This article was first published in the August 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
The America's Cup is the world's most-storied yacht race. But despite being founded in 1851 as a race around the Isle of Wight, the 164-year-old event has never been won by a British team. Ben Ainslie is out to change that. An Olympic champion and winner of the 2013 event with Oracle Team USA, Lymington-based Ainslie has launched his own team, Land Rover-Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR), and has set his sights on lifting the title. Key to its chances of success: building a better boat.
From July 23 to July 26, competing teams will set sail in the America's Cup World Series in Portsmouth, host of the preliminary race series for the 35th Cup, which takes place in Bermuda in 2017. For fairness, the World Series will be sailed in identical 13-metre AC45 catamarans, which use hydrofoils to float above the water. But for the America's Cup itself, each team is hard at work building its own 15-metre craft. "Design and engineering are central to winning," says Ainslie. "These are much more dynamic boats than we have ever seen before, flying on hydrofoils at phenomenal speeds and crewed by great athletes." "It's much more of a Formula 1 paradigm now," says BAR technical director Andy Claughton of the team's data-led design approach. Among the changes introduced for the 2017 race is a rule that boats must be entirely wind- or person-powered -- meaning the slightest edge in aerodynamics or crew performance could be the difference between triumph and disaster. "It's all quite daunting, but I think it will improve the spectacle," he says.
Here, Claughton breaks down the technology and design features that will (hopefully) enable the new boat to sail past the competition this summer.
HullThe teardrop shape helps the bow resurface quickly if submerged. A GPS beacon lets race organisers track each boat.
SensorsOn-board sensors combine data from more than 1,000 measurements -- from wave speed to pressure on the sail -- in real time.\
SailThe 22-metre-tall carbon-fibre wing will be able to generate horizontal force up to three times the actual wind speed.\
CrewThe six-strong crew train using Oculus Rift and a motion simulator. Sensors embedded in their life vests will record performance data.\
HydrofoilsThe asymmetrical carbon-fibre daggerboard -- the long downwards fins -- and rudders act like wings, generating lift.\
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
