The moment of truth has come. What has been conceived, developed, designed and built over the last three years is not only a new yacht class but a new idea of sailing. The AC 75 will go down in history as the yachts used in the 36th America’s Cup. But I have no doubts: what they bring, in terms of design and technology, will have an effect in the coming years. Just look at what happened from 2010 to today. In 10 years, the world of sailing has experienced an extraordinarily fast growth. Poorly known until a few years ago, foils have become a reference point in the field of sailing competitions. And we’re just getting started. Like Vendée Globe and Jules Verne Trophy, America’s Cup will equally give valuable information on the state of the art of a new era of sailing where the testing phase has reached unprecedented levels. It was precisely from this consideration that we started to create a Special on America’s Cup which could tell about this extraordinary sailing competition through the lens of design and technological research. We turned the spotlight on the enormous research work carried out by the various team. Particular attention was devoted to the approach every team adopted to develop the project. This way, we discovered that Ineos Team UK was supported by the Mercedes F1 AMG Petronas team; American Magic took off with Airbus, the giant of the skies, while Luna Rossa was given the support of the Pirelli team in exploring new cutting-edge solutions. Originally born as a competition between clubs and then evolved into a race between countries, America’s Cup is a technological challenge today. A chapter where the time factor plays a really important role. There are many similarities between America’s Cup and the watchmaking world. Research, technology, cutting-edge materials, design and tradition. Last but not least, the elegance and values a sport like sailing can communicate. These elements are all part of the DNA of some watchmakers whose stories embellish this issue of Top Yacht Design. An issue that, as the cover story testifies, celebrates a winning Made in Italy best represented by the new Custom Line Navetta 30.
