The Protocol for the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013 allows each team a maximum of 10 daggerboards. (Paragraph 29.7) By using a different shape in each hull, a team can test more shapes than if they build daggerboards in matched pairs. You can see the wide range of shapes being tested here.
Making lemonade
On their first day of sailing, Oracle Team USA broke the starboard side daggerboard. (See the video, above.)
To get back on the water quickly, they converted a daggerboard from their 90 foot trimaran that won the America’s Cup in 2010. The good news: they can change the shape of the winglet (light gray in the photo below) without needing to count the change as a new board – the Protocol allows up to 30% of the mass of a board to be changed.
Daggerboard repair for Oracle’s AC72. Image OTUSA video
How many does that make?
As of 21 March 2013, Oracle Team USA has 4 daggerboards (see them here) and can build 6 more:
- Original port board – straight with winglet
- Original starboard board – straight with winglet (broken)
- Replacement starboard board “scavenged” from 2010 trimaran, now on its second winglet shape
- Curved port board with winglet