If being made to sign a waiver before you hop on board Team New Zealand’s second super-sleek AC72, Aotearoa, isn’t enough to make one nervous, being thrown a helmet and oxygen bottle as you leave the chase boat certainly is. But in this brave new world of extreme sailing, even we reporters need to adjust.
For a number of years, Larry Ellison, the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corp., has been an enigma. With a personal net worth of around $40 billion, his life is outsized, whether he’s running a company with 120,000 employees, pursuing the America’s Cup, or buying the entire Hawaiian island of Lanai.
To sail a 72-foot foiling catamaran around the course in AC34, the competitors will have to attack, attack, attack. And we’re not talking about attacking the opponent. It’s about attacking the course.
Details on the 2013 America’s Cup Finals are still elusive, but a newly released course diagram eliminates most of the guesswork. The reaching starts that trialed in AC45s in the America’s Cup World Series will be the new standard.
Secrecy is as much a part of the America’s Cup as the “Auld Mug” itself, and AC34 has been no exception. That said, it’s hard to hide what you’re up to aboard a full-foiling catamaran; no more hiding your underwater appendages behind a skirt as you take the boat in and out of the water.
Oracle Team USA It would be hard to overestimate the strengths of the Defender, Oracle Team USA. A team comprised of some of the best
PFDs and a New Venue While windage has long been a concern aboard high-performance sailboats, racing a full-foiling catamaran at 40-plus knots takes the question
As the 2016 America’s Cup World Series begins drawing to a close, the Defender and five challengers are increasingly turning the focus of their efforts
Although it took a while for the breeze to fill in on Saturday, the Windy City more than lived up to its name this past
In a Cup cycle that is continues to constitute a series of “firsts,” The Louis Vuitton America’s cup World Series is moving on from the
This weekend saw the fourth annual Northeast Ocean Racing Symposium (NORS), held at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. The day of technical lectures and networking
Contributing Editor Christopher Birch’s much anticipated book The Four Seasons of Boat Maintenance is out now. Billed as “the maintenance manual that should have come
On March 1, the U.S. SailGP Team shook up the Grand Prix series and won the Sydney Sail Grand Prix, marking their first victory since
Lessons learned by others are a great guide when putting together a vacation to remember.
After being the Chief Designer at Tartan Yachts for 48 years, Tim Jackett has found a new home with Niche Watercraft. The company has announced
A trans-oceanic performance catamaran loads up on practical features and comforts of home.
A classic racing yacht, three weeks at sea, and eight crewmates you’ve never met. What could go wrong?
Editor’s Note: This story is excerpted from SAIL Contributing Editor Christopher Birch’s upcoming book The Four Seasons of Boat Maintenance(available for order soon)—a compendium of
Ever notice how sea stories just get better with the passage of time? The more years that disappear in the wake and the more times
We spend too much time in the sun as sailors and need all the protection we can get… but, have you ever put on a
