Upadted: 7:24am – America’s Cup racing will switch from catamarans to high-performance monohulls when Team New Zealand defends yachting’s biggest prize, the syndicate has confirmed.
Team NZ says its design co-ordinator, Dan Bernasconi, is leading a team that is working on various monohull concepts, which will eventually help shape the class rule for the next regatta.
The syndicate says it has been consulting with a number of potential challengers.
“There is an overall desire to have a spectacular monohull yacht that will be exciting to match race, but also one that the public and sailors can relate to as a sail boat that really challenges a full crew of professional yachtsman around the race track,” it said in a statement.
Team NZ said further details on the protocol for the 36th America’s Cup will be announced at the end of September.
Earlier, Italian sailing identity Patrizio Bertelli had let slip in an interview that high-speed catamarans are set to make way for single-hull boats that can foil.
Bertelli heads Luna Rossa, which is representing challenger of record Circolo della Vela Sicilia and working with Team NZ on the framework of the next regatta, favoured to be held in Auckland in 2021.
Team NZ lifted the Auld Mug off Team USA in Bermuda in June in what was the second successive regatta involving catamarans.
Bertelli told Italian newspaper La Stampa the next event run by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron will be contested in monohulls.
He said they “will be very powerful boats” which can foil, meaning their hull rises out of the water to create less resistance.
-NewstalkZB
