Emirates Team New Zealand

Emirates Team New Zealand have won three consecutive America's Cup titles: Bermuda 2017, Auckland 2021, and Barcelona 2024. The 38th edition poses the question that defines their campaign: can they win without the man who steered all three?

Peter Burling is gone. The helmsman who became the face of New Zealand's Cup dominance, whose tactical instincts under match-racing pressure were considered the best in the sport, has crossed to Luna Rossa. He took his knowledge of Team New Zealand's design philosophy, tactical playbook, and operational culture with him. In sailing's most celebrated rivalry between defender and challenger, the defender's greatest weapon just switched sides.

In Burling's place stands Nathan Outteridge, an Australian who brings his own pedigree. Olympic gold in the 49er at London 2012. Deep foiling experience across SailGP and previous America's Cup campaigns with Artemis Racing and Japan. Outteridge is fast, fierce, and comfortable on foiling boats that move at highway speed. He is not Burling. But dismissing him would be a mistake that several challengers may live to regret.

Team New Zealand's co-helmsmen include Seb Menzies, a young New Zealand talent rising through the programme, and Chris Draper, a British Olympic sailor with extensive multihull foiling experience. The design and engineering operation, led by Dan Bernasconi, has consistently produced faster boats than the competition. The AC75 they build for Naples will be their latest answer to the question every defender faces: is the boat fast enough?

The defender's advantage in the America's Cup is real. Team New Zealand sets the protocol, chooses the venue, and carries the design data from their winning boat into the next cycle. But the advantage is not absolute. Challengers study the defender's weaknesses. And the gap that existed in 2024, when Team New Zealand swept INEOS Britannia 7-2 in Barcelona, is exactly what Luna Rossa, GB1, and K-Challenge have spent two years trying to close.

The Preliminary Regatta in Cagliari in May 2026 gives Team New Zealand their first competitive outing in AC40s against the challengers. For Outteridge, it will be the first time he faces Burling from the other side of the start line. The data matters. But the psychology of that moment, the defending champion meeting the man who left, may matter more.