The Boat That Flew From New York To Bermuda

America’s Cup champion Jimmy Spithill has tamed huge waves to foil from New York to Bermuda and the result is glorious.
ORACLE Team USA skipper Spithill led his team and their “F4” Team Falcon catamaran across the 1,065km of ocean that lies between the United States’ east coast and the tiny island in the Atlantic.

Gale force winds and a hurricane held up the attempt on several occasions but eventually relented to allow Spithill’s team to set off. The journey was done to honor New York as the first city to host the America’s Cup (in 1870) and Bermuda, which will host the event in 2017.

Rome Kirby and Shannon Falcone stare down a 7 meter wave.

Spithill revealed; “These were the biggest waves I’ve faced in a multi-hull and hopefully don’t ever have to experience again. At night we didn’t have a moon, so when the waves were breaking it was very challenging and extremely dangerous. We had a few close calls and went from pushing the boat for performance to survival mode.”

Hydrofoil boats use wing-like foils under the hull of the boat to lift it out of the water, reducing drag and, as a result, increasing speed significantly. Spithill’s team spent eight months on their boat, engineering the first ever 46-foot hydro-foiling catamaran so that it could hover above the dangerous swells that they’d encounter.

Despite the huge 25ft waves and 35 knot winds, the team managed to complete the incredible journey in 66 hours, demonstrating the extraordinary possibilities of foil sailing, not to mention the fun to be had along the way.

Jimmy Spithill, Tommy Loughborough and Emily Nagel.

Testing the F4 in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, before the event.

Jimmy Spithill onboard the F4 race yacht.

About the author

Luke Bradshaw

Sports Editor

Luke was born and raised in various parts of south London, before studying Politics and Social Psychology at Loughborough University. His time in the midlands was limited to his study and upon his return to the capital (via the obligatory travelling in between), wrote for a number of different local and national publications, before moving into the editorial side of things. Aside from the obvious interest in sport, he loves food, travel, reading and film, but if any can somehow incorporate sport in the process, then all the better.