Hall Spars Building Mast for BMW Oracle's America’s Cup Multihull

[Source: BMW Oracle] The carbon fiber mast for BMW ORACLE Racing's new America's Cup multihull is now under construction at Hall Spars in Bristol, Rhode Island, the team confirmed today.

Located about 20 miles from Newport, the long-time home of the America's Cup, the Hall facility was a natural choice for undertaking what is a difficult engineering challenge, BMW ORACLE Racing design coordinator, Mike Drummond, said.

"It is a huge challenge to construct such a large mast and to cure the carbon in an autoclave big enough to accommodate this project," he said. "Based in the USA, Hall Spars have a leading reputation in delivering the high-quality construction we need on this scale.

"The rig program is a key component in the performance of the aero package on the multihull,” Drummond said. The rig design team is led by American Scott Ferguson and Hervé Devaux of France with support from BMW.

“It’s a real pleasure to work with the BMW ORACLE team. The Hall team thrives on innovation, and our facility and autoclave are perfectly suited for a project of this magnitude. The performance of this boat will be like no other in existence. I can’t wait to see the sea trials,” said Ben Hall, vice president of Hall Spars & Rigging.