As the teams continue their preparations for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona next year, one new consideration will have to come into calculations as they develop their race boats.
Unlike the last edition of the Cup, in which teams were able to build two AC75s during their campaign, theyare only permitted to build one new 75-foot (22.86-metre) foiling monohull this time around. It’s an added level to the challenge of a competition in which the design element is already vital.
In Auckland for the last edition of the Cup, teams only had to prepare a vessel capable of handling flat conditions. Race management had a range of courses available and could choose the best one on the morning of racing, based on the conditions. In Barcelona, they face a different scenario altogether.
Barcelona is known to have a demanding sea state with some winds producing swell and waves. There is just one designated course for racing off downtown Barcelona, so teams will have to design a vessel capable of handling bumpy conditions.
It’s an element Luna Rossa helmsman Jimmy Spithill believes makes the next few months vital for every team involved in the regatta.
“There’s going to be some really critical decisions made over these next few months and it’ll be fascinating to see with all the teams what direction they’ll take,” Spithill told the Herald.
“This will be the first America’s Cup where we’ve ever had to go foiling in waves and it’s tough. We’ve seen that in SailGP - we had quite a rough series in Cadiz [in southern Spain] with waves. That’s completely new because every foiling America’s Cup since San Francisco has been flat water. This will be fascinating because it will be the first time we’ll be out there in some swell.
“Every America’s Cup, it’s all about the people, the decisions you make and the process of taking those decisions. It’s just one boat and effectively a one-shot deal on your foils as well.”
Luna Rossa's Francesco Bruni and Jimmy Spithill during the 2021 America's Cup in New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images
In the 2021 regatta in Auckland, Luna Rossa turned heads with a dual-helm design which saw Spithill at the helm on one side of the boat and Francesco Bruni on the other. It was a design that limited crew movement onboard, with the man in charge changing throughout a race depending on the direction the boat was sailing. Whichever driver was not at the helm was the flight controller, and communication between the two was a crucial element to making this system work.
And it did work. Luna Rossa won the Challenger Series to earn a shot at Team New Zealand in the Cup match, which they ultimately lost 7-3.
There are fewer crew onboard this time around, with crew numbers dropping from 11 to eight, so there will already be less movement onboard, but the potential rocky conditions could see other teams adopt the dual helm strategy - something Spithill expected to see after the success his team had with it in Auckland.
Throughout their early testing in the scaled-down AC40s, all six teams involved in the America’s Cup regatta have had issues in trying to find similar swells and then learning how best to sail in them, with several capsizes or near-tips. Team New Zealand have also recently been able to sail on their existing AC75 Te Rehutai, with an updated configuration to that used to win the last Cup.
Preparations are ramping up for all teams as they get ready to take to the water for the first America’s Cup preliminary regatta, about 45km down the coast from Barcelona in Vilanova i la Geltrú in September. It will be the first opportunity for the six teams entered in the regatta to sail against one another, with the preliminary regatta being contests in the AC40s.
