Ben Ainslie’s new boat T2: ‘A fighter jet on water’

Land Rover BAR training on T2. Credit: Harry KH/Land Rover BAR

The British America’s Cup challenger, lead by four-times Olympic gold medalist Sir Ben Ainslie, Land Rover BAR have been out training on their latest testing boat – T2 – from their home in Portsmouth.

The 45ft-long testing boat is the next stage in the team’s pursuit of technological excellence that will culminate in the design and build of the final race boat to challenge for the 35th America’s Cup in 2017.

T2 uses ideas from both the aerospace and automotive industries to create what the team say is ‘the marine equivalent of a fighter jet’. The multihull will fly on foils the size of a wakeboard, whilst lifting the weight of a fully occupied London taxi.

Credit: Harry KH/Land Rover BAR

The final race boat the team will build for the 35th America’s Cup is expected to reach speeds in-excess 50 mph.

Ben Ainslie, team principal and skipper, four times Olympic gold medallist and America’s Cup challenger, said: ‘T2 is an extraordinary achievement; everyone on the design, engineering and shore teams have put everything they have got into this boat. Power is nothing without control, and there has been no compromise in the pursuit of both. All of the sailing team are grateful and privileged to get the opportunity to test fly this unique craft.’

Land Rover BAR chief technology officer Andy Claughton, who is one of the world’s most accomplished and experienced America’s Cup designers having been involved with the competition since 1983, twice with winning teams in 1995 and 2000, said: ‘This is the most technologically advanced sailing boat I’ve ever been involved with. It’s the vital next step on our path to developing the boat that will challenge for the America’s Cup, containing some of the most innovative and powerful technology ever used in this competition.’