ID card for ITA-90, brand new boat of Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team christened their brand new boat ITA-90 this morning in Valencia but unlike all other similar events so far in Port America's Cup, it was done "in family".

Following the small christening ceremony the boat was immediately taken inside the team's shed in order to carry out the necessary work to make her sail. According to the team, the boat will be ready for the first test sail in about two weeks. It is the intention of Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team to race with this new boat in the next Louis Vuitton Acts next month, but this will depend on the outcome of the tests.

On the lighter side, both the sailors' uniforms and the boat will have a radical color change to black.

Sail Number: ITA-90.

Color: Black, the natural color of carbon.

Place of Birth: The hull of ITA-90 was built for Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team by Marine Composite of Andora, Savona. It was then transferred to Burriana, in the province of Castellòn, to Ximo Lopez’s boatyard, Longitud Cero, where it was finished and fitted out.

Plug and Mold: The plug for the mold was produced by MTorres in Pamplona, a company specialized in the automation and engineering of industrial processes. The plug was developed in carbon by numerical controls. It was then shipped to the shipyard in Andora, Italy where it was laminated by Ximo Lopez and his team of boatbuilders.

The whole Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team in front of ITA-90. Valencia, 5 April 2006. Photo copyright: Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

Materials: “Advanced composites”. Composites are materials that match together different products: two “external skins” made of fibers or cloth -in this case, carbon- are impregnated with resin which, polymerizing, gives the finished product a homogenous mechanical characteristic. The core is made of a material that keeps the two skins separate (honeycomb).
The polymerization of the resin is obtained by “curing” it. Vacuum pressure is used to perfectly compact the various layers. During the cure cycle high vacuum pressure is used to further assist with resin impregnation into fibers and laminate consolidation by venting any entrapped air within the laminate. Vacuum pressure and temperature are carefully managed within the processing to control resin flow and viscosity.

Design: The design group led by Harry Dunning has worked in close collaboration with the sailing team. To optimize the final design, various models of hulls and appendages were tank tested at the National Research Council Canada Institute for Ocean Technology (St. John's, Newfoundland. St. Johns, Canada); and optimized using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation software.

The whole Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team in front of ITA-90. Valencia, 5 April 2006. Photo copyright: Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

Particular Signs: The deck is cambered and the bow has an inflexion that makes it seem higher. The rule requires that the profile of the sheerline between hull and deck would be a “fair continuous, concave, curve” with a minimum radius of 20 meters.

Bulb: With roughly 20 tons, it represents almost the total weight of the boat.

Keel: The keel fin supports the bulb and is equipped with a moveable foil (the trim-tab), and is a piece of steel specially manufactured by computer controlled cutting.

Rudder: The fin of the rudder and the steering wheels were shipped from Australia. There are four steering wheels in all: two for the rudder and two for the trim-tab; weighing less than a kilo each.

Mast: The mast was built by Hall Spars of Bristol, Rhode Island, U.S.A. The design was the result of collaboration between designers and sailing team.

ITA-90, brand new boat of Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

Deck Hardware: Most of the deck was supplied by Harken, an American firm that produces high technology hardware in Lombardia (Italy). The hydraulics aboard were manufactured by Cariboni, the mechanical components by Poggipolini, and composite components by Riba Composites.

The sheets and halyards (in nautical terms the “ropes” are called sheets and halyards) are from another Italian company that is an America’s Cup veteran, Gottifredi e Maffioli. All of the sheets’ special fibers are of the highest resistance.

Sails: The sails -the true motor of the boat- are designed by Giovanni Cassinari and Marco Savelli and then produced by North Sails in Nevada. All of the sails are assembled and finished in the sail loft at the base. The stay sail, main sail, and genoa are each laminated into one piece by using 3DL technology. The 3DL technology utilizes a three dimensional mold that assumes a form very similar to when a sail is in use. The sails’ internal structure is composed of continuous threads, in Kevlar or carbon, laid out according to the particular design. The gennaker and spinnaker (having a surface area each of over 500 square meters) are produced in a simpler way, always following the sail designer’s directions.

Artist's impression of ITA-90, brand new boat of Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

Electronics: Wind speed, wind angle, boat speed and heading are the fundamental data collected by various instruments and sent to the main computer onboard; together with GPS data and load cells, which are located in the most critical points, they give the crew instantaneous feedback of boat performance.
All the data are recorded during the entire navigation to be eventually analyzed. This serves to better understand and improve the overall performance of the boat.
An important part of the instrumentation is the “Sail Vision” system. It is utilized in training but not during racing, in order to make the boat as light as possible. This system, by using cameras in the mast, takes pictures of the sails during navigation and gives feedback to the crew on how to optimize them based on the information gathered.