America’s Cup Media: The first full month of new-generation AC75 training, May was a watershed month for all of the teams as they brought their new technology to the forefront of their campaigns and firmly began the debate about who has the fastest boat. Answers are nuanced, definitive opinions are not to be trusted, these are the early days of the race for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup and there’s less than 80 days now until the first proper line-ups and reality bites for the sailors. Let’s take a look at what everyone’s been up to in May:
EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND
By dint of geography, the Defenders of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup concluded their intensive and impressive two-week work-up of ‘Taihoro,’ their new AC75, right at the beginning of the month to prepare for transportation up to Barcelona with a target date of the 1st of July to resume training at the venue. Performance was good and the team kept everyone guessing running legacy foils – more to come when they get to Europe.
INEOS BRITANNIA
The Challenger of Record unveiled their new AC75 at the beginning of the month and christened her ‘Britannia’ on Saturday 18th May with Sir Jim Ratcliffe in attendance and even taking on some cyclor duties in the port pod after the ceremony. What has been unveiled has everyone talking in the Port Vell, the result of a perfect fusion of the capabilities within the INEOS Sports Group that includes Mercedes Applied Science and the INEOS Grenadiers Cycling Team. A ‘hyper-design’ with every inch pored over, early sea-trials were understandably cautious but revealed a potent, stable platform that represents the best chance since the 1930’s of success in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.
ALINGHI RED BULL RACING
The angular, radical, eye-catching design of Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s ‘BoatOne’ is fast becoming a fan-favourite around the Port Vell and in May the sailing team really ramped up their time on the water and started pushing the boat to find its limits. They have been sensational in training, executing fast laps and superb pre-start time-on-distance runs with Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin connecting well through a variety of transitions and manoeuvres as the stand-out designated helms for this intriguing challenge.
NYYC AMERICAN MAGIC
A simply huge month for the Americans who brought their low-volume, highly aero design of ‘Patriot’ into commission after Vice Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, Clare Harrington, officially named her in a ceremony on 7th May. Immediately after the ceremony, Patriot was out and sailing with Lucas Calabrese and Paul Goodison putting her through her maiden sail. The big talking point was the introduction of recumbent cyclors and a side-by-side design for the helms and trimmers that overall has produced a highly aero-efficient deck package.
LUNA ROSSA PRADA PIRELLI
The Italian team’s new and aesthetically beautiful AC75 ‘Luna Rossa’ entered into a highly effective commissioning in Cagliari with the team fast straight out of the box. Sailing initially with legacy anhedral foils from AC36, the team quickly upgraded the starboard foil to a long-span AC37 design, and the pure potential of the new boat was quickly realised. A seven-day block of intense commissioning in a variety of breeze and sea states ensued with the team getting increasingly confident with this ultra-stable and reliable platform. Jimmy Spithill, Francesco
ORIENT EXPRESS RACING TEAM
With the new AC75 onsite at their base in Barcelona, the Orient Express Team have been hard at work on the final fit-out and preparation ahead of the official naming ceremony on the 29th May. Mast fitting and tow-testing preceded in the week before the christening and what we saw was an incredible design reveal with the new AC75 almost an exact sister-ship to Emirates Team New Zealand’s ‘Taihoro’ from whom they bought the base design and technical specifications.
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