Emirates Team New Zealand to Set Sail With Intercad

Emirates Team New Zealand to Set Sail With Intercad

September 14, 2015

Intercad, Australia and New Zealand’s largest reseller of leading design software, SolidWorks, has continued its relationship as Official Supplier to Emirates Team New Zealand, the yachting powerhouse hoping to once again bring the America’s Cup back to the Kiwi homeland.

Emirates Team New Zealand is no stranger to success, taking home the America’s Cup in 1995 and 2000. The design team pioneered the foiling seen for the first time in the 2013 series and this year is in the process of designing the latest AC50 Foiling Catamaran – using the software capabilities of the SolidWorks 3D software solution – for the 35th America’s Cup to be held in Bermuda in 2017.

With each boat valued in the tens of millions of dollars and with the winning team able to host the next Cup, thus bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsorship and exposure to their respective region, each race is high stakes. Setbacks in the design phase therefore equate to less practice; any slight design errors could lead to a loss.

“These boats are so fast and so high-performance that any advantage a team can find when tacking and gybing can mean the difference between winning and losing. Seconds saved at the race start or around a mark can equal an advantage of hundreds of metres over the duration of the race; a huge gain in the most competitive sailing event in the world,” said Loren Poole, Mechanical Engineer for Emirates Team New Zealand. “It’s often in the design phase that the difference between winning and losing can be found. That is what is going to win this Cup.”

The agreement with Intercad will ensure the team has the latest SolidWorks software updates and will have around-the-clock access to Intercad’s expert team of technicians.

Intercad, established in 1988, provides services and solutions to engineers and designers to create, simulate, publish and manage their design needs and outputs. The agreement marks the continuation of a long-standing relationship between the two parties dating back to 1998.

“Intercad’s support and the early adoption of SolidWorks was critical to our successful defence of the America’s Cup in 2000 in Auckland. We rely on our Official Suppliers to remain competitive, and Intercad, without question, provides us with a competitive advantage,” said Poole. “We are constantly fine-tuning the design of the boat leading into each Cup to meet updated race rules, and even after each lead-up race such as the Louis Vuitton World Series being held at the moment. It means that any time we need support, we need it fast.

“With Intercad, we know we will not only get expert support on all aspects of the software, but we’ll get it when we need it.”

“It’s imperative, with the stakes as high as they are, that Emirates Team New Zealand can spend less time on software issues and more where it really counts: on making the boat as easy to sail as possible, and as fast as possible,” said John Atkinson, General Manager, Intercad Australia and New Zealand. “Their team knows they can rely on our expertise to get the most out of the design and the boat, and any issues will be addressed as quickly as you can say ‘come about’!”

ENDS

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