Team New Zealand took it as a good omen that the skies opened just as they revealed their AC75 Taihoro to the world at Auckland's Wynyard Wharf on Thursday.
The name captures the dynamic essence of the sea (Tai) and the concept of speed (Horo) - two things the New Zealanders will need on their side as they defend the Auld Mug.
Team New Zealand chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge said after years of developing their boat behind closed doors it was exciting to show it off.
"You're so secretive inside the America's Cup about what you're doing - especially during the design and build process - but once it rolls out of the shed for the first time you're not allowed to cover them or hide them, so that bit is over," he said.
"Now we get on with trying to take what we've got, learn how to use it and then the game here is really for the next six months just to keep developing to try and make it quicker and quicker."
Emirates Team New Zealand’s new AC75 sailing on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf Photo: Supplied / Emirates Team New Zealand
Team New Zealand were not the first to launch their boat for the 37th America's Cup.
Swiss entry Alinghi and Italy's Luna Rossa had already shown what they were working with.
Team New Zealand's chief designer Dan Bernasconi said after being focussed on their own boat for so long it was interesting to see what the others had done.
"We might have ended up with a situation where everyone's boat rolls out and they all look the same, but they don't; they are quite different and it's going to be really interesting to see how those differences in the shape translate to differences in performance."
Emirates Team New Zealand Naming Ceremony for their third AC75 Taihoro - The race yacht for the 37th America’s Cup. Photo: JAMES SOMERSET / Emirates Team New Zealand
Taihoro was finished a little ahead of schedule meaning the sailors have had a chance to take it out on the Waitematā Harbour before it gets shipped to Barcelona.
Helmsman Peter Burling noticed the difference between the new boat and the one they last won the cup with.
Former prime minister Helen Clark christens Team New Zealand's AC75 Taihoro Photo: Team New Zealand
"With this boat we've really pushed the envelope, we've taken a lot of risk in a lot of areas and we're really happy with how that has gone so far. We've really taken all the learnings we could from our last America's Cup from Te Rehutai and tried to apply them across with another two years of development and iterations so it's been an incredible journey and we're really happy with the end product we've got."
The on-board crew sizes for this America's Cup have shrunk from 11 to eight, which affects the way the boats are controlled.
One newcomer to the New Zealand crew is Australian helmsman Nathan Outteridge who has a bit of practice on Te Rehutai but is enjoying Taihoro so far.
"For me, it's been awesome to get out on the boat. We've got a lot of new pieces of technology on this boat that is a step forward from what we had before and there is plenty more to come as well, so this is just the beginning of the final run into the America's Cup."
Team New Zealand have used the same foils they had in the last cup - at least for now.
Building multiple sets of foils would be costly and take time, so New Zealand will reveal their final foils later in the campaign.
"It's always fun when you've designed your foils and you're building them and you see someone else's - you start to do the comparison of the pros and cons of your boat versus others and right now everyone that's launched so far looks really good," Outteridge said.
"The question will be how do they actually perform on the water when we're all next to each other."
Taihoro would spend a few weeks on the water in New Zealand before being packed up and shipped by kiwifruit boat to Barcelona.
New Zealand will race their boat for the first time in August in the last preliminary regatta.
