Jo Aleh, Josh Armit, Jake Pye and Seb Menzies join Team New Zealand for the 2027 America's Cup. Photo: Supplied
Seeking fresh energy and innovation Team New Zealand have added four sailors, including an Olympic gold medallist, to their crew to defend the America's Cup in Naples in 2027.
Three-time Olympian and former Female World Sailor of the Year Jo Aleh joins the boat after competing in the inaugural Women's America's Cup last year.
Under new rules for the 38th America's Cup one of the five sailors onboard must be a woman.
"This has been a dream of mine for a long time," Aleh said.
The next America's Cup would "be a real milestone for women in sailing."
"I feel very privileged to be a part of that and hopefully to be one of the first women racing on the AC75s and illustrating that we can do this."
Former Youth America's Cup sailors Josh Armit and Seb Menzies have also made the move to the main team.
Josh Armit competes in the Windsurf iQFoil class at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images
Armit competed at the Paris Olympics last year in the IQ Foil and Menzies won the 49er at this year's European Championships.
"Last year in the Youth America's Cup I learned a lot about the team's professionalism. It's a team that I've always aspired to be a part of. So it's awesome to be part of the main sailing team and an honour being a part of the wider team," Menzies said.
"We are learning so much off the more senior guys already. It is cool to be amongst them and getting stuck into the simulator and really looking forward to getting into the AC75."
Armit said being around the team in Barcelona taught him a lot and helped him with his sailing in general.
"I came away hungry for more, the team environment really caught me and I was eager to come back and really push for more and to be a part of the team to win the America's Cup again."
Jake Pye at 20-years-old is the youngest sailor on Team New Zealand. He is selected after two podium finishes at the last two Moth World Championships.
"It was pretty epic to get the call up from Nathan, Andy, and the team and great to know that the hard work had paid off at the Moth Worlds earlier this year.
"Now I am here. It is such a good atmosphere with a great bunch of people all striving towards one goal. I'm ready to push with this team as hard as I can."
The four newcomers join the already announced Nathan Outteridge, Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke, Chris Draper and Sam Meech.
Team New Zealand skipper Nathan Outteridge. Photo: Photosport / Georgia Schofield
The entire sailing crew have been spending hours on the team simulator.
Flight controller Maloney enjoyed working with the "new energy" from the sailors who had linked up with the team.
"We have brought in a group of extremely talented, well-rounded sailors who all have the skill sets to develop into top AC75 helms, flight controllers, trimmers and tacticians.
"Spending time in the simulator with this group and witnessing their talent, while passing on experience in these roles has been a really cool experience. It's awesome to see how quickly they're picking up these roles. They are very impressive."
Outteridge, himself a double Olympic medallist and multiple world champion, knew the importance of bringing through a new generation of diverse talent to maintain strength in the team.
"For us sailors in the team that are getting older, it is awesome to have some young blood in here like, Josh, Jake, and Seb but also the wisdom, experience and talent that Jo brings that collectively will really strengthen and challenge the team on how we do things," Outteridge said.
"It is great to see the integration that's been happening since they have started. We are trying to share the knowledge that we've got and create depth within the sailing team, which, so far, has been going really well and I can't wait for the sailing operations to start soon."
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