chasing the

Three countries have met thechallenge so far: Sweden,New Zealand and Italy. Afourth is doubtful at this time,that being Korea. Korea has

paid their entrance fee but has shownno signs of an AC72 program beingstarted and this late in the game itdoesn’t look promising. With theirrecent loss of Olympic Gold MedallistNathan Outridge to Sweden, TeamKorea’s participation in the LouisVuitton America’s Cup ChallengerSeries is a long shot, at best.

THE TEAMS Each team represents a yacht club of

that country. But that’s about where itall ends. The money needed tocompete in the 34th America’s Cup hasnot been forthcoming to many of thesport’s greatest would-be challengers.

The new cup started out with the hopeof 10 teams from countries likeAustralia, France, Spain, England andChina competing. However, they willnot be in the running for the 34thAmerica’s Cup in San Francisco 2013.

France began with two teams EnergyTeam Fr. and Aleph Team Fr. Alephbowed out early when it becameobvious they wouldn’t be able to raisethe money for a program of anypromise to challenge the Oracle.

More surprising was theannouncement that Team Energy, aswell, could not find the funds needed tomake a successful assault. Led by thePeyron brothers, Loïck and Bruno, thisteam showed the most promise indefeating one of the three powerhouseteams from Italy, New Zealand andSweden.

8 2 M U LT I H U L L W O R L D

BY JOHN MANGINO - iSail Media

No pun intended: the chase to win the 34thAmerica’s Cup begins with the design of a newAmerica’s Cup Class, the AC72.

Oracle

photo John Mangino iSail Media

Oracle

photo John Mangino iSail Media

THE MONEY Country and money, the one team

that has the hopes of its nation in itshands is New Zealand (Emirates TeamNew Zealand or ETNZ as they havebecome known.) Emirates Airlines, ananchor, isn’t the lead contributor. Thelead sponsor is the country itself, withthe New Zealand Government investingsome 34 million dollars in the program.Additionally, sponsors Dell, Videophone,Camper and Toyota are among 25 to 30sponsors needed to raise the estimated100 million for a winning campaign.

Artemis Racing Team Sweden, nowhere’s a quandary for you. This effort,though well-sponsored, is more of theold America’s Cup we knew. Onebillionaire is chasing another – this beingone Torbjörn Törnqvist, head of amysterious commodities brokerscompany, headquartered in GenevaSwitzerland.

Gunvor, Törnqvist’s company, is thethird largest broker of crude oil in theworld, with a revenue of 80 billiondollars. Artemis Racing’s owner is theone of the founders. Artemis doesn’t listits sponsors, it lists suppliers. It also hasa vested CEO in Paul Cayard, theAmerica’s Cup legend. Thought to bethe lone gun in this game, Artemis is theChallenger of Record.

Prada Luna Rossa Team Italy – theireffort probably has the biggest fan baseand public support of a country. It notonly has the famous fashion housebehind it but its owners as well. PatrizioBertelli and his wife Miuccia Prada havewhat is known as the Prada Group.They also list only suppliers as sponsorsand in the beginning of the challengethe company was offered on the HongKong Stock market for investment.Thought to be well-vested as well, Luna Rossa Challenge has teamed upwith Emirates Team New Zealand in the building and fabricating of theirAC72.

THE BOATS : EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND New Zealand was the first to foil.

ETNZ was the first to splash a completeAC72 and test sail it. And the first tofoil – yes, foiling in the America’s Cup isanother first. All the teams will be foiling,

or at least at this point, those who arebuilding two boats will be.

Emirates Team New Zealand is firstout of the box and will be the first boatto be fully measured by the America’sCup Race Management.

What comes with being the firstseems that AC hadn’t thought out verywell how they will be going abouttemplating the New AC72 and becauseeach one is so different they are actuallylearning along the way using NewZealand’s first hull as a live/learnexercise.

One recent interview tape revealssome of the hidden aspects of the NZentry. And that is the problems causedby the boat’s seeming ability to cant itshulls. This affects width of the boatoverall or so it may seem. Then again,nothing is ever as it seems in this level

of competition, just like Formula Oneracing.

ARTEMIS RACING Artemis Racing was actually the first

to test an AC72 wing in Valencia on anOrma 60 trimaran. Artemis was first tohave a major setback as well when theyhad a catastrophic failure and their wingcame crashing down to earth. Said tobe a main mast failure, it came straightdown on the boat. Luckily, no one washurt.

Artemis probably has the biggesthoney pot to pull from and they havetwo bases now, one in Valencia, Spainand one in Alameda, California. Thisaffords them two things: home fieldadvantage like Oracle as well as gettingthe team settled in and completelyfamiliar with the field of play, or bay ofplay shall we say. Artemis hull arrived

8 4 M U LT I H U L L W O R L D

Emirates Team New Zealand is first out of the boxand will be the first boat to be fully measured by theAmerica’s Cup Race Management

photo Guilain Grenier @ ortusa

THE ORACLE BATBOAT, USA17 Foiling Game – While we have seen

the remarkable footage of the Emirates’boat foiling, we have yet to see theOracle’s first AC72 foil, although thereare many that believe they have goneback to the drawing board with theirfoiling design. Here we will look closerat the boat itself, a far more aero-designed package all around. Oracle’s

AC72 has much mystery yet to beuncovered.

The mysterious centre structure USA17 sports is a hull-looking structure thatmost believe is for stiffness as well asdiverting sea state running downwind.Not close enough to waterline to beconsidered a hull, its actual functionremains a mystery. Above this greatapparatus is another mystery running

Artemis probably has the biggest honey pot to pullfrom and they have two bases now, one in Valencia,Spain and one in Alameda, California

from Valencia last month during theAmerica’s Cup World series (ACWS)August rounds. In an almost fire enginered saying “I’m here” there other testboat, the Orma 6.0 did as well. Theirfirst wing is in Valencia still beingrepaired and their totally new wing –wind number two, is being assembled inCalifornia.

Comparing the two boats so far thatwill challenge for the Vuitton Trophy issomewhat difficult. The Emirates boatlooks to be built for the long haul. Someare calling it ‘The Tractor’. What is veryobvious though is that Artemis’ hulllooks the same very sturdiness, thoughit seems a bit conservativein basic design and it has ahidden truth. Artemis willbe using an inboarddagger system unlike whatwe have seen from the twoothers to have tested todate.

photo Ch

ris Cam

eron 2012 @ etnz

photo Guilain Grenier @ ortusa

Photo Sander van der Borch / Artemis Racing

through the centreline of the boat: twoseemingly tubes colored white thatalmost look like airbags, port andstarboard of centreline. Only time will telltheir purpose.

One obvious setback that occurredwas the breakage of a daggerboard onthe AC72 of Oracle in the early going oftesting, actually the first test sail. Afoiling dagger like we have seen on their

AC45 test boats, it is primary an L-shaped board.

Setting the team back about a month,and everyone and their brotherscreaming foul, in about a week theywere back out with full sail sets and onedagger a bit shorter than the other. Andwith it fixed, basically they could test theother systems aboard: wing, hydraulics,grinders, etc.

Also notably different areits steering systems or whatsome call attitude helm.Artemis’ we have not seenyet. The New Zealandboat’s two helms arewheeled, one port, onestarboard.

The Oracle version is arudder system or pole thatruns a beam of the aftcross-member or stern thatthe helmsman can controlfrom any number ofpositions, crossing side toside and with a twist it

seems to have an actuator built into it.Some believe with a twist of the wrist,the heights and attitude of the daggerboards can be adjusted, fore and aft,giving more bow or less.

The Oracle boat also differs inundercarriage and lack of it. Losing thedrag created by this, it is all round slip-streamed and has well-designed usageof its elements and what is around it.The pod, as it is called and also createdfrom weight saved all around, allowsmore weight to disburse under the wingand rig thus lowering its centre ofgravity.

Also different from the New Zealandboat are the crew stations. The crew

8 6 M U LT I H U L L W O R L D

Photo Carlo Borlenghi / Prada Luna Rossa

Shortly after this article waswritten disaster struck teamOracle’s first AC72 USA 17.The pitchpole was heard aroundthe world. This incident lastedsome 12 hours seeing the teamwashed under the Golden GateBridge and out to the Pacific. Ithas lead to every teamreassessing their capsizeprograms and stringent trainingand safety protocols are being putin place . This has been a major setback tothe defending America's Cupteam.

Some believe with a twist of the wrist, the heights andattitude of the dagger boards can be adjusted, fore andaft, giving more bow or less

ORAClE TEAM USA UpdATE

photo Gu

ilain Grenier @ ortu

sa

station’s bases are below or just at thewaterline, lower than the boats gravityor even more. USA 17’s are at thelowest allowable height as well. Sleekdaggers, in comparison to the Artemishull that is concaved at its bows, allowdistribution of water in a nosedive, afate worse than death in a boat thissize.

All three boats are completely differentyet share one thing: The AC72 Box

Rule. A note – Prada’s efforts will berelived in late October I’m told. As forTeam Korea, they have paid theentrance fee. At this time there hasbeen no word of a build underway. Mostbelieve their effort will fall short of thatthis time around although they havebeen very competitive in the WorldSeries.

M U LT I H U L L W O R L D 8 7

The author is embedded mediaat America’s Cup World Seriesand Vuitton Cup ChallengersSeries. You can follow at theevents@acworldseries.blogsot.com

Photo Sa

nder van der Borch / Artemis Ra

cing