New Zealand’s Final America’s Cup Boat Arrives in U.S. : Sailing: Boat remains crated for barge ride to Kiwis’ Coronado compound.

Christmas-wrapped for secrecy, amid the aura of a barnyard and with a Maori war canoe nestled alongside for luck, New Zealand’s fourth and final America’s Cup boat arrived Tuesday from Down Under.

Six race horses from Auckland shared space on the ANZ Direct Line’s container ship Direct Kea, their stall a few feet from the boat. It was evident they had the run of the deck during the three-week voyage, and as soon as the deck was cleaned the boat was transferred to a barge that would take it on to the syndicate’s compound at Coronado, along with the canoe and a helicopter.

The barge was scheduled to arrive at about 7 a.m. today.

With its arrival, all of the top challengers’ final, campaign boats will be in San Diego.

Among the longshots, Age of Russia is due to arrive by plane Thursday, but that syndicate has not been recognized by the America’s Cup Organizing Committee as the official Russian entry. The one that has, Red Star ‘92, was due to have its boat checked by a Cup measurer at Tallinn, Estonia, today.

The only other possible entry is Slovenia--originally entered by Yugoslavia--whose wooden boat ZaraSCACC is in Venice, Italy, is possibly en route, possibly not.

The New Zealand boat was accompanied on the voyage by syndicate employee David Dodds, 23. Hapi Winiata, a Maori, accompanied the 65-foot canoe, or waka, named “Te Arawa” for a tribe at Rotorua. It will be part of the Museum of Man exhibit in San Diego and might escort the race boat to the course.

The helicopter--call sign KZIWI--was loaned to the syndicate by Grant Biel, an Auckland businessman.

The New Zealand boat’s arrival has been keenly anticipated. Its designer, Bruce Farr, is regarded as the top designer of ocean-racing sailboats but seldom given to advance hyperbole about his creations--until this one.

“We expect the boat to be a lot faster than existing (International America’s Cup Class) boats,” Farr said before it was shipped. “I think you will see a little bit of magic.”

The latter reference was to KZ7, or “Kiwi Magic,” the revolutionary fiberglass 12-meter that dominated the challenger trials at Fremantle in 1986-87 until losing to Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes in the finals.

Nobody outside the syndicate or the Marten Marine and Cookson Yachts boatyards in Auckland has seen the newest boat. Insiders will say only that it’s red, like the other three.

Unlike other boats shipped in by the team, this one was hidden in a crate covered by a plastic tarp. It left Auckland with a red bow around it, but the bow was removed at sea.

A crude drawing printed by the Auckland Star last month showed a boat without a rudder and a bow chopped off diagonally. The drawing is considered more fanciful than factual.

But syndicate manager Peter Blake has said, “This is one of the uglier boats ever seen in the world, but also one of the fastest.”

It is not expected to be ready to sail until after Christmas. Challenger trials start Jan. 25.

It’s the product of more than a year of developmental testing of three other boats, employing countless hours of computer workups, along with two wind tunnels and two test tanks for models.

Italy’s Il Moro di Venezia has done a similar program with five boats, France and Nippon with three each and Spain with two. The other challengers--Sweden, Russia, Slovenia and two from Australia--have only one boat each.

Bill Koch’s America 3defense syndicate will receive its third boat late in January. Conner has only one boat.