Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Americas Cup first race won by...

Here are some pictures. Click on to about the 17th pic to grasp just how awesome these 90-foot waterline/100-foot width carbon fiber/titanium/unobtanium boats are. Weight around 6-8 tons, crews around a dozen. Mast height on the USA entry - almost 240 feet. You could (just) fit three of these on a football field. Sideways.

Catamaran flying a hull?: Check.
Trimaran flying 2 hulls?: Check.
30 knots downwind in a 10-knot breeze?: Check.
Skipper wearing a backpack with complete instrumentation built into the sunglasses?: Check.
Sails made of Specter cloth, yet still weigh over half a ton?: Check.

USA is up against the mighty blue-water sea-faring nation of Switzerland.

Winner?: Look it up for yourself.
Next race set for Sunday.

PS. I have been following the AC contest since I was a teenager in inland Oz. 1983, of course, was very special.

One can only imagine the tension on those hulls and rigging. Absolutely mind boggling.

About 90 tons on BOC90. About the weight of our Moosies pack.

I've sailed on 36-40 footers where you could lose a finger but on those guys you could lose an entire limb.

...or worse!

Incredible boats, beautiful pictures.

It would be fun to be cruising on the big boat out there watching the race.

Second race is on now. Select live video.

http://www.americascup.com/en/regate/regarder-la-course/show.html

I've sailed a 45 foot trimaran in Tropical Storm Ida in the Hawaiian islands. Its pretty exciting when the winds gust up. But it was a home made heavy TRI, I can't imaging "flying" a boat like these. I must say that I am disappointed that TRIs are allowed in the Americas Cup, it is such a departure from the beautiful mono-hull boats of the past how many years? Of course those mono hulls were becoming so sophisticated with underwater wings that moved that they also were not really traditional mono hulls either.
Jim

I was curious about the change too. But after reading the Wiki article it sure looks like the 12 meter specification had run it's course and that the radical innovation usually introduced in the race had sort of hit the wall.

The next cup race will be in SF I suppose. I have to see these boats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-metre_class