-
Source: Reuters -
Watch Video
Team New Zealand has sprung a huge America's Cup surprise announcing plans to share design secrets and a two-boat testing programme with the Luna Rossa team.
The Italians will be building their AC72 catamaran in Auckland and set up a shore base in the Viaduct.
How much Team New Zealand is getting from Luna Rossa is not known but it is expected to be in excess of $10 million.
The radical partnership has been accepted by the Golden Gate Yacht Club ahead of the 34th America's Cup which will be held at San Francisco in September 2013.
The hulls for the Luna Rossa AC72 will be built in Italy and all other elements will be built in New Zealand in close cooperation with Team New Zealand.
"Effectively we are upping the ante and we are upping our own team's ability to win the America's Cup," Managing Director of Team New Zealand Grant Dalton told ONE News.
Backed by Prada, Luna Rossa were the darlings of the America's Cup in Auckland in 2000 and while Team New Zealand will only share the design secrets for the first of their two boats it will still be a huge leg up for the Italians.
But Dalton doesn't believe the partnership will end up being counter productive to Team New Zealand's ultimate goal.
"We are a long way ahead. We are an established team. We've been working on this design programme for a year," he said.
"We've got the AC45. We are leading the World Series at the moment. I'm backing our guys and this can only make us a lot stronger."
Construction of the AC72s starts in Auckland later this month with completion in the middle of next year.
