since Barcelona and work on our accuracy onboard Taihoro again. Before we know it, we'll be out there in the big boat and prepping for the real deal in 2027," Maloney concluded.

One of the more pressing tasks once back out on the AC75 is getting to terms with the new five person crew configuration onboard of which Jo Aleh will be right in the middle.

“It will be part of the process over the next few months, figuring out exactly how to divide the roles,” says Aleh. “With the Class Rule changes of crew on the AC75s, from eight on board (as we saw during the 37th America’s Cup) to now five sailors, this creates a new dynamic for all teams and how they make the most of the opportunities this opens up in splitting the roles and responsibilities onboard."

An “extra set of hands and eyes”, as Jo calls it, will be invaluable in tactical decisions and awareness of positioning on the racecourse and how the additional sailor can affect the control systems on the boat.

Emirates Team New Zealand will break briefly for the festive season before returning to the base in January, ready to launch into a pivotal year for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup campaign. The transition from quiet planning, design and internal "spicy" match racing of 2025 to the global stage of 2026 will mark the next critical phase of the defence.