As you will have read on our main team website, our new ACC yacht (USA-XX as it is being called for now -- we have yet to disclose the sail number that has been assigned to it) arrived this afternoon by cargo plane on a non-stop 13-hour flight from Seattle. By 2100 it was safe and sound in the boat shed at our Team Base.

It is not the first time an ACC yacht has been flown; a number were shipped by plane from Europe for the Cups in both San Diego and Auckland.

Notable, however, is that it got here before a number of other new ACC yachts which would have been under construction earlier. Moreover, it was in the shed here in VLC before a single word about it appeared on any website. Nice work team!


VLC airport this afternoon as USA-XX was disgorged from the Antonov.
Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget.


The new yacht's sail number was allocated at the start of construction by
ACC Technical Director Ken McAlpine, but has yet to be disclosed by
the team.


Shore team member Scotty Sanford (NZL) successfully shepherded
USA-XX from VLC airport to our Team Base. Not an easy task, but
tonight en route he was still smiling (and dialing) despite detours
and other unforseen obstacles.


Rodney "Electron" Ernst watches as XX is backed for the first time
into its new crib at the Team Base, with the Travel Lift in position
to raise the yacht off the truck's flatbed trailer.