Oracle Team USA, the reigning America’s Cup champions, revealed its unlikely “secret weapon” in the world’s most famous sailing race is jumbo jet builder Airbus.
The aviation giant has partnered with billionaire businessman Larry Ellison’s sailing team to create what it hopes will be an unbeatable high-tech yacht in the next edition of the race in 2017.
But what does an airplane company know about boat design?
“If you look at it closer, sailing and flying share a common DNA,” Airbus President and CEO, Fabrice Brégie, told CNN. “Look at the importance of wind forces on airplane wings, and wind forces on the sails of a boat. They even look alike. And the speeds in aviation and boating share the same unit — the knot.”
Indeed, gone are the days of heavy wooden yachts with single hulls and white billowing sails.
Today’s sleek carbon fiber multihulls are like airplanes on water, sitting high above the waves, with crew members wearing wetsuits, carrying oxygen tanks, and communicating via radio.
