The new America’s Cup AC75 monohulls flying across the water on foils look like other-worldly beasts to a traditionalist’s eye. How does one sail those things? Very carefully, apparently.
The other day, Emirates Team New Zealand was testing their boat, Te Aihe, in Aukland’s Waitemata Harbour when they had what was described as a “little whoopsie.” While performing a foiling gybe – described as a particularly tricky maneuver – they became unbalanced, their bow reared up and their foils lost contact with the water. Te Aihe lost speed and slowly rolled on to its side. No one was injured and no damage was done to the boat, which was righted with the help of a support boat.
This is likely not to be the last AC75 capsize. Recently, Grant Simmer, eleven-time America’s Cup veteran and CEO of the INEOS Team UK, warned of possible disaster with the new high-tech boats. In an interview on the team website he noted, “You can easily capsize these boats, a big focus will be the safety of the crew – followed by trying to protect our physical assets.”
This is not New Zealand’s first capsize nor its most dramatic. In 2017, Team New Zealand pitch-poled their foiling 50-foot catamaran in Bermuda on their way to winning the America’s Cup.