America’s Cup: Oracle’s Unforgettable Comeback and the Future of Foiling Yachts

Oracle Team USA achieved one of sport’s most spectacular comebacks. Recovering the America’s Cup from an 8-1 deficit felt like throwing a game-winning touchdown in the final seconds or hitting a grand slam to erase a four-run gap. The American sports public loves an underdog — especially one with the skill, determination and resources to overturn long odds.

The buildup to the 34th America’s Cup brought some unexpected developments. The United States and New Zealand cooperated on one-design 45-foot catamarans used for preliminary regattas, narrowing design disparities following Oracle’s 2010 victory with a trimaran. Yet New Zealand surged ahead early in the event, showing both technological innovation and refined sailing technique. The Kiwis’ most striking advantage was the rapid development and mastery of large-catamaran foiling. Hydrofoils transformed performance, adding as much as 15 knots in certain conditions and making foiling an essential feature for competitiveness.

Equally surprising was how quickly Oracle closed that gap. Through focused development, Oracle matched New Zealand’s foiling capabilities and, by race 19, demonstrated superior speed and consistency. Advances in foil geometry, structural design and active control systems—borrowing heavily from aerospace computing—allowed split-second adjustments in lift and trim that outpaced human reflexes. Precise control of heel, pitch and foil incidence became as critical as sail trim.

Wings, the rigid airfoil rigs used in place of traditional sails, emerged as another crucial element. These wings generate the majority of driving power, and subtle variations in planform distribution, vertical twist, segment intersections and wing camber all affect performance. Winged rigs are still in their developmental infancy; they will evolve rapidly with further testing and design experimentation. While aircraft technology offers valuable lessons, wings must be refined to withstand the unique demands of ocean sailing. The current peak speeds—above 50 mph—hint at even greater potential, raising the question: how fast can these boats ultimately go?

It is natural to wonder how earlier masters of yacht design would react to these advancements. My grandfather, Captain Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, who defended the Cup six times and patented a multihull concept in the 19th century, likely would have admired the winged hydrofoil catamarans. He introduced catamaran concepts to the United States and would probably have relished the challenge of designing these radical craft himself.

Before AC34, many expected a chaotic procession of catamarans with wildly different speeds, but the event produced some of the most competitive and thrilling match racing of the modern era. Spectators in San Francisco and millions watching worldwide on television witnessed high drama and extraordinary technical evolution.

Looking ahead, organizers and teams face tough choices. Key figures behind Oracle’s victory — including Larry Ellison, Russell Coutts and Jimmy Spithill — and the roughly 130 engineers, sailors and shore crew who made the comeback possible likely want to replicate that success. But escalating speeds bring heightened safety risks and skyrocketing development costs. Oracle demonstrated a readiness to invest enormous resources; challengers may not be willing or able to match those expenditures. New Zealand and other national programs have expressed reluctance to fund equally costly campaigns, while teams such as Luna Rossa and Artemis showed that smaller budgets cannot compete with top-funded operations.

Several established sailing nations sat out AC34 because of the scale of financial and human investment required. That creates a dilemma: how to preserve the America’s Cup as the pinnacle of match racing while keeping it accessible enough to draw credible challengers. Proposals under discussion included reducing catamaran length to 55 feet or maintaining 72-foot platforms but imposing strict cost controls. History suggests that rule limits invite creative exploitation by designers, and loopholes often defeat the intended savings.

An alternative worth considering is a return to large, state-of-the-art monohull sloops sailed with sizeable crews—one boat per competitor—emphasizing seamanship, tactics and long-course match racing. Such yachts would be expensive but likely far less costly than the relentless R&D race surrounding foiling multihulls. The Cup has precedent for grand, crewed defenders: the 1903 Reliance, a towering sloop designed by my grandfather, carried 66 crew and vast sail area and dominated its era in a manner echoing the AC72s’ breakthrough a century later. Both Reliance and the modern foiling catamarans pushed naval architecture to extremes while introducing significant risk and expense.

The America’s Cup should remain unique and grand while becoming practical enough to attract sustained participation. Preserving the Cup’s spirit means balancing innovation with accessibility, designing a format that rewards match-race excellence without forcing teams into unsustainable technological arms races.

Halsey C. Herreshoff competed in 20 America’s Cup races as bowman or navigator in the defenses of 1958, 1974, 1980 and 1983. He is the founder of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame, which honors the champions of the Cup.