Gone are the days of winged keels and 12m hull lengths, the Americas Cup is all about flying in 2017! 45ft catamarans built of carbon fiber, with hydrofoils capable of lifting the boats completely out of the water at speeds up to 40 knots. It really is more akin to flying than sailing these days, with skipper of the boats taking flying lessons in real aircraft to better understand how they work.

Ian 'Fresh' Burns, the Performance Team Manager for Oracle, Team USA explains the likeness between their new AC45 boat, and the recently released Airbus A350: "The similarities between and a wing on an aeroplane and the wing on our Americas cup yacht, is they're trying to make lift, force, a large amount of force which either lifts the airplane in the air or pushes the boat forward. There's challenges for each one that are a little bit different, but the primary goal, make a lot of force to get the boat going fast or the plane in the air, is exactly the same."

It's not just the sails that are shaped like wings! Kept under a veil of secrecy, much like the famous winged keel from 1983, the hydrofoils underneath the surface on these Americas Cup cats have some serious technology going on! Along the trailing edge are all kinds of trim tabs and flaps to keep the boats in trim, even an elevator on the rudders to adjust ride height! It's all in the name of efficiency and speed, but with those traits come big budgets. Also kept under wraps, the budget for Team USA's Americas Cup campaign is expected to reach into the hundred million ballpark thanks to the intricate design process and professional crews. They're training now for the 2017 cup, all paid by the hour. The cost of a campaign was hotly debated earlier this year, when the the size for the boats was cut down from 72ft to 62ft; organizers hope that the 10ft difference will translate into millions of development cost savings between all the challenging teams.

To win the 2017 Americas Cup, Team USA will need the fastest boat in the water, and a team of professional sailors to operate it. Against them, are five challenging teams, each with their own boats capable of flying just as high, from Sweden, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France and Japan. Australia is represented only by our home-grown skipper, Nathan Outteridge, sailing for Sweden on Artemis Racing.

Check out the footage of the flying AC45's, used in training for the 2017 Americas Cup in Bermuda

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