Dunedin's involvement in the next America's Cup has already begun with a team of Animation Research Limited staff working around the clock ahead of today's boat reveal.
Animation Research Ltd chief executive Ian Taylor told the ODT this morning a team of five staff had been racing to get the animation of the new fully foiling monohull boats - which will be used at the next America's Cup - finished ahead of today's big reveal.
"It was incredibly tight timeline.
"We actually uploaded it to them [Team New Zealand] last night at about 6pm," Mr Taylor said.
The team had worked with not much sleep and were recovering today.
A highlight was animator Mark McQuillan writing code to make the water look as realistic as it did, he said.
It was great for the company, which had a long history of involvement with the America's Cup, to be involved so early in the 2021 edition, he said.
"It's been a great deal of fun working with the skilled team [up in Auckland] designing this boat."
Mr Taylor said he was excited about the new boat design.
"It's a revolution really.
"No-one's ever seen a monohull this size foiling."
He dismissed those who believed the America's Cup was a "rich boys" sport and instead looked at the event as an opportunity for Dunedin and New Zealand to show it was at the cutting edge of technology.
"If things work out in 2021 this could be one of the most amazing showcases for New Zealand technology and that's how we should be looking at it."
"Don't think of this it as a boat race, think of it as a technology race we [New Zealand] have led."
