First America's Cup AC72 Catamaran Wings Delivered from Core Builders New Zealand Facility

With all the high octane racing so far in the AC45 catamarans in the America's Cup series, Core Builders in Warkworth, north of Auckland have been quietly working on the first of the wings for the massive AC72's that will compete in the 'Cup' next year (2013) in San Fransisco.

The first completed wing was rolled out on Friday, May 25th.

The following release discusses the technical aspects of these huge wing/sails in the lead up to construction of the boats:

CORE BUILDERS COMPOSITES READY TO SHIP FIRST WING FOR AMERICA’S CUP DEFENDER


The first wing created for the American defender of the America’s Cup was rolled out of Core Builders Composites, New Zealand, today ready for shipping to the USA.

At 40 meters (131 feet) tall, the hi-tech carbon-fiber wing is the equivalent height of a 12-storey building and will power the AC72 catamaran used in the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco.


“This is a milestone in our effort to win the America’s Cup,” said ORACLE TEAM USA skipper James Spithill. “It is another key component ready for the final assembly of our first AC72 race boat.”


the 'Team' with first wing

The rules for the 2013 America’s Cup require the hulls to be built in a team’s home country but other large structures, such as the wing and cross beams, can be constructed elsewhere.



On the road to Auckland

ORACLE TEAM USA is using its affiliate, Core Builders Composites, located in Warkworth, north of Auckland, New Zealand. Led by Tim Smyth and Mark Turner, this will be the fourth campaign that the team’s America’s Cup race boats have been built by CBC.

The company has a worldwide reputation for innovative processes to create lightweight, high strength, reliable and accurate composite structures.

“The wing will look big for the boat because the AC72 class rule intends these boats to have a lot of power,” added Spithill. “There is no doubt the AC72s will be awesome machines, intimidating even.”



Heading for the docks

Besides challenging weight and performance targets, CBC also had engineered and built the wing so that it complied with the AC72 class rule, which requires all wings to be quickly disassembled for cost-efficient shipping.

“The wing construction is the result of 25,000 man hours work by CBC’s skilled workforce and was constructed over a period of six months,” said Smyth.

The wing will be trucked to Auckland and then shipped by sea to San Francisco, ready for final assembly with the hulls built on-site at ORACLE TEAM USA’s base in Pier 80.

America’s Cup rules permit teams to launch their AC72s from July 1 onwards.

Having read this you will begin to understand the huge undertaking it will be to construct nine of these one class boats in the countries competing, get them on the water and trial them in time for the 'Cup'.

Back to cruising and you can read more about catamaran sailing and passagemaking in my ebook 'Sailing Adventures in Paradise' including '101Dollar Saving Cruiser Tips' downloadable from my website www.sailboat2adventure.com