INEOS Britannia, the British Challenger of Record for the 37th America’s Cup, has finally revealed its AC75 race boat.
The 75ft vessel, code-named RB3, emerged from the INEOS Britannia base in Barcelona early on Saturday morning for rig stepping and checking in preparation for her first sail.
It was the first time the race boat had been in public view after two-and-a-half years of design, build and fit-out in the UK. Preparations are now underway for RB3’s first sailing day, as well as its official naming ceremony.
Initial stand-out impression from the few images released . . . was the deep bustle/skeg that finished abruptly some distance from the stern and well distanced from the rudder position, as with T6 their LEQ12 test boat.
No stern or deck images yet, but the side decks sweep down to what appears to be an almost flat stern section.
The bow section appeares to be fuller than that seen on the other AC75s revealed so far – the American and French teams have still to be seen.
In the last two America’s Cup matches the Brits arrived with what were immediatly tagged as design disasters, and spent most of those events playing catch-up . . . time will tell if this is really third time lucky!
INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Sir Ben Ainslie said: “This is a big day for the team. We have been keeping RB3 under wraps for such a long time that it’s almost surreal to see her out of the shed and in public view here in Barcelona.”
“Thousands of hours of work have gone into this boat and so it’s great to finally reveal her to the world. Things are really stepping up in the campaign now, and we are looking forward to launching RB3 and getting out on the water very soon.”
RB3 began its lifecycle with INEOS Britannia’s design and engineering team, which is based at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team site in Brackley, Northamptonshire.
INEOS Britannia partnered with the F1 Team’s Applied Science division to bring together some of the best talent from the high-performance marine and automotive industries for its America’s Cup Campaign.
The initial build took place at Carrington Boats in Hythe, Hampshire, before it was then transported to the INEOS Britannia team at Turweston in Northamptonshire for structural and load testing.
INEOS Britannia has become the fourth team to reveal their AC75, with just two teams left to showcase their race boats – American Magic and Orient Express Racing Team.
All six AC75s will be racing for the first time in Barcelona for the Preliminary Regatta on 22-25 August.
The five challenging teams will then battle it out in The Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger Selections Series 29 Aug – 7 Oct) to win the right to take on defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup match (12-27 October).
