NZL 32

NZL 32

NZL 32 on display at Voyager New Zealand museum, Auckland
Other names	Black Magic
Yacht club	Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
Nation	New Zealand
Class	International America's Cup Class
Builder	McMullen & Wing yard Auckland, NZ
Launched	1993
Owner(s)	Peter Blake
Fate	On exhibit in the Voyager New Zealand museum
Racing career
Skippers	Russell Coutts
Notable victories	1995 Louis Vuitton Cup 1995 America's Cup
America's Cup	1995
Specifications
Type	Monohull
Displacement	24.7 tons
Length	24.24 m (79.5 ft) (LOA) 18.04 m (59.2 ft) (LWL)
Beam	4.05 m (13.3 ft)
Draft	4.0 m (13.1 ft)
Sail area	330 m2 (3,600 sq ft)

NZL 32, or Black Magic, is an International Americas Cup Class yacht that won the 1995 America's Cup. She beat the American defender Young America in a 5–0 victory off San Diego, California.

NZL 32 was, in many ways, the complete opposite of her predecessor NZL 20 which contested the 1992 edition of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Instead of being the brainchild of one man (in the case of NZL 20, Bruce Farr) she was designed by a team of Tom Schnackenberg, 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. The idea was to produce a yacht that suited the crew, catering to their specific wants and needs. NZL 32 was built of carbon fibre by the McMullen & Wing yard, Auckland, in 1994.

Her sister yacht, NZL 38, or Black Magic II, was used in the initial stages of the Louis Vuitton Cup in San Diego winning all but one race. However, Team New Zealand believed NZL 32 to be faster than NZL 38 and so retired her early, before the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals. NZL 38 became a trial horse for Team New Zealand's 2000 defence of the America's Cup in Auckland, and was purchased for the 2003 Cup by the Swedish Victory Challenge. She was eventually renamed Cristina.

With NZL 38 now retired, NZL 32 was brought out for the final stages of the Louis Vuitton Cup. She proved to be faster than NZL 38, winning 9 of 11 races in the semi-finals and 5 out of 6 in the finals against oneAustralia. As the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup, she now had the right to challenge for the America's Cup itself.

By this stage, it was clear NZL 32 was far superior to any of her rivals, including the winner of the defender series Stars & Stripes (USA-34). With that knowledge, Stars & Stripes skipper Dennis Conner swapped boats for the Cup matches, taking the helm of Young America. While Young America didn't win the Defender's Series, she was widely believed to be faster than Stars & Stripes.