radical
thinking
JUST HOW WILL THE NEW AMERICA’S CUP 75FT
MONOHULL DESIGN WORK AND BE FASTER THAN
THE CATAMARANS? MATTHEW SHEAHAN EXPLAINSs the rumour mill gathered pace ahead of the offi cial
announcement, word spread quickly that the new
America’s Cup boat would be unconventional — a
75ft monohull with no keel and a 49ft beam.
But when the drawings were revealed the new
design was even more radical than the gossip
had suggested.
To call the design unconventional, would be employing
understatement. To those who found the previous AC50s hard on
the eye and diffi cult to understand, this was simply bewildering.
It had been no secret that the new design would be a monohull
following Emirates Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton’s
declaration shortly after winning the Cup in Bermuda that the
team’s intention would be to switch back from two hulls to one.
Some saw his comments as a return to more conventional
yachting and applauded what they believed would restore
the Cup to its traditional roots after two cycles of high speed
cat madness.A
i
50 February 2018