Taihoro

Taihoro is an AC75 foiling monohull racing yacht that will defend the America’s Cup for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) from 12 October 2024 in the 37th America’s Cup match in Barcelona, Spain.

Taihoro is owned and sailed on behalf of the RNZYS by the Emirates Team New Zealand sailing syndicate, led by Grant Dalton. It was named and blessed by Ngati Whatua Orakei and launched by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark in Auckland, New Zealand, on 18 April 2024. Taihoro is a verb in te reo Maori meaning “to move swiftly as the sea between both sky and earth” in English.^[1]

On 29 August 2024, after Taihoro beat Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the first day of racing in the 2024 Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series, the crane lifting it out of the water malfunctioned, dropping it 7m onto concrete, damaging its hull.^[2]