Yachting fans have been given a sneak peek of Team New Zealand's boat to defend the America's Cup in Auckland in 2021.
On Thursday, the new 23-metre foiling monohull was on full display outside the team's base in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour before the official unveiling on Friday morning, as they conducted a last-minute fitness check.
The design is expected to be faster than the catamarans used in Bermuda in 2017, when Team NZ beat Oracle 7-1 to recapture the 'Auld Mug'.
"On the face of it, it looks normal-ish," said chief executive Grant Dalton this week. "But once it starts to roll, once it starts to get up on the foils, it won't look like a boat - it will look like an aircraft."
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Plenty of photographers took the opportunity to get snaps of the boat, which has - until now - been shrouded in secrecy.
"Once that boat rolls out of the shed, it won't even get halfway out, before it's already in Europe and the United States," said Dalton.
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