The AC75 has been successfully tested for strength
Sailing

The AC75 has been successfully tested for strength

Innovative foilers tip over and bite their nose at full speed, but remain in one piece.
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The experts analyzed the cases when 23-meter AS75 foilers, built for the upcoming «America»'s Cup, were buried with their nose in the water or tipped over. The way the sailboats react to crew errors and how quickly they can be brought back into operation puts the class in line with the 9-meter Scythians and even the «Olympic» 5-meter 49er FX. What all these boats have in common is that the various flips for them are of course a serious event, but the crew will not fall out of the competition even for a day. At the same time, for the AC50 and AC73 used for the America«'s Cup in the» last two seasons, such situations were catastrophic.

Another confirmation of the AC75's reliability was the case that took place in early September with the American Magic team in New Zealand's Auckland. American Defiant overturned during training, but was placed on the keel within minutes with the help of a support vessel, after which the team quietly continued to prepare for the competition. The Christmas Cup is scheduled for December 17-20.

Unfortunately, neither video nor photos of this latest incident have been published. However, something like this has happened to American Magic before, when the team was training on a reduced prototype AC75 - AM38. That time, according to the crew, the power of impact was such that catamarans for the America's Cup of «past» years couldn't withstand it.

The British from the INEOS Team were the first to feel the AC75 burying its nose in the water. This case took place back in January 2020 in Sardinia.

How quickly the AC75 can be returned to the keel can be seen in the shooting of the crash of the New Zealand Te Aihe in December 2019. It took the support team only 4.5 minutes for the crew to continue training. By comparison, in 2017 the AC50 returned to its working position after the Emirates Team New Zeland coup d'etat took 40 minutes.

To date, the only case where the AC75 has been really badly damaged is the situation that the Italian Luna Rossa was in in January 2020.

Then the boat was left without a mast. In addition, the water-stag of the bowsprit was broken and the nose was damaged.

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