Tomorrow is already now. How the America’s Cup is revolutionizing the racing world

From the new FlyingNikka to the MW 40, the first foilers inspired by the America’s Cup or Vendée Globe and designed For everyone’s regattas. And young people are already pawing the ground

Tante times we tried to imagine how the world of the America’s Cup or Vendée Globe could bring something to the racing boats of us mere mortals as well. If we stop at a superficial observation the AC 75 or Imoca 60 have nothing in common with the boats on which we sail, this is undeniable. But as has always been the case in the world of technology, the processes of change are a slow osmosis between two seemingly irreconcilable worlds. A process that is sometimes triggered by a spark, however.

It so happens that an entrepreneur and sailor like Roberto Lacorte, already active for years in the world of racing, after selling his 62 SuperNikka felt like trying out the Persico 69F, the one-design foilers built by Italian Persico Marine. It happens that he liked this type of sailing so much that it ignited his imagination. Meanwhile, the America’s Cup is approaching, and images of AC 75s bobbing on foils at unthinkable speeds definitely set off the spark. Why not bring this boat concept, perhaps by simplifying it, to the world of “normal” racing as well?

Understanding with Irish designer Mark Mills did the rest, and the first preliminary design of FlyingNikka, a 19-meter of the future, was born. Some time will pass between now and when we see it in the water, and the boat will probably also be different from the drawings we show you on these pages. But what is important is that a process has been triggered, which, by the way, also affects the ORC, which has been thinking for some time now about updating the regulations to take foilers into account. This is not the only project that was born in the wake of the excitement of the America’s Cup or Vendèe Globe.

Only days after the FlyingNikka concept was released, the Argentine firm Wilson-Marquinez, which has already designed the Persico 69F as well as collaborated with Ineos Team UK in the America’s Cup, released a design of a 40-foot foiler for offshore racing. A sporty 12-meter, reminiscent in look of the world of class 40s or boats designed for offshore racing, equipped with C-shaped foils and T-shaped rudders, thus designed for full foiling.

All this does not mean, of course, that the racing sail in the future will be only the flying sail, not at all. But the signal is clear, a foiler world is emerging and will develop parallel to the world of traditional racing.

In a few years we will see them racing at a 151 Miglia or the Giraglia, just to name two of the most famous regattas held in the Mediterranean.

Is this just a fantasy? Not at all.

There are at least three parameters to consider in what is happening in the world of sport sailing to get a glimpse of what may happen in the future. The first parameter is speed: racing boats will get faster and faster, and this is attracting a new audience. A public that may have previously been into motoring, motorcycling or motor boats is now intrigued by what is happening to the world of sport sailing where there are boats that can give super car-like thrills on the water.

In fact, it is certainly no coincidence that sailor Roberto Lacorte, before being such, is also a motor racing driver engaged in races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Offshore races like a Giraglia or a Middle Sea with a 60-foot foiler will have aspects in common with an endurance race like the 24-hour race.

The second parameter is generational. The figure is clear, younger sailors are following the evolutions of AC 75s with great curiosity and interest. Even the very young are excited about the news they are witnessing. What if we took a survey of teenage sailors and asked them what fascinates them more between a flying Moth or Waszp, capable of reaching over 20 knots of speed in an instant, or a displacement boat that when going fast does 8 or 9 knots?

The answer is almost a foregone conclusion. And if young people are the future of every sport, sailing is certainly no exception. Sport sailing will therefore provide an answer to this need, and we expect to see news in the world of dinghies and singlehanded boats as well. Today the Moth and Waszp, as well as many other small flying boats, dominate the small foiler scene.

Their flaw is that they are still quite expensive, difficult in fact to find anything under 10,000 euros. But it is safe to assume that there may be yards in the small boat world, such as RS Sailing, that can bring to market a small foiler that is simple to use and at a cost not unlike a dinghy such as a Laser or the like.

The third parameter is that of design. From the crisis period of 2009 onward, it is hard to see big and radical innovations in design in the sailing world. Certainly there are exceptions, and it is pleasing to note that Italian designers even in an uneventful decade have remained among the most innovative, but the fact remains. Just pay a visit to any boat show and you will notice a general homologation of shapes and solutions on sailboats.

And the world of racing sailing “for everyone” is certainly no exception; in fact, perhaps it is even more static. If we took a tour of the winter championships held up and down the boot, or if we scrolled through the rankings for the last few years, we would find that in fact there are always the same boats and there are few real innovations in terms of design. The period of great turmoil that entered immediately after the 2000 America’s Cup is a distant memory. The fan base has shrunk or moved elsewhere. Compensated time sailing between the buoys with slow, displacement boats seems uninteresting, far better numbers in offshore or small one-design regattas.

The America’s Cup 2021 from this point of view could bring a definite breath of fresh air, stimulating sailors and designers to look for new ways. New types of boats could attract a new audience, triggering a virtuous process that would lead to a radical renewal of the form and performance of racing boats ten years from now.

We won’t all be flying over water like America’s Cup sailors, that’s more than likely. But there will certainly be a section of sailors who do, and a section who will instead benefit on “normal” boats from what regattas such as the America’s Cup or Vendèe Globe have developed: advanced sensors to monitor sail and rig work, increasingly efficient hydraulic circuits to be able to handle perhaps just two people or solo boats over 60 feet.

But also new aerodynamic forms to no longer consider the hull as something that has to relate only to hydrodynamic resistance, but as something fully integrated with mast and sails, which indeed cooperates in propulsion through renewed aerodynamic forms. This is not science fiction, it is what is already happening in the America’s Cup, and there is no reason to doubt that at least some of these innovations can be gradually transferred to everyone’s racing.

There is no need to be afraid of this process, no need to stigmatize it or try to curb it, because it is something that, if it happens, will develop quite naturally since it will be the users themselves, we sailors, or at least a part of us, who will demand it.

Our movement of the rest needs to shake off some “old age” and some stereotypes about “real sailing” or “real sailing.” Who determined whether it is more “true glider” that deploys at 6 knots or one that flies at 40? Who determined which sailor is the best? No one can tell, not least because often the sailor who flies at 40 knots then also sails at 6 and vice versa. And so let us hope for the future of our sport fewer suit-and-tie sailors inside glitzy and exclusive yacht clubs, fewer boats overloaded with unnecessary accessories and disinclined to sail well, and more young people excited to try something new or designers who think outside the box. Perhaps the time has come to bring sailing out of its comfort zone to trigger real renewal.

Mauro Giuffrè

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