Friday, February 14, 2003 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific

Yacht & course

Technology to capture the wind

The Rule
• Just as tennis has a net and lines, the America's Cup has the International America's Cup Class rule, often called "The Rule."

• It was established after the debacle of the 1988 Cup, when New Zealand exploited a design loophole to build a 133-foot boat that was twice as long as the 12-Meter Class boat used at the time. American Dennis Conner countered with a catamaran, a double-hulled boat.

• The rule replaced the 12-Meter class with a yacht 20 percent longer, with 66 percent more sail area, 40 percent more draft and 34 percent less weight. It also used a formula in which a designer who wanted a long boat with a lot of sail for power would also have to build a heavier boat.

The Specs
• The America's Cup racing yacht is a monohull weighing from 16 to 25 tons. The current restriction is the International America's Cup Class rule. Simply called "The Rule," it was established after the 1988 America's Cup to avoid the radically different and controversial designs of the New Zealand and U.S. boats. Designers can still build faster, longer hull shapes under the rule, but then they are forced to use less sail area. Read more about New Zealand's controversial new hull design.

• These days, designers have settled on heavy, narrow yachts that are remarkably close in performance. The syndicates use many of the same tools, all aimed at prying as much speed as possible from a boat wit a 10-story mast, the weight of an articulated Metro bus and the wind produced horsepower of a four-cylinder Toyota.