AC72's

What's are AC72? They're wing-sail catamarans,72 feet long by 46 feet wide, weighing 13,000 lbs with a wing-sail 131 feet tall, covering 2,798 sq feet in area, sailing @ 40 mph (35 knots). They hydrofoil at or above 18 knots which boosts speed 35 -40%.

How do I know all this?

I watched the televised competition of America's Cup on the bay at San Francisco.

I was always intrigued with the design of a catamaran but, since I”m not into sailing, I never became interested in them, consequently never dreaming of a cat sailing ABOVE water.

Designers of naval architecture have utilized space age materials of glass and carbon to create light weight structures attached to hulls. Sails have given way to wings and when the AC72's foil, they are like magic carpets flying above water.

Horses are the sport of kings, but racing AC72's is the sport of only a handful of mega-billionaires. Being prohibitive, the number of entrants in the race has dropped.

They are also dangerous to manipulate with one known fatality to date.

In all probability though, further experiment in design will continue since hydro foiling saves fuel and sailing at such astounding speeds will certainly be ours in the future.



AC72 Oracle Catamaran