Sailing-Feeling the force aboard an America's Cup flying 'beast'

BARCELONA (Reuters) – There is barely a sound as its sails fill and the ‘sister ship’ to New Zealand’s America’s Cup race boat takes off, its huge hull seemingly defying gravity as it lifts eerily above the sea.

Squeezed into a pod on the port side of the French team’s 75 foot boat, the sensation one sailor described as “go karting on a flying carpet”, feels like being airborne, with occasional dips and lurches resembling mild turbulence on a plane.

Hunched over handle bars in the pod behind, sweat dripping into the bilges, a “power sailor” is pedalling furiously to pump the oil needed for the hydraulics used to trim the wing-like sails.

Other than occasional exchanges between the crew, the only sounds are the whirring of the cyclors and the whistling of wind over the sleek white decks and black carbon sails as the boat reaches 35 knots, four or five times the speed of the breeze but well below its 55 knots potential.

While the British and New Zealand boats practised nearby last week before the final, the French team, whose tilt at the America’s Cup ended in the qualifying stages, were putting the sleek AC75 through its paces and giving a member of their youth team his first go at the wheel.

“Taking off with the 75 is something unreal. You are used to sailing boats with a lot of noise from the water and the wind. As soon as you take off it’s just pure silence and you double or triple the speed,” said French skipper Quentin Delapierre.

Other than their crews, only a handful of people have been aboard the futuristic AC75s, let alone sailed on one, such is the secrecy surrounding their designs.

New Zealand have for months been jealously guarding the internal workings of “Taihoro”, in which the holders of the America’s Cup hope to defeat “Britannia” in the first-to-seven wins series on the Mediterranean.

The France team’s boat “Orient Express” was built using a design package bought from the New Zealand team, making it very similar to theirs.

“I think it’s the fastest boat on the planet … It’s unbelievable to be part of and to have the privilege to sail,” co-helm Delapierre, 32, told Reuters before docking out last week, adding: “These boats are super, super fast”.

That speed is clear glancing back at the wake off the elegantly sloping stern and at the team’s chase boat, which is hurtling along in pursuit.

Hidden deep in the hull are banks of lithium-ion batteries to power the hydraulics which enable the two flight controllers to operate the foils and get the hull to the ideal height.

Crucial to maximising speed is reducing drag on the foils, which are raised or lowered on either side of the hull.

“We don’t have exactly the same foils, but we are not far away and that is the part that we have to develop for the future,” co-CEO Bruno Dubois said at the French base, adding that the team would like to try again at the next America’s Cup.

“Let’s see what the next rules are,” Dubois said of future design choices, which would depend on what changes the winners of the “Auld Mug” decided to make.

CHALLENGING

With headphones and a microphone built into the helmets worn by the sailors, communication is largely about the next manoeuvre, with a “three, two, one” countdown to each ‘tack’, when the 26-metre tall main sail and jib move from one side to the other as the boat changes direction.

Because crew members cannot see the other side of the boat, letting each other know succinctly what they are doing is crucial, with the co-helms handing the steering back and forth.

Meanwhile, more than 200 monitors track every move, with the data fed back to servers ashore for analysis.

Feeling the g-force squeeze your body against the side of the pod is a reminder of the power of the 6.2 ton boat and why you are kitted out with an impact vest, underwater breathing apparatus and a knife to cut yourself free in case of capsize.

Over the side, the black foil slices through the water, its upturned tip just piercing the surface. But the structure flexes only slightly as it bears the burden of the carbon fibre boat, its batteries, electronics and eight crew.

“It is challenging for sure. Stability is complicated and you are only on foils and the technique around it is quite high,” said Dubois, who has now been part of five America’s Cup campaigns, when asked how hard the AC75 is to sail.

Enzo Balanger, who was cheered loudly from the chase boat as he successfully performed his first AC75 take-off, admitted it had been “a bit stressful”.

But back ashore, the youth team’s skipper said he felt “really lucky to be one of the few guys who have helmed this boat … it’s just a beast.”

(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Ken Ferris)