AC75 launched
Emirates Team New Zealand launch the first AC75, which uses technology to set a precedence.
09 September 2019
Advertisement
The AC75 Class is a 75 foot, high performance monohull governed by the AC75 Class Rule which was published on 29 March 2018. The Class Rule is open enough to guarantee a wide margin of freedom to the designers but introduces certain one-design elements for cost containment also.
The AC75 supplied parts – identical for all the teams – are the foil arms, the foil cant system and the rigging. The shape and base laminate of the mast is also controlled by the Class Rule.
The AC75 rotating mast is a 26.5 metre long one-design ‘D’ shaped section that weighs about 300kg and serves as the leading edge of the double skinned mainsail.
Emirates Team New Zealand’s mast has been built at Southern Spars in Auckland whereas the rigging package was built at Future Fibres in Valencia.
The two other one-design components are key to make the boat fly.
Advertisement
The foil arms, built at Persico Marine in Italy, are the result of a project led by Luna Rossa Challenge with the collaboration of all the America’s Cup teams and New Zealand based composite engineering consultancy Pure Design and Engineering. Each 4.5 metre long carbon foil arm has a wing attached to its tip. The foil wings are custom designed and built by each team.
Driving the foil arms is the electronic and hydraulic foil cant system (FCS), another one design supplied part, which moves the arms and wings in and out of the water.
The foil cant system was designed by Emirates Team New Zealand and assembled in Auckland before being distributed to all teams earlier in the year.
The rest of the Class Rule is open and being a new concept, leaves the design quite open as no proven path has yet been defined for these types of boats. Any shrouding of the yachts in the 36th America’s Cup is prohibited so teams won’t be able to hide their different design approaches and subsequent developments.
The most visible differences will be seen in the hull shapes and deck layouts. Despite a number of basic constraints such as the length, the hull shape has few significant limits on shape or structure. Design teams will be looking for a shape with minimal drag in light-wind displacement mode while also addressing the stability required to generate thrust for take off.
Evident differences will be displayed also in the foil wings and wing flaps as they are also open to design and, being T-style foils, their shapes have been less explored than the L- foils used in the last two Cups.
The double-surface mainsail – a new innovation of the 36th America’s Cup Class Rule – will be key in the performance of the boat and a lot of hours have been invested in its design.
The hydraulic and electronic control systems, powered and controlled by the crew, operate key components of the boat such as the foils and they have been subjected to important developments as well but will they remain a vey guarded secret by each team.
All in the numbers
23: the length in metres of the new boat
26.5: the height in meters of the mast from the deck
11: the crew onboard
6.5: the weight in tonnes of the boat
5: the maximum beam of the boat and the foils’ maximum draft
4: the foil wing span in metres
65: number of people working on the design and build of the boat. 30 designers and 35 boatbuilders have put in the hours to design and build “Te Aihe”.
100,000+: number of man-hours it took to design and build the boat.
2021: the 36th America’s Cup will take place from the 6th to 21st of March 2021
1851: the year the America’s Cup was born
3: Times New Zealand has won the America’s Cup
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
