No second place – The Cutting Edge / America’s Cup

In ‘The Cutting Edge’, the AC72 takes center stage as one of the heroes of the 2013 America’s Cup. As a piece of engineering, it is the most highly advanced sailboat in racing, meeting the standard now of what will be possible 15-20 years forward.

The AC72 should not be flying above the water at 50 mph, for example, but that is exactly what it is doing.

For the first time, the America’s Cup has a boat that is pushing the athletes to perform at the highest level of physical exertion and psychological pressure possible.

These carbon-fibre, titanium-strong machines are built to be as light as possible, but with the strength needed to travel at unimaginable speeds. With the size of a wing similar to that on an airplane, the boats are able to generate speed three times that of the wind.

Here we get to meet the teams that conceived and designed the most exciting boats ever sailed. And we’ll talk to the teams to find out what challenges and difficulties they’ll encounter in this high-tech world.