America's Cup challenger unveils giant wing

By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO — First an engine, then an enormous wing.

This really is going to be the most radical America’s Cup in the
regatta’s 158-year history.

American challenger BMW Oracle Racing unveiled what is believed
to be the world’s largest wing on Sunday, which it will test as
a replacement for a traditional soft-sail rig on its monster
trimaran.

Complete with flaps, the wing will tower nearly 190 feet above
the deck when it’s installed this week. It is longer than the
wing of an Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airliner.

“It’s an awesome piece of kit,” skipper and CEO Russell Coutts
said recently after giving The Associated Press a sneak preview
of the gigantic foil, which BMW Oracle Racing hopes will give it
the edge against defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland.

The wing adds another dimension to an already over-the-top
America’s Cup, which will feature two of the fastest, most
extreme boats ever built for sailing’s premier regatta. BMW
Oracle Racing’s trimaran is 90-by-90 feet, and Alinghi has built
an equally immense catamaran.

Both carbon-fiber giants feature engines to run hydraulic
systems that trim their sails and move water ballast from one
hull to another, a first in America’s Cup history.

A long, bitter court fight between the billionaire bosses of the
powerhouse sailing teams has led to a rare head-to-head showdown
for the oldest trophy in international sports.

The teams met in New York this weekend to try to settle their
spat over the venue, with the options for the best-of-three
series being Valencia, Spain, or Australia’s east coast. They
are to report Monday to a New York State Supreme Court justice
who has been presiding over the ongoing legal tussle.

Racing is scheduled to start Feb. 8.

Late Sunday afternoon, BMW Oracle Racing peeled back the flaps
of the tent where the wing was assembled during the last several
weeks. The team originally planned to wheel it to the boat
starting Sunday evening, but decided to do load tests in the
tent. Plans are to install it in the trimaran in the next day or
two, depending on the weather.

Full-scale testing is expected to begin later in the week.

The wing was unveiled five days after the trimaran’s 200-foot
carbon-fiber mast fell and broke in two during a sail on the
Pacific Ocean. No crewmen were injured.

If the wing works, it will be used against Alinghi.

Coutts, who has an engineering degree, said the lift coefficient
of a wing can achieve two to three times the power of a soft
mainsail.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Coutts, who sailed undefeated through
three straight America’s Cup matches, the first two with his
native New Zealand and then for Alinghi in 2003.

Coutts had a falling out with Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli
and was fired in 2004. Coutts was barred from sailing in the
2007 America’s Cup, then hired by BMW Oracle Racing owner Larry
Ellison of Oracle Corp., perhaps adding an extra layer of
bitterness to the heated rivalry.

The primary advantage of the wing over a soft sail is that it’s
easier to control and does not distort, Coutts said. That makes
it easier for the trimmers to maintain an optimum aerofoil shape
in a wide range of conditions.

The wing includes a built-in carbon-fiber spar. The wing itself
is made of an aeronautical film.

Coutts said the sailors can change the characteristics of the
wing instantly, “just like an airplane.”

Coutts said it will be a chore for the sailors to handle the
wing.

“The size and scale are the main challenges,” he said.

The wing follows by a few weeks the installation of a BMW engine
to trim the trimaran’s sails – and now to move the wing.

Alinghi changed the rules earlier this year and built its big
cat with an engine. America’s Cup boats have traditionally used
manual power to trim sails.

The wing was built in Anacortes, Wash., and its components
trucked to San Diego for assembly.

“This is one of the most awesome sailing projects you could ever
be involved with in terms of pushing technology,” sailing coach
Glenn Ashby said in a statement. “Just seeing it go out on the
water is going to be awesome.”