However this 33rd America’s Cup will be a complete new game with two multihulls sailing upwind at 25 knots at times and capable of speed in excess of forty knots under gennaker.

One of the key issues for both team’s afterguard is maneuverability. Due to their width, a multihull has never been very good around tight corners. Any change in direction is extremely costly in terms of losing distance against an opponent who is sailing at high speeds, and that becomes even more acute when they have to tack.

To give an example, Alinghi 5 and USA Racing can execute a complete tack in 20 to 40 seconds depending on the wind strength and sea state. This is more or less the same time as what we were able to do on the old America’s cup boat.

The massive difference is however, the monohull sailed at an average of 10.3 knots upwind. The speed usually dropped to roughly 7.5 during the tack and the loss was a mere ½ boat length.

With these guys, the boat is flying at 25 knots but the speed still drops to less than 10 during the tack and for a short while, the loss can be around 7 to 10 meters … per second.

This is one of the reasons why this 33rd America’s Cup won’t be the usual tacking battle and more so a drag race and the afterguard will elect to keep the number of tack to an absolute minimum.