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Although not particularly popular in Europe (probably because Europeans don’t like Bermuda, the place where it will take place, very much or maybe because Larry Ellison and his Oracle Team don’t seem to be interested in making the event attractive in the eyes of Europeans), the America’s Cup is traditionally an event difficult to understand and communicate. It changes at every edition and the winners establishe their rules, even beyond reasonable control. It’s as charming as esoteric.
So, we’ve decided to propose a short guide of it, so that you can understand what will happen, which boats will participate and what its formula, rules, main characters and the favourite are.
America’s Cup will take place in May 2017 but what is expected to be the most interesting preparatory event is taking place in New York this week. The Big Apple is certainly a charming spectacular place, teams are already almost ready and the “secret plays” surrounding each edition are inflaming ( the legal teams are more and more active in this pre-regatta period, and those who followed the previous editions know it very well).
Boatsandboats will closely follow the event in New York (very closely, even as “the sixth man” on BAR Land Rover boat) and we’ll tell you the event live.
The boats
The official name of the boats which will participate to the America’s Cup is AC 50, the acronym of America’s Cup Class 50′. At first, the boats had to be 68′ but then the American defenders have opted first for some 48-foot-boats and later they decided that boats had to be 50′. So, they will be 15 metres long, 8 metres wide and they will be only 2,400 Kg. Moreover, they will be provided with steering wheel.
They are built with imposed layers, very precise moulds and they must respect the same project, even if they are produced by different shipbuilders.
Almost everything is imposed, starting from the big central wing (the “mainsail”) which is much less advanced than those one on AC 72 at last edition (the construction tecnique, too, is less technically advanced in order to reduce risks and costs).
Stays, fore sail and its equipment are imposed, too. On an aesthetical level, the big careening of the platform where the wing lays and the relative longeron are impressive and they have a very important aerodynamic function.
Most of the planning challenge will be on appendixes, where a great freedom of action has been left. Centerboards can be longways and horinzontally adjustable, they will be activated manually and boats can have two pairs of them, maybe in case of weak or strong wind (since they will sail at over 40 knots). Wheels, too, will be adjustable along the bow-poop axis and they will be provided with some horizontal stabilizers.
While waiting for the arrival of the first AC 50 boats, teams run the eight preliminary series (which produce some scores before the real Cup) on AC 45 F boats you can see in the pictures of this article, an evolution of AC 45 models used at the last edition but provided with foils. Meanwhile, they continue their trials and trainings on their evolutions (called AC 45 S or T). These are the only boats with a length of over 10 metres allowed to teams.
With F models, they only share the hull. For the rest, they are completely different and on their evolutions teams base most of preparation of future 50 models.
The Americans have already two samples on which they can do some real trials. The English BAR Land Rover Team has one AC 50, like Artemis, Team Japan and Team France. The situation is different for Kiwi, that is Team New Zealand, who suffers some budget problems.
Until now, with AC 45 F models, teams have run in Portsmouth, Goteborg, Bermuda and Oman. After New York next week, it will the turn of Chicago, Portsmouth again and Tolone. At the first place, the Kiwi (New Zealand), with 192 scores, followed by Oracle (186) and Land Rover Bar (185). Far behind, the Japanese, Swedish and French teams.
F
