As a dress rehearsal for the 2013 America’s Cup, the world’s best sailors hit the water in the world’s fastest sailboats: wing-sailed catamarans faster than anything raced in the Cup before. This weekend marks the second regatta of the America’s Cup World Series, and the AC45s on the water this year are nothing compared to the AC72s we’ll see racing next year.
As winners of the 2010 America’s Cup, tech titan Larry Ellison and Team Oracle got to write the rules for this round, and he essentially threw away 150 years of tradition. Those stately yachts you’re used to seeing in the Cup? Gone, replaced by touchy, twitchy high-tech carbon fiber beasts far faster, and demanding, than anything raced before.
The new boats make the racing much more exciting, and increases the chances of spectacular crashes. It happens to the best of them. Watch here as Oracle Team USA CEO Russell Coutts, a four-time America’s Cup winner, flips an AC45 in a practice race last summer.
The AC45, named for its length, is 70 feet tall, 22.6 feet wide and weighs 3,086 pounds. Now consider that the boats racing in next year’s Cup finals are twice as big and have a top speed north of 30 knots. If that doesn’t make you want to grab your Top-Siders and watch a race, nothing will.
