America's Cup: Cup defenders flex their muscles

The American Cup defenders are flexing their muscles in the waters for the 35th America's Cup. After Sir Ben Ainslie's British team BAR became the first team to start training on smaller catamarans in the waters of Bermuda at the beginning of the year, it is now Jimmy Spithill's men who are the first to fly a Cup catamaran of the new AC45S type in the Great Sound off Bermuda. The Americans launched their training boat on Monday.

"For us, today is the first day with our AC45 out there in the Great Sound. We've been working towards this moment for almost six months since Bermuda was announced as the venue," said Sailing Team Manager and tactician Tom Slingsby. The AC45 catamaran had already sailed in February, but now it was a matter of checking the systems and ensuring that the boat was working according to plan. According to Slingsby, the actual training is not due to start until the end of the week. However, the crew hardly held back during the initial deployment.

The team shone right from the start with successful jibes on the daggerboards, i.e. with continuous flying manoeuvres. "And we even tried a few tacks on the foils. It was fantastic. A perfect day in Bermuda with 15 knots of wind," rejoiced skipper Spithill, who drove the catamaran at a fast pace over one of the local regatta courses. "The International One Design fleet sailed the outside race. We just flew past them and heard loud hooting and hollering," said Spithill. "It blows people's minds when they see what this boat is capable of."

Oracle Team USA will continue its training in the coming weeks in the Great Sound with the AC45S and smaller Phantom catamarans as well as Moths. And with some pride. Spithill emphasised what has been achieved so far with unspoken greetings to the competition: "It says a lot that we are the first to be out here in a 45-footer and get a feel for the race course on a boat this size. That can only work in our favour when race time comes around." Spithill and Oracle Team USA have heralded their next phase of preparation loud and clear. In doing so, they are also taking a little revenge for the fact that the British were the first Cup team to intensively explore the new Cup area in a training phase lasting several weeks with 20-foot catamarans back in January, even before the Americans, and had pointed this out with equal relish.