America’s Cup: why are there no photos of the new AC 75 seen from above?

In the August issue of the print edition of the Sailing Newspaper you will find a very large special dedicated to the America’s Cup, which we will tell you about soon, on which our entire editorial staff worked. In making this special content for our readers, one thing became clear: among the thousands of photos of AC 75 training sessions, which as an average we have available between the Recon archive and the official Cup archive, photos from certain angles are almost always missing. Very few are those with the boats framed from the bow, and practically nonexistent are those taken from above, to mean from a drone.

Recon limits and the new AC 75 yachts.

As some may have already read from this edition a team of spies, the so-called Recon (i.e., the legalized “spies” of the America’s Cup) has been established : two operators for each team who are tasked with photographing the activities of each syndicate and sharing the material among all the teams, as well as with a restricted selection of media. For the first time in the history of the America’s Cup we were flooded with photographic material, which was once unthinkable. The Recon program ended a few weeks ago, yet among thousands of photos produced those we mentioned are sorely lacking.

The reasons for this lack are actually explicable. The photos from the bow could not be taken by the spy team because of a regulation issue. In fact, the Recon raft is required to be behind the AC 75 at all times, never in front, and cannot cross teams in any way. Hence a very small number of pictures of the new AC 75s from the bow, under sail.

In fact, the teams would agree with the spies on the angles from which the boats could be photographed, and lo and behold, aerial photos, in the time of drones, are virtually nonexistent. And this is certainly no accident. The sail plan and deck plan, are two of the most sensitive areas of AC 75 development. A vertical aerial photo of the boat would reveal much about sail shapes and adjustments, providing valuable information. On improving the aerodynamics of the sail plan depends much of the efficiency of the boat, which is why teams logically want to keep a few cards still covered before the final showdown in Barcelona.

An unspoken agreement between team and spies may have ensured that this angle was avoided, show yes in short, share also, but not too much. After all, what America’s Cup would be without a few secrets?

Mauro Giuffrè