America's Cup: British Challenger releases video showing AC75 under reconstruction
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 31 Jul 17:17 PDT
The underside of GB1's AC75 undergoing modification at an undisclosed location in Europe. - July 2026 © GB1
GB!, the team of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Challenger of Record for the 38th America's Cup, has released a video showing their AC75 undergoing reconstruction at an undisclosed location, believed to be in Europe.
The AC75, which contested the 37th America's Cup in Barcelona, has apparently had most of its interior structure removed, in preparation for replacing four grinding positions with a battery bank, and reconfiguring the now six cockpits to take seated sailing crew and their push-button control systems.
No date has been set for the launch and commissioning of the AC75, which is expected to take place early in January 2027, four and a half months before the start of racing in the Challenger Selection Series in Naples. As the second placed team from the 2024 America's Cup, the team will only have 47 training days on its 2027 quota, which starts in January, 16 2027.
Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed the design animation used in the video features four cockpits per side (eight in total), plus cyclors. The new configuration is expected to have a total of five cockpits for sailing crew and one for a media/VIP person. The cyclors have been replaced by a battery bank to provide the pressure for onboard hydraulic systems.
The British team is one of three challenger teams from Switzerland and USA with AC75s still undergoing modification. Three teams representing New Zealand, Italian and French clubs have launched and are in varying stages of commissioning, with the New Zealand team the only one believed to be in a development phase, and is expected to start sailing next week in the middle of a very cold Kiwi winter and a wind chill temperature of just 5°C, going upwind.
Ownership the British AC75, and other assets of the INEOS Britannia team are still the subject of legal action in the Admiralty division of the High Court of England and Wales. On the current hearing schedule, the matter is unlikely to be resolved before the end of the 2027 America's Cup, unless an arrangement is negotiated between the parties.