A new little America’s cup challenge and a new wingsail
Team Invictus has now set their sights on winning the International C-Class Catamaran Championships (ICCC) in Toronto 2007. Drawing on experience and lessons learnt in the last Little America’s cup challenge, Team Invictus are redesigning their C-class catamaran wingsail to use a single slotted flap design with a target weight of approx 75kg, this will give the boat an all up weight of approx 170kg.
The slotted flap design principle is currently used on most modern aircraft flying today however, unlike aircraft, a sail must generate lift equally well on both sides for port and starboard tack. The incidence of this flap can be moved through +/-45 degrees.
Advanced technologies will be incorporated into the Invictus design, such as the application of strong but extremely light carbon fibre structure that is currently revolutionising the aircraft industry. Follow-on technology for a completely new boat will include Hydrofoils to lift the boat out of the water, minimising drag. Attitude sensors detect the surface of the water and adjust the foil incidence to maintain a constant flying height of the hulls above the water.
With these improvements Invictus II will be able to reach much higher speeds than anything previously entered into the Little Americas cup, and it is expected that Invictus II will significantly exceed 30 knots.