I'm always amazed at the technology of the sailboats that race in the America's Cup. I read that after the first 150 years of the race the boats were only going 4 knots faster than in 1851, but in the last 10 years they have gone 3 times faster because of foiling.
Now they are going to use single hull or monohull boats that are foiled:
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The main thing is mounting a campaign with one of these boats isn't a $100+ million dollar proposition. That kept a lot of countries out of the running the first time in SF. It was a little less in the Bahamas, but still out of reach.
Local Beach: Ngati Toa, Plimmerton, Titahi Bay, Waikanae, Petone, Seatoun, Lyall Bay, Eastbourne, Lake Wairarapa
Favorite Beaches: Plimmerton
Style: Wave, jump
Gear: Late model Switch kites element and nitros, DIY CAD ultra-concave wave twintips 1500 and 130mm with my own fin designs. Easy upwind, awesome carving. Switch Nitro 10m V7, Naish 5.3m Wing. Now focussing on Wingsurfing to rise to a new challenge. Building my own foils from my CAD design and 3D prints, built a CNC machine last year and now cutting designs with CNC as well as 3D printing. Up to 3 DIY foil designs built and getting the hang of wingsurf foiling as we switch into 2021.
I like to watch the Americas cup races. We have it at the moment. Controversy with sour grapes allegations from someone kicked out of the Kiwi team for selling/giving secrets to an opposition team. Less time with ongoing covid 19 and our border control for teams to prep for local conditions but I'm sure a good challenge will still be mounted. We struggle to keep the design talent in NZ because the local economy is so much smaller than that of some of the competing countries.
Most of all though, I wonder about the racing clearances between boat's hydrofoils. The above water clearances are no longer enough between boats.
