NZL 32

NZL-32 or Black Magic, an International Americas Cup Class yacht that won the 1995 America's Cup. She beat the American defender in a 5-0 victory.

History

NZL-32 was designed by a team co-ordinated by Tom Schnackenberg, the team including Doug Peterson , Laurie Davidson, David Egan, Peter Jackson, Maury Leyland, David Alan-Williams, Anthony Lehmann, Richard Karn, Wayne Smith, Mike Drumond, Chris Mitchell and Neil Wilkinson. She was built of carbon fibre by the McMullen & Wing yard, Auckland, in 1993. In the America's cup she raced for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Team New Zealand under Peter Blake, skippered by Russell Coutts.

Her sister yacht, NZL-38 Black Magic II, easily won all but one race of the Louis Vuitton Cup in San Diego, USA. However, Team New Zealand believed NZL-32 to be faster than NZL-38 and so raced NZL-32 in the America's Cup itself. She won the series 5-0 and thus remains unbeaten in an America's Cup race.

After the America's Cup

NZL-32 was used as a trial boat for the 2003 challenge of Le Défi China Team. It has now been gifted to the National Maritime Museum in Auckland as part of the Sir Peter Blake 'Blue Water Black Magic' Tribute. It will be suspended from the ceiling and will be the centerpiece of the memorial. This follows years of debate on the 'glass case' proposal as an idea to encase NZL-32 in a glass case outside Te Papa, but as announced on May 1st, 2008, NZL-32 will gladly be part of the new memorial on Hobson Wharf - Auckland. Construction is to take place in July 2008 and should be finished by March 2009.