Jo Aleh has joined Emirates Team New Zealand at precisely the moment the defending champions are shifting from post-Barcelona reflection into full preparation for the 2027 campaign. Speaking in a Radio New Zealand interview, she laughs about being "thrown in the deep end" on the AC40, yet the timing suits both her and the team. The sailors are back on the Waitematā, the simulator bay is clocking long hours, and the squad around her is changing shape quickly.
The announcement of Aleh, Seb Menzies, Josh Armit, and Jake Pye joining the sailing team last month was more than a routine personnel update. It signalled the point at which the defenders stepped from planning into practice, nearly a year on from lifting the Auld Mug in Barcelona. Back on the water with their AC40, the group is rotating through every station on board, sharpening instincts and building the kind of familiarity that only comes from time on the boat. For Aleh, whose most recent experience on the AC40 came during the Women's America's Cup in 2024, the step up brings obvious demands: greater complexity, higher speeds, and a constant stream of new information to process.
What strikes her most, though, is the energy at the base. The steep learning curve feels more manageable when the whole squad is climbing together, and this season five of the eight sailors in the senior group are new to their roles. Maloney, Tuke, Outteridge, Draper and Meech provide stability and experience, but the newcomers are already shaping how training unfolds. Simulator sessions now benefit from fresh perspectives and a range of Olympic skill-sets, and the feedback loop in those early weeks has been richer than it has been for some time.
That influx of new talent arrives alongside a wave of external recognition for the team. World Sailing named Emirates Team New Zealand its 2025 Team of the Year, acknowledging not only their third consecutive America's Cup victory but the organisational culture that has kept the programme competitive across cycles. The following week, at the New Zealand Yachting Excellence Awards, the team also received the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy as Sailor of the Year. Collecting both honours in the same period is unusual, and it reflects something Aleh observes from inside the team: a group that understands success as a collective responsibility rather than a set of individual achievements.
Her arrival also connects to a broader shift in how the America's Cup operates. The new AC75 rule requiring at least one woman in the five-person crew, combined with the move to battery-powered hydraulics, has opened pathways that simply did not exist before. In her Radio New Zealand interview, Aleh is candid about the awkwardness of a quota system, yet equally clear that without structural change, women would have no realistic route into Cup competition. ETNZ has backed this direction with a strengthened internship programme, bringing in Youth and Women's America's Cup sailors early in the cycle, among them Serena Woodall and Stella Bilger. Aleh's position in the senior squad bridges the distance between that emerging talent and the fully professional environment of a Cup campaign.
The practical rhythm of a new cycle adds its own demands. After a long period centred on design rules and preliminary planning, the team has completed its first two-boat testing day of the season, a milestone that stretches every department. For the sailing group, running two boats simultaneously demands tighter communication, more disciplined station rotations, and a sharper understanding of individual responsibilities under pressure. For Aleh, it adds another layer to the learning process she describes openly: grasping not just how to perform her own role, but how every position fits into the operation as a whole.
Shoebridge captured the mood when the AC40 programme relaunched: "Sailing is the reason you do it." Aleh echoes that in her interview. Simulator hours and screen time have their place, but being out on the Waitematā, finding the boat's rhythm, responding to pressure, and growing comfortable with unfamiliar controls, brings the full picture into focus.
The road ahead is long and demanding. More simulator work, additional multi-boat days, and the start of AC75 operations once design decisions are settled all lie ahead. ETNZ also plans to sail in Naples next year to begin learning the venue. Aleh will be part of that preparation throughout, her experience adding genuine depth to a team where every marginal gain carries weight.
She is open about the fact that she did not expect this opportunity. But for her and for the team, the moment feels well matched. Emirates Team New Zealand is building pace again, and Aleh has arrived just as the cycle begins to accelerate.
