Sailing
The world’s fastest sailboat just launched
Exceeding speeds of 100kph, this is Oracle Team USA’s new boat for the America’s Cup.
This June, Jimmy Spithill will lead his team, Oracle Team USA, out onto the waters of Bermuda to defend the America’s Cup that Oracle first won from Alinghi in 2010 and then defended against Emirates Team New Zealand in one of the craziest showdowns in sailing’s long history.
Now, there are two factors that must come in to play in order to successfully win (or for OTUSA, defend) the America’s Cup. First, OTUSA must have a team full of the most elite sailors in the world (they do). Second, they must have the fastest boat on the water. So, without further ado, introducing the fastest boat on the water – OTUSA’s newest weapon.
“This is the boat we’re racing to win the America’s Cup,” skipper Jimmy Spithill said upon the revealing of the boat.
All in the numbers
OTUSA's AC50 outside of the shed
© Carlo Borlenghi/BMW
15: The new boat is 15 metres in length.
17: We all have lucky numbers – for OTUSA their lucky number is 17. Back in 2010, USA-17 won the Cup. The boat revealed on Tuesday night, is simply referred to as “17”.
65: Number of people working on the design and build of the boat. 15 designers and 50 boatbuilders have put in the hours to the design and build of “17”.
85,000: Number of man-hours it took to design and build the boat.
Using technology to set precedence
A crowd surrounds the OTUSA AC50
© Peter Hurley/America's Cup
The America’s Cup has always been the event where designers and sailors regularly push the limits, trying out new far out technologies and ideas that rival Formula 1. As a result, the boats are closer to rocket ships than sailboats. Today, the boats literally fly on water, cutting through the waves and water creating less drag and more speed.
“These boats are highly-engineered, with complex systems, and built to perform under extreme conditions,” Grant Simmer of Oracle Team USA said. “It’s a great achievement by our designers, builders and engineers to get us to this point where the race yacht gets handed over to the sailors.”
In 2010, anyone watching the now infamous dual between Alinghi and then BMW Oracle will tell you they had to pick their jaws up off the floor when BMW Oracle revealed their ridged winged sail that then allowed them to sail twice as fast as the wind speed. Before 2010, this was unheard of.
ORACLE TEAM USA and Emirates Team New Zealand
© ACEA/Ricardo Pinto
Then, in 2013, rebranded as OTUSA, the team started off on a rough foot as they went into the Challenger races at -2; imagine going into another major sport at a negative, yeah we can’t either. This meant OTUSA had to win 11 races (first to nine).
Anyways, it was a sure fire win for Emirates Team New Zealand who quickly won eight races, and only needed to win just one more to win the Cup. But, Oracle Team USA wasn't going out without a fight. Through sleepless nights of trials and tribulations for the boat designers and boatbuilders as the team worked endlessly on maximising the performance of the 72-foot boat. The result? The best come back in the history of sport – after 19 races, OTUSA had come back and successfully defended the America’s Cup.
Long story short: technology is everything in the America's Cup.
The goal
Jimmy Spithill speaks to the crowd
© Carlo Borlenghi/BMW
The goal is simple: defend the America’s Cup. “The revealing of 17 is a major milestone in our campaign to win the America’s Cup for a third time,” Simmer said.
So then, with the machine built, what is the next major milestone? “We need to get this boat out on the water and put the hours in getting it ready to race," Spithill said. Later this week, 17 will be launched to begin testing and further developments will be made.
This said, we can’t guarantee who will win exactly, but we can guarantee that the changes made over the next three months will, without a doubt, change the sport of sailing as we know it. Standby for more incredible developments from OTUSA and the rest of the fleet.