America’s Cup: Secrecy and Plastic Waste || Scuttlebutt Sailing News
Published on April 2nd, 2024
by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Sailing News
As America’s Cup entrants must build their boats in the country they represent, shipping can consume valuable time to the race venue in Spain. For American Magic, they opted for air transport, releasing images of it being loaded on a Antonov AN124, one of the world’s largest cargo planes, for its transatlantic flight to Barcelona.
With all six teams soon to launch their new AC75s, the images offered no sense of what is to come as the hull was camouflaged in a plastic wrap. Peter Brown wondered what they were hiding: “Shrouding the hulls in secrecy, when the hull only touches water while waiting for the 10-minute gun?”
Plus, what about the environment? Teams must now have hydrogen powered chase boats, but plastic is okay? This question has a slightly better answer as the hull was covered in biowrap which is a ‘green’ alternative to traditional marine shrinkwrap films.
