When it comes to flight and foiling on Ineos Team UK’s Britannia, the challenge of weight management is a critical one. Light is fast, but so too is righting moment. (Ineos Team UK/)

What’s different about the AC75 is that the rules impose a maximum weight — a very different concept to the minimum weight that might be more familiar to most sailors. The problem when designing and building an AC75 is the same in both cases. It requires meticulous management of weight during the whole process. The consequences, however, are very different. Anyone bringing an overweight boat to a one-design regatta will be sailing at a disadvantage, but anyone turning up at the America’s Cup with an overweight boat won’t be racing at all…until cleared by the scale.

The weight limit for the AC75 is 6520 kg (14,374 lbs.), that’s not including sails or crew. However, 3,358.5 kg (7,403 lbs.) of that is supplied by the event organizers; in the foil arms, the cant system, media equipment and supplied rigging. The teams only have 3,161.5 kg (6,968 lbs.) to play with; so that’s less than half the weight of the boat that they can control…

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