36th America's Cup 2021 Auckland - AC75 Rules
The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Circolo della Vela Sicilia, together with Emirates Team New Zealand and the Challenger of Record - Luna Rossa have published the new AC75 Class Rule for the 2021 America’s Cup in Auckland, New Zealand.
The AC75 rules are the 'blueprint' for the new boats and regulate all design aspects to guarantee fair racing while leaving the teams with enough flexibility for technical innovations to improve their boats. They further combine a high performance racing design with safety. Ballasted twin canting T-foils provide a great roll stability when sailing and the possibility that the boat can right itself in the event of a capsize.
Overall the underlying principle has been to provide affordable and sustainable technology ‘trickle down’ to other sailing classes and yachts.
Some interesting AC75 rules are:
- Monohull boat design
- The number of components that can be built are strictly limited, that includes hulls, foils, masts, sails and rudders. This should encourage teams to spend more time on research, development and simulation and subsequently reduce physical construction and testing.
- Cant systems and foil arm stocks will be supplied to reduce development time and costs
- Rigging will be supplied
- One design mast tube
Also the new design concept for the AC75 mainsail, which is a 'soft wing' and the hull, are expected to have a positive effect on future sailing beyond the America's Cup. Read complete AC75 class rules
"The AC75 Class Rule sets the parameters for the teams to develop and race the fastest sailing monohull on earth. The rules are the result of a close collaboration and a true partnership between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa"
Martin Fischer, Design Coordinator for Luna Rossa Challenge
"This design process has been new territory for the team, starting with a clean sheet to develop a class - and we've loved it. We wanted to see how far we could push the performance of monohull yachts to create a foiling boat that would be challenging to sail and thrilling to match race. We're really excited about the concept and can't wait to see it on the water...
We think we have achieved these goals - thanks also to the constructive co-operation of Luna Rossa design team - as well as the more practical detail to consider in terms of cost management and logistics of running the boats."
Dan Bernasconi, Design Coordinator Emirates Team New Zealand
AC75 Boat design concept for the next America's Cup in Auckland
With the new AC75 rules in place the America's Cup teams can now develop their own boats. For the engineers and yacht designers that means all hands on deck! Creativity and innovation are in high demand to gain the competitive edge building the fastest yacht within the constraints.
By March 31 2019 the America's Cup teams will reveal their boat designs when they can be launched, we're excited!
Resources:
- America's Cup AC75 Class Rule v1.1, 29 Mar 2018 (PDF, 4.2MB)
America's Cup images: courtesy of Emirates Team New Zealand