The preliminary regattas of the 2024 Barcelona Yacht Club will be held from 22 to 25 August 2024. 37th America’s Cupor America’s Cupwhich will also be held in Barcelona in the months of September and October 2024. This is the most important international sailing competition, in which Italy has participated 7 times over the years with the boat Luna Rossa Prada PirelliThe preliminary regattas of these days – which can be followed in streaming on the official America’s Cup website – are used by the various teams to test and challenge themselves with the incredible boats that will be used, the AC75These are boats monohull literally designed to fly on the water thanks to two foilmobile appendages placed laterally on the hull of the vessel that allow the boat to rise above the water level.
How Luna Rossa and other boats fly: foil technology
The America’s Cup was born in 1851 and this rightfully makes it one of the oldest international sailing competitions. From the very first edition – held in the southern seas of the United Kingdom and won by a boat called America, hence the name of the cup – the Type of boats competing has changed and evolved a lot over time, reaching the point in recent years AC75 Flying Monohulls.
These monohulls are characterised by the presence of two foil – or hydrofoil, in Italian “hydrowings” – placed on the side of the boat, one on each side, able to lift or immerse themselves in the water depending on the needs, that is, depending on the position of the vessel and the wind, and depending on the maneuver you want to perform.
Foils can be literally defined as the wings of the boat. It’s about T-shaped movable appendages blunt, that is, composed of an arm that connects them to the boat and a structure orthogonal to it. They are adjusted by means of a hydraulic system and placed at the right angle, they behave in a similar way to the wings of an airplane. This means that, when they are immersed in water, exploit the flow of the fluid in which they are immersed to lift the vessel, and this happens thanks to their wing profile: a “drop” that is thicker at one end and which, due to its shape, causes the flow of water below to be greater than the flow of water above, thus generating a pressure difference that pushes upwards. This specific force is called lift.
The presence of these two wings allows the vessel to not be equipped with a keelthat is, the keel, a fundamental component to counterbalance the inclination due to the force of the wind and the presence of the sail. In this case, the role of the keel is delegated to the two foils which, with the help of a type of rudder it too T-shapedare able to provide the leverage needed to maintain balance the vessel and above all allow it to stay the course.
In addition to the wings, they are imposing but “light” vessels
The AC75 I am then imposing but a lot light compared to other boats, a feature that makes the work of the foils sufficient to bring the boat above sea level: it is a boat of 75 feet long – just under 23 meters – and 16 widewith a total of 6.5 tons And 200 square meters. Furthermore, to improve its performance in light winds, the crew It was precisely in this edition reduced from 11 to 8furthermore the crew members are “relegated” to special wells, and no longer move along the deck as previously happened.
The configuration of these boats allows you to reach peaks around 50 knots of speedthat is, approximately 93 km/hThese are extremely high speeds and, therefore, extremely dangerous. We must imagine that at such speeds, if unfortunately a crew member were to fall from the boat, the impact with the water could be fatal. Also for this reason, such fast boats have individual cockpits that allow athletes not to have to move along the boat.
