America’s Cup: British reveal their LEQ12

(October 27, 2022) – Teams for the 37th America’s Cup are allowed to build only one AC75 race boat. There are no second chances, so the British America’s Cup team INEOS Britannia hopes the 40-foot test boat they launched today will play a vital role in the team’s program through to the next America’s Cup in 2024.

Code-named T6, they will commence with an extensive testing period from the team’s new base in Palma de Mallorca, primarily aimed at validating their design tools and testing key componentry ahead of the design deadline to start the build of the team’s AC75 race boat.

The Protocol allows teams to have LEQ12 yachts, which translated means a boat that is ‘less than or equal to 12 metres’. While entrants are required to buy the new AC40, which was created by the New Zealand defender for testing and training along with use in the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup, both the Italian and British campaigns have gone a step further by developing their own LEQ12s.

“There are three key reasons why we built T6 and they’re probably all equally valid,” explained Ben Ainslie, INEOS Britannia CEO and Skipper. “Firstly, we have this new partnership with Mercedes-AMG-F1 Applied Science. It’s a big deal trying to bring two design groups together and define common working practices and everything else that goes into designing a successful America’s Cup boat…

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