Meanwhile in Warkworth... Lamination of AC45 hull #1
It's still extremely early to know whether the AC45's will deliver the promised close and exciting racing but one thing is absolutely certain, construction of the first yacht is advancing at full speed and the America's Cup organizers are openly documenting the process.
New Zealander Ivor Wilkins visited the boatyard in Warkowrth and shot the first pictures of the lamination of hull #1. The first yacht is scheduled to be ready around Christmas and will undergo the first sea trials during the first two weeks of 2011. It will belong to ACRM and will be shared, for testing purposes, among teams who have entered the event.
According to Iain Murray, Regatta Director of the 34th America’s Cup, a system will be set up "that will give all entered competitors the first chance at testing the boats as they come off the production line".
In terms of getting their own AC 45, the boats will be assigned in order of entry.
The next three or four boats are scheduled to be delivered on March 1 and will be assigned to the Defender and Challenger of Record, along with the first teams to have their challenge accepted.
The application process for the 34th America's Cup opened yesterday and two new challengers have filed their papers. One of them, Artemis Racing, have already made it public while the second one hasn't been revealed. The America's Cup organization will not publicly announce the identity of the teams.
Lamination of AC45 hull #1. Warkworth, 1 November 2010. Photo copyright Ivor Wilkins/www.americascup.com
Lamination of AC45 hull #1. Warkworth, 1 November 2010. Photo copyright Ivor Wilkins/www.americascup.comLabels: 34th America's Cup, AC45, BMW Oracle
11 Comments:
How sad.Come on guys give us some real news, like who's entered.
why waste time and money on carbon prepreg construction for a trainer class ?
burn them please
Wonderful to see things shaping up finally. I can't wait to see the first AC45 on the water. Exciting times are ahead of us...
Ha, you guys are hilarious. I guess that you also think that the olympic classes are spot on too!
This is the America's Cup not club sailing. Poor people need not apply!
I wonder whether they will have the capacity to build 48 of them by next June (24 teams x 2 boats each)?
With all those teams banging on Oracle's door to take part in his fabulous circus, Ru$$ell must be very happy!!
@12:40 PM
So you fully believed that EB was going to have 18 teams on the start line for AC33 before the court crap? If you believe that then I have some great real estate to sell you in place called chernobyl.
I think it just fine to have only a few really competitive teams out there. More is not needed for a sucessfull AC. It is (and always has been) an illusion that any of the smaller (poorly funded) teams could win the AC. They are nice to have around (and may be more competitive in subsequent ACs), but in the end it is perhaps 4 teams that will decide the cup amongst themselves. In this round my bet would be that BMWOracle, Artemis, ETNZ and perhaps a team from France will be the key players of the game. However, because of the new class of boats (AC72), this time the chances for newcomers and smaller teams are unusually good and definitely better than in AC 32. A novel concept/idea can bring a smaller team a long way when a new class of boats is launched. In subsequent cycles, progress will be only incremental and team budget will play a bigger role for success. If I were to launch an AC campaign, I think now would be the perfect time to do so.
VS - Will they build cameras and microphones into the AC45's? Will be kick-ass if they do.
.. yeah right - in the throes of a full scale double dip recession - that's a prime time to blow the GDP of a third world nation on a boat race. Get a grip. Those CEO's a going to love explaining thta to their shareholders !
There is a recession in the US and some European countries. Other European countries (for ex. Germany - think BMW and Audi) and some Asian countries do surprisingly well these days. Besides, the amound of money spent on advertising worldwide is still mind buggling. I am confident a few crumbs of that will be picked up by AC teams.
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