French La Roche-Posay Racing Team first to sail their AC75 in Naples

It’s a major operation getting an AC75 launched. The boat and mast come out of the shed on trollies, the mast is stepped via a huge crane on the shore, the boat itself is then craned in, and the systems are checked by the technical team. The hull is the sistership of Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC75 which won the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona, so they French have an excellent starting platform to work with, but with the change from 8 to 5 crew, and the cyclors replaced by battery-powered energy systems, the internals of the boat will be unrecognisable from the last America’s Cup. All the teams have to use the previous generation of hulls, aiming to contain costs, but have been allowed to make minor structural modifications up to 4 square metres, but this is for internal system changes, not shape changes. Apart from the reduced crew numbers and batteries, the major developments will be in foil wings and flaps, as well as sailing control systems. This is where the Kiwis excelled in Barcelona, gliding through the tacks with exceptional efficiency, and expect a huge amount of development work to go into creating similar systems, although the Emirates Team New Zealand patent on their ‘elastic luff’ system may force them to come up with different ways to achieve the same result. After all the checks it was finally time for the team to go sailing, and the La Roche-Posay Racing Team officially became the first team to sail their AC75 in Naples, the host city for the 38th America’s Cup. From word go it’ll be all about collecting data and testing systems, with a cap of 45 days on the water in the lead-up to the event. Countless hours will be spent pouring over the information to try and work out what gains can be made, and how to achieve an advantage over their rivals. Any major innovations will be shrouded in secrecy, as has always been the way with the America’s Cup. Thumbnail photo (c) Pierre Bouras / America's Cup #sailing #americascup #naples