The Day I Stepped Onto an AC75 and Reality Left the Chat

Bucket lists are funny things. They start off wholesome, “travel more,” “drink less coffee,” “learn Italian” and then, somewhere along the way, they spiral into wildly unrealistic nonsense. Mine? Entirely sailing.

Go sailing on cool boats, photograph awesome sailing events, talk about sailing with legends, think about sailing, write about sailing. And yep… Even dream about sailing.

And sitting right up there in the “absolutely never going to happen but dreams are free” category was one item:

Race on an AC75.

Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

You know, just casually hop on one of the fastest, most complex flying machines humans ever created. No big deal. Totally casual, totally achievable, very normal behaviour. Like I said, dreams are free!

Then came a call that almost killed me (via projectile coffee spray).

A couple of weeks ago, my phone pings.

Emirates Team New Zealand. I was already suspicious, and intrigued.

“Hey Suellen, do you want to go for a ride our AC75, Taihoro?”

Now, I’d love to say I handled this like a calm, composed professional, but instead, I violently ejected coffee out of both my mouth and nose and stared at my phone like it had just asked me to join the Avengers.

“Uh… yeah?!”

(Nailed the response.)

They went on to say that it was a bit of a moving target, but that they were keen as mustard to get me on board.

“Holy hecka… My heart just did a Simone Biles balance beam dismount and I stuck the landing!”

They laughed. (I think.)

Of course, this offer arrived during what can only be described as “maximum chaos season”. Events everywhere. Cameras everywhere. Deadlines everywhere.

We finally lock in a date that worked. Cancelled. Then another date was suggested. Saturday March 21.

This was set to be the best birthday present EVER, expect for three things that were game stoppers…

Live Sail Die was already locked in for:

• PIC Harbour Classic
• Harken Young 88 Nationals
• PredictWind Girls Regatta

EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND head on with a Young 88. Saturday 21 March 2026. Photo: Suellen Hurling / Live Sail Die

If I had of said yes, it was a guaranteed way to ruin those long standing relationships and shatter my loyal reputation forever. So… I say no. I said no to sailing on an AC75. Let that sink in… Would you have said no?!

Then the Sailing Gods tested me again…

Emirates Team New Zealand come back with a new plan.

“Next week?”

“Nope. I’m flying to Macao for the World Match Racing Tour season opener…”

At this point I assumed I was officially removed from the “cool opportunities” list. Fair enough. I had my chance. I blew it. We move on.

Thank goodness for airplane on board wifi!

On Tuesday 31st March, 30 minutes from landing back in Auckland, my phone pings again.

“Let’s go 1st of April – tomorrow.”

Right.

APRIL FOOL’S DAY. The most untrustworthy date in human history. I’m half expecting someone to hand me a cardboard AC75 and say “haha gotcha.”

1st of April arrives. Call time was 1030. PING! “We are pushing the call time back two hours.”

The starboard side of my brain was like “thank goodness, I can catch up on more sleep,” while the port side was saying “maybe this is a joke…?!”

1230 turned up, and there I was. Standing at Emirates Team New Zealand base, having a full internal meltdown. I’m here – it hasn’t been cancelled, I haven’t had any more pings…!

This had become real. No jokes and no pranks. Somehow a girl who grew up on a river in Northern NSW in Australia was about to step onto an America’s Cup winning AC75.

HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?!?!

Then I forgot how to human. The team’s buzzing. “Let’s go! How excited are you?”

Me: Unable to speak. Hands shaking. Brain buffering.

For someone who literally writes for a living, I suddenly had the vocabulary of a stunned goldfish.

Finally we get out to the back paddock (the area nicknamed by Emirates Team New Zealand and used extensively during the 36th America’s Cup. The back paddock name is used to describe the water between Waiheke Island and Pine Harbour / Maraetai). The same area that the Zephyr Nationals were recently raced in.

Another lucky and excited guest racer jumps on first, which is great. I watch very closely for clues like:

*“Where do I stand?”

“What do I touch?”

“What must I absolutely NOT touch?”*

I watched on in fascination and buzzing knowing that “I’m next!”

OMG this is happening! Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

I step onto the second chase boat and transfer across to Taihoro. I pause, and look down. Yep, those are my feet in Emirates Team New Zealand provided boat shoes.

Not sh*&ing myself at all…! Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

Then I internalise… “You are standing on an AC75. Try not to embarrass yourself in front of America’s Cup winners and Olympic medal legends.”

I climb into the pod behind Seb Menzies and Tony Rae runs the safety briefing and it goes something like this… “If something goes wrong, breath into this. If you need to cut yourself free, here’s a knife. These are your handles. Don’t break anything.”

Trae gives me the low down. Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

Cool cool cool cool cool. Love that for me. Very comforting.

Ok. It was much more detailed safety briefing than that. Trae went into deep details, because safety is no accident.

LET’S DO THIS! But gotta wave to the camera first. Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

Helmet, goggles and headphones on, the comms start flowing. I understand approximately 0% of what’s being said. It’s like listening to a foreign language spoken at 3x speed. So I do what any rational person would do and snoop on Seb’s screens. It looks like he’s about to launch a rocket, win a gaming tournament or is spot trading on the stock market..

Pod city. Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

Before I could even contemplate how I breath and blow into a life-saving tube of oxygen, we bear away, and BOOM. We’re flying, up on the foils, ripping along at 35 knots like it’s completely normal behaviour.

FLYING!!! Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

And here’s the weird part… It’s smooth. Like, suspiciously smooth. I was expecting to be plastered against the back of the pod, clinging on for dear life, fingernails digging deep into the palm of my hands, instead, the guys are chatting like they’re out for a Sunday cruise.

Honestly, all we were missing was a cheese board and a glass of champagne.

THIS IS REAL. Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

Then comes the tack. WHAM! My shoulder smashed into the side of the carbon pod – I wasn’t ready for that, but I didn’t feel a thing because my adrenaline was pumping faster than the blood of a teenage boy!

The noise, the movement, the foil arms shifting – it’s noisy, fast, and completely insane in the best possible way. But at no time did I ever feel unsafe. The team know their stuff, and the way they handle everything is next level.

We keep going. Tacks, gybes, flying past ferries and fishing boats, casual Wednesday cruisers. Just your standard AC75 traffic navigation. But no one flinched, and the spectators were fizzing to get a glimpse of this machine up close. I waved at them. I became that person, and I didn’t care – because the cruiser we passed waved back like he was flapping to try and catch up.

Somewhere in the all the blur, we hit 44.5 Knots in just 12 knots of wind speed. At this point my brain had left the chat. But there in front of me, on the limited access information screen were the numbers 44.5.

I was trying to process it all, but there’s nothing that prepares you for this. Nothing.

Comms were coming from all angles, then I look back and see another camera – so I gave it a cheeky wave. I was looking around the deck trying to find clues about what was going on. But there’s nothing that I can see that can give me a glimpse into the underworld – Emirates Team New Zealand’s secrets are locked away safely.

The wildest part of all this is that only a tiny number of people in the world will ever experience it. And somehow, I’m one of them. I was cruising around on Taihoro, the Emirates Team New Zealand AC75 for about 40 minutes.

LIFE CHANGING. Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9

Then the time came to wrap it up, and head back to shore so the team could continue with their training day. They are only allowed 45 days on the water in the AC75 from now until the 14th January 2027 – so every moment matters in the lead up to the 38th America’s Cup defence in Naples, Italy next year.

As I shook the hands of Grant Dalton and Kevin Shoebridge (wishing I could give them a hug instead), I still couldn’t believe that “That Actually Happened.”

But there are photos, and there is a video coming, so that’s proof that this wasn’t some elaborate April Fool’s prank – of which many of you thought it was after looking at the Live Sail Die Instagram stories! (Emirates Team New Zealand even shared them – more proof!)

My fizz levels are still off the charts as I write this, and even with jet lag and being totally exhausted from a week in Macao for the World Match Racing Tour, there is zero chance I’m coming down from this high anytime soon. Be prepared, I’ll probably talk about this experience for the rest of my life. It was hands down, without question, the best sailing day of my career.

The 1st April will no longer be “April Fools Day” to me. It will be “AC75 Day”.

And honestly, I’m still checking my feet. Just to make sure I really did stand on an AC75.

Emirates Team New Zealand sail their AC75 Taihoro in Auckland during testing and development for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. Day 9