The Americas cup is one of those sailboat races that has been going on for a long time and happens again and again at various intervals. Seeing as it involves large sailboats, only the very rich can compete, albeit with hired crews. This year the race or part of the race is happening in San Francisco Bay on which I live and so the news about it reaches me. I have nothing to offer on the merits of the race but it did happen that the Swedish race team is working out of an aircraft hangar close to my own modest boat shop and so on the way to work or going home from it, I see the boats that compete in the event. So I want to offer some photos of the Swedish boats because I find the boats interesting. By the way, I understand that the current crop of boats are a short version of what will be in the final competition. And all the boats were built in New Zealand by the same builder to the same specs so that he race is about who has the best crew and not about who has the best boat.
This is one of the two Swedish boats tied off to a buoy in the Seaplane Lagoon. In the background, one of the maintenance hangars from the Naval Air Station days.
The boats and the sails are moved in and out of the water by a crane. They are not that heavy as boats go, around 3000 pounds.
Here is the boat itself, without its rig. Dagger boards are in their retracted position.
And the Americas Cup logo and Swedish flag.
The boat has a wing and a jib. The wing is symmetrical about the center plane unlike an airplane wing which is usually flatter on its bottom face.
And there are the Swedes, out on the bay doing their stuff with their support boats motoring behind them.
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