The
answer is somewhere between cutting-edge technology and good
old-fashioned team spirit, according to the sailors, designers and
engineers who are hoping to win the 165th edition of yachting's most
prestigious event.
"I
think the most important thing is actually going to be team culture --
the team that can hang together
America's
Cup veteran Dean Barker, who is heading up the first Japanese-flagged
challenge since 2000, feels ultimate success will "come down to having
the best equipment."
In December, the competing nations will launch their final AC50 race boats for next year's competitions in Bermuda.
Each
has worked in near-total secrecy as they develop what they hope will be
the technological innovations that make the key difference out on the
water.
The wingsail catamarans will
be 50-foot long, weighing 2.4 tons and crewed by six sailors. Their top
speeds will be in excess of 45 knots (50 mph), using foiling technology
that raises the boats out of the water to reduce drag.
The approach will differ from team to team. Britain's Land Rover BAR, for example, is using -- computer wizardry performing tasks that would normally need human
intelligence -- to analyze every aspect of boat performance.
Led by multiple Olympic champion Ben Ainslie, BAR following last weekend's penultimate leg in Toulon.
But will machine or mind turn out to be the factor that wins the day in June?
Technological
innovation is not all there is to it, says Jimmy Spithill, skipper of
defending champion Oracle Team USA, who thinks lifting the trophy "will
come down to the people and, ultimately, the better team."
Spithill
and his crew have been undergoing a punishing training regime which
pushes them to their physical limits, helping them to make split-second
decisions in exhausting race situations.
Ainslie,
seeking to win the cup for Britain for the first time, says each boat's
daggerboard -- a blade-like element that reduces leeway,- will prove "the biggest differentiator in the performances."
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