America’s Cup yacht unveils world’s largest hard wing
The 33rd America’s cup has been bogged down in legal challenges for the last two and half years but both sides have been building ever bigger boats in preparation for the eventual one-on-one showdown that everyone knows is coming.
The American challengers - Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing Team - built a 90 foot long carbon-fibre trimaran only to be outdone by the Alinghi team’s 90 foot super-lightweight catamaran two months ago.
Yesterday BMW Oracle struck back, unveiling the largest hard wing sail ever seen. 53 metres tall. Exotic composite materials. And the speed… yesterday they puddled around San Diego harbour… pushing 30 km/hr in 12 km/hr winds.
Today they took her offshore for the first time. These are the photos. Check out the one below that shows a crew member half-way up the wing for scale.
Holy crap.
