WINGING IT:

Oracle Team USA’s Incredible Comeback to Defend the America’s Cup

By R. Steve Tsuchiya, Diane Swintal and Robert Kamins, CupInfo.com

The Startling Comeback Story That Stunned the Racing Community – as the World Looked On

Sailors have always viewed the America’s Cup as a hot-bed of design and technology improvements, curious about the trickle-down effect in boats and sailing tactics for future racers or recreational sailors. It many respects it is the Formula One of Sailing. The America’s Cup also stands out as the pinnacle of racing—a Sailor’s World Series, or World Cup, a meeting of the best international sailors on the latest boats. One never knows quite what the Cup will bring.

The 2013 Cup, held in San Francisco Bay, near shore for the first time for millions to view, did not disappoint. The cutting-edge boats, known as AC72s, were a new class of catamarans designed with hard, wingsails that had never been seen by most viewers. But it wasn’t just the viewers who were surprised by the boats. Extreme design decisions made just months before the boats were launched meant helmsmen and crew alike were figuring out how to sail the boats at the same time that they were formulating racing tactics and crew assignments. It was a cup like no other.

WINGING IT: Oracle Team USA’s Incredible Comeback to Defend the America’s Cup (International Marine / McGraw-Hill; December, 2013; PB, $24.00), written by a team of journalists who covered the Cup in detail, offers an exciting recap of the race – the venue, tactics, events, and radical design decisions that led to the AC72s, whose wingsails were thought to be the boats’ distinguishing and revolutionary attributes.

While these hardsails, towering 131 feet aloft, were impressive—and fragile, it turns out—it was really the discovery that the boats could get airborne – foil - and exceed 50 mph, which startled designers and sailors alike. As the AC72s were launched and sailed for the first time, just months before Cup racing was to begin, the unknown facets of the boats’ designs took their toll—capsizing and breaking one boat, capsizing another, fatally trapping a sailor below. But the racing went on. Three teams made it to the pre-racing that would determining which Challenger would face ORACLE TEAM USA in the 34th Defense of the Cup.

As the Cup racing began, Oracle faced a New Zealand team that had discovered much about their boat in earlier races, races that Oracle did not participate in. Oracle was racing for the Cup in a boat they were just learning, and it showed. Down by a staggering number of points, 1 to 8, with the winner only needing 9 to win, ORACLE TEAM USA found something, though, and began winning races.

The book examines the lead up to the races and the racing itself, including the mysterious boat modifications, Jimmy Spithall’s courageous and Cup-saving decision to cancel racing for an afternoon, the crew changes which included adding Ben Ainslie to the boat, all of which contributed to the remarkable 9-8 final score that allowed ORACLE TEAM USA to maintain possession of the America’s Cup.

WINGING IT also explores how the foiling displayed by these boats might soon be coming to a marina near you, on boats you never dreamed you’d see airborne. Other technological advances, including how big data was used to sail these boats, not just to improve speed, but to also by Racing Committees to monitor Racing Rules, will forever change the way sailors race and sail their boats.

This year’s Americas’ Cup was one for the books—WINGING IT helps sailors and armchairs sailors understand why.

About the Authors:

Diane Swintal has written about yacht racing as well as auto racing for 25 years, covering the America's Cup, the IndyCar series and sports car racing. A sailor and an avid golfer, Swintal resides in Southern California with her husband, motorsports artist Jim Swintal.

R. Steven Tsuchiya is a historian and freelance photographer of the Americas Cup. Steve is a contributor to Sailing World magazine and other yachting publications. He is a member of the Selection Committee of the Americas Cup Hall of Fame.

Robert Kamins analyzed the America’s Cup for the OLN television channel and has been a contributor to CupInfo.com for the past ten years.