After 15 years without the America’s Cup in the United State’s possession, on February 14, BMW Oracle was able to bring the cup back to where it belongs. Larry Ellison’s incredible “sailboat from the future”, sporting a revolutionary vertical stiff-wing sail was able to out-pace Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi.
It is absolutely proven that BMW Oracle was a much better, and faster boat. On Sunday, in merely 8 knots of wind, Oracle flew at more than 30 knots. To me, it is absolutely incredible to think that a 114 foot sailboat can go three times the speed of the wind. The trimaran is extremely light-weight and certainly revolutionary.
Basically, the “On the Wing Sail” makes the BMW Oracle exceptionally unique. As you can see the wing on this sail acts just like an airplane wing, where there is high pressure on one side, and a lower pressure on the other. There are two sections of the width of the wing. The first half, or the main wing, is stationary, and the second part, or the flap is completely controllable. You can actually “bend” the wind to thrust the boat forward. They say that because of this technology, it allows them to get those top boat speeds of about three times the speed of the wind.
Obviously, this wing is absolutely massive. You can see that it is almost double one of the wings on the A380, and it is almost the same size as the complete wingspan of the Airbus!
What was almost the most impressive was just how much they beat the catamaran Alinghi. In race 1, BMW Oracle crossed the line 15 minutes and 28 seconds before Alinghi. Oracle was simply pointing noticeably higher than Alinghi whenever they were sailing upwind They were also just sailing faster. In race 2, the final delta was 5 minutes and 25 seconds.
I was fortunate to be able to watch the races live, on the internet. It was great to see an absolutely technically driven sailboat race, where the better engineered design was the winner. You can talk all about the drama leading up to the race, but all in all it was an extremely important regatta for sailing. I hope we don’t have to wait another three years to see another America’s Cup race.
*Photos by Gilles Martin-Raget / www.bmor-photo.com*
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