Oracle unveils Cup Final Crew. Spithill: “We are the Underdogs”

Image Guilain Grenier. They are indeed the Underdogs, but only on their own merits. As Oracle blowed away the advantage of a full previous cycle on Multis. Their slim & fragile bending 1st AC72 reminded Alinghi’s failed concept, when Bertarelli too, was the Multihull expert in last Cup.

Nevertheless Oracle have managed to catch up with their second AC72,  with some critical changes like switching beam & daggercase position to match ETNZ one, adding more volume to its hulls , specially width and reducing the scary bending of their first rides after they launched boat #1.

If Team New Zealand best asset was their design and later a crew that adapted perfectly to it, Oracle Team key winning card will be their sailors. Spithill and his teammates have more multi hours than TNZ crew (an entire Cup Cycle) and they have shown incredible comebacks in the AC45 series.
With a design that has finally reached a somehow stable , but mostly super fast ride, this crew will have the tool to try to defend the Cup, even starting with -2 point handicap. 

I’m confident we are going to see an Epic fight, and although the AC72s will no longer be used in next Cup editions, no one can deny how incredible and fast those beasts are. The AC72s will reach in the future the historic level as Herreshoff Amaryllis.