The yachts competing in the next America’s Cup will be bigger, faster, single-hulled giants that fly over the water on foils, like the catamarans seen in recent regattas, Team New Zealand said on Tuesday.
The New Zealanders, who won the Auld Mug from the US in Bermuda in June, get to dictate rules for the next America’s Cup in Auckland in March 2021.
The team’s design vision opted for a return to traditional monohulls, rather than the catamarans used in the past two editions.
Photo: AP / Emirates Team New Zealand
However, crucially, the hi-tech monohulls retain the ability to “foil,” using movable, carbon-fiber wings which fold down to lift the boat’s hull from the water when racing.
Foiling makes the boat look like it is flying and dramatically increases speed, providing spectacular visuals that boosted interest in the 2013 and this year’s regattas.
The feature has never been used on America’s Cup monohulls.
“It’s a completely new concept of boat which we’re pretty excited about,” New Zealand design chief Dan Bernasconi told Radio New Zealand. “A complete change from the cats [catamarans] that we raced in Bermuda, but I think it’s going to be pretty cool.”
The 2021 yachts, called AC75s, are 23m long, far bigger than the 15m vessels that competed in Bermuda.
New Zealand chief Grant Dalton said the increased size did not mean they would be slower.
“Our analysis of the performance of the foiling monohulls tells us that once the boat is up and foiling, the boat has the potential to be faster than an AC50 both upwind and downwind,” he said.
The team is to release detailed specifications for the AC75s in March next year, which rival syndicates can use to build their challengers.
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