The new America’s Cup class boat in the Oracle Team USA is ready and it was showcased by the team at its base. The skipper of Oracle Team, Jimmy Spithill, introduced the boat to the friends, family, dignitaries and the team partners that had assembled at their base.
These new boats are 15 meters in length and are foiling, wing-sailed catamarans. These boats can reach a top speed of 100km/h. The best part about this new boat is that it can be easily maneuvered and hence racing on this boat will be a lot of fun and adventure.
Spithill said that he is looking forward to getting the new boat on the water and to test it for long hours to make it race friendly. They are looking to work on it for long days. The “17” boat will be launched this week and the development and testing of the boat will also begin. Then there is no stopping for the boat and the Oracle Team USA till the final race of the America’s Cup.
The design coordinator for the Oracle Team, Scott Ferguson, told PlainSailing.com website that the major design decisions have all been incorporated into the new boat. The optimization and the refinement process of the boat will not cease, and will always continue. The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers is just around the corner and the team is focusing on that for the next few weeks.
A total of 50 boat builders and 15 designers were employed to work on the new ‘17’ boat for the Oracle Team for the America’s Cup race. There were more than 85,000 man hours put in for the design and building of the boat. The technical support and expertise for the boat were also provided by team partners Parker, Yanmar, Airbus and BMW.
The COO of the Oracle Team USA, Grant Simmer, believes that the new boat will help the team to win the America’s Cup for the third time.
