Fall 2011.indd - Annapolis Yacht Club

Swedish team, Artemis Racing is the official Challenger of Record for the 2013 race to be held in San Francisco, California.
AYC Member Terry Hutchinson will serve as Artemis Racing's skipper in the 2013 America's Cup.
©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget
This time, they have the process seemingly perfected:
Like a giant erector set, the various components of
the AC45 pop out of a 40-foot container—a design
requirement that makes for easy transport around the
globe—and can be assembled in 30 minutes. A sky hook
raises the wing to vertical and the ground crew wheels
the hulls underneath. The wing then sets down into a
ball-and-socket joint, affording it maximum freedom of
movement. The stays are carefully aligned and tightened
to balance it in place. The sky hook then lifts the entire
apparatus into the water.
TRACKING SYSTEMS
Each boat carries an elaborate array of electronics,
created by veteran America’s Cup racer Mark Sheffield.
Data feeds offer real-time boat speeds and distances
between the contenders, thanks to onboard tracking
sensors that pinpoint each yacht’s location to within
two centimeters. All the information not only helps the
sailors and the race committee, but makes for thrilling
watching too. A network of high-resolution cameras
put armchair racers right on the rail. You can watch the
coverage live or catch up on replays at youtube.com/
americascup. All that’s missing is the bow spray.
TEAMS
To attract challengers, ORACLE Racing has tried
to keep the costs down in several ways. The teams are
restricted in terms of how many boats, sails, and extra
equipment they can use. They are limited to a maximum
crew of 11 on the AC72s. And there are scheduled nosail
periods, when no one is allowed to train on the water.
ORACLE Racing has two boats, one skippered by
James Spithill, the youngest skipper to win the Cup, and
the other by Coutts, a four-time Cup winner. The official
Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing, hails from Sweden
and boasts AYC member Terry Hutchinson as skipper.
Other teams include Emirates Team New Zealand; China
Team; GreenCOMM Racing from Spain, Team Korea;
Aleph, Equipe de France, and Energy Team, also from France.
The speed of the boats and the courses themselves,
which will be set near to shore, should challenge all the
teams, despite their collective wealth of experience and
talent. The conditions will demand fast decisions and
even faster reaction times. To enlist young talent, cup
organizers are also launching a Youth America’s Cup to
start in 2012. The younger teams will race the AC45s,
giving them opportunity to become familiar with the
class before graduating to AC72s.
18 AYC BEACON VOLUME 3, NO. 2