Although the big boss, Larry Ellison, was not present in person, the show was in his honour. Judy Sim, Head of Marketing at Oracle and a kind of confidante, was allowed to smash the bubbly on the carbon-fibre bowsprit of the new cat. It worked at the first attempt, a good omen for the defence of the Cup, for which the boat was explicitly built. The first striking features are the new colour scheme and the new aerodynamic fairings, which are designed to further reduce drag.
It is version 2.0 of the AC72 that capsized so spectacularly in the autumn at Fort Mason in strong winds and outgoing tide and was badly damaged in the process. The repair took several weeks and ended with a thorough overhaul of the original boat. It was "Version 1.5", which represented an intermediate step towards the new vehicle, which was optimised in many areas. "We go faster than the cars on the Golden Gate Bridge," says tactician John Kostecki. "On the cross it's around 20 knots, then more than 40 on the beam. It will also be interesting to factor in the current and the very changeable wind conditions in the bay."
Kostecki is alluding to the fact that most of these boats will be sailing over water in foiling mode. This will require different settings for the Louis Vuitton Cup of the challengers, which will be held in the strong wind months of July and August, than for the America's Cup, which will take place from 7 to 21 September. Because the wind on the Bay will be a little lighter by then, the winning challenger will have to modify its boat for the Cup match, while Oracle will only optimise its craft for the expected conditions in September.
It is interesting to note that the Tide on the Bay in the first days of the regatta. Because the current comes exactly from the wind direction, the water will be rather flat. However, the longer the Cup regatta, which is scheduled for a maximum of 17 (!) races, lasts, the rougher it gets, because the outgoing current is then against the wind and thus produces the dreaded choppy water that prevailed last autumn when the Oracle cat capsized.
AC72 capsize
It was still too early to see how the new AC72 would sail, as the scheduled test run was kept very short because the wind was blowing at more than 20 knots. The plan calls for training runs this week, and the first cat is also to be sailed a few more times before it is mothballed. Challengers Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand are currently moving their bases and boats to San Francisco and will start training after mid-May. Artemis' second boat is still under construction and is due to be launched at the end of May.
