catamaran f50

How Does F50 Catamaran Work? (Here’s What You Need To Know)

The F50 Catamaran is one of the most advanced sailing vessels ever built, and its impressive performance has made it the choice for Americas Cup racing.

But what exactly makes the F50 Catamaran so impressive? In this article, well take a closer look at the F50 Catamaran, from its hull design and aerodynamic shape to its lightweight carbon fiber mast and advanced sail design.

Well also explore the F50 Catamarans speed and stability, and how it has performed in Americas Cup racing.

Join us as we explore the amazing engineering and design of the F50 Catamaran!

Table of Contents

Short Answer

F50 catamarans are high-performance racing boats that feature a lightweight, carbon-fiber hull.

They are designed to be very responsive and easy to maneuver, with a symmetrical hull, narrow beam, and large sail area.

The two hulls of the catamaran provide stability, and the wings provide lift, allowing the boat to move quickly and efficiently over the water.

The F50 catamaran uses hydrofoils to reduce drag and increase speed, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 50 knots.

Overview of the F50 Catamaran

The F50 Catamaran is a revolutionary racing yacht designed for the America’s Cup.

It is equipped with a unique hull design, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 50 knots and sail in more extreme conditions than most other boats.

The F50 is built with advanced aerodynamics and a lightweight carbon fiber mast, ensuring maximum performance and stability on the water.

Its hydrofoil system allows it to lift out of the water and glide over the surface, providing greater speed and stability than traditional sailing boats.

Additionally, the F50 is equipped with an advanced sail design, allowing for powerful and precise sailing performance.

All of these features combine to make the F50 an exceptional racing boat that can take on the toughest of conditions.

Hull Design

The F50 Catamaran is a high-performance racing yacht designed for the America’s Cup.

Its innovative hull design provides exceptional stability and speed, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 50 knots and sail in more extreme conditions than most other boats.

The F50’s hull is made up of two parallel hulls that are connected by a trampoline-style platform, giving it a V-shaped structure.

This unique design helps reduce drag and increases the boat’s overall efficiency.

Additionally, the hulls are designed with a large surface area to create lift, which helps the boat rise out of the water and glide across the surface.

This allows the boat to reach higher speeds and remain stable in choppy waters.

The F50 also has a strong and lightweight carbon fiber mast and advanced sail design, allowing for powerful and precise sailing performance.

With all of these features combined, the F50 is an impressive racing boat that can take on the toughest of conditions.

Aerodynamic Shape and Hydrofoil System

The F50 Catamaran is a high-performance racing yacht designed specifically for the America’s Cup.

Its unique hull design and advanced technology allow it to reach speeds of up to 50 knots and sail in more extreme conditions than most other boats.

One of the primary features that make the F50 an exceptional boat is its aerodynamic shape and hydrofoil system.

The F50s aerodynamic design reduces drag and helps the boat move more efficiently through the water.

The shape of the hull is designed to produce lift and reduce turbulence, allowing it to reach higher speeds.

Additionally, the F50 is equipped with a hydrofoil system that allows it to lift out of the water and glide over the surface at higher speeds.

The hydrofoils are long, thin wings that are attached to the hull and are designed to reduce the boats wetted surface area and increase its lift.

The combination of the aerodynamic shape and hydrofoil system allow the F50 to sail faster, more efficiently, and in more extreme conditions.

The F50 also features a lightweight carbon fiber mast and advanced sail design.

The sails are made from a lightweight and strong material, which allows them to be shaped to produce more power and maneuverability.

The combination of the lightweight mast and advanced sail design allow the F50 to produce powerful and precise sailing performance.

All of these features combined make the F50 an exceptional racing boat that can take on the toughest of conditions.

With its aerodynamic shape and hydrofoil system, lightweight carbon fiber mast, and advanced sail design, the F50 is truly a unique and powerful boat.

Lightweight Carbon Fiber Mast

The F50 Catamaran is equipped with a lightweight carbon fiber mast, allowing for superior performance in extreme sailing conditions.

The carbon fiber construction is significantly lighter than more traditional materials such as aluminum, allowing for a more nimble and agile boat.

The carbon fiber mast is also more rigid than other materials, providing greater stability and control in the water.

Additionally, the carbon fiber construction is resistant to corrosion, making it ideal for longer sailing journeys.

The mast also features an aerodynamic shape, allowing for greater efficiency and speed in the water, as well as a greater range of motion and maneuverability.

The combination of the lightweight construction, aerodynamic shape, and superior stability make the F50 Catamarans carbon fiber mast an ideal choice for high-performance racing.

Advanced Sail Design

The F50 Catamaran is equipped with a highly advanced sail design, enabling it to achieve unprecedented levels of power and precision when sailing.

The F50’s sails are made from lightweight yet extremely durable carbon fiber, allowing them to hold up in extreme conditions.

The sails are designed with a unique aerodynamic shape that helps them to capture more wind power and reduce drag, allowing for faster speeds and greater control.

Additionally, the sails are equipped with specialized battens and reefing systems that allow for precise adjustments to the sail shape, allowing the F50’s crew to maximize performance in any wind conditions.

The F50’s sails are also designed with specialized sailcloth that is designed to reduce turbulence, further increasing the boat’s speed and stability.

All of these features combine to make the F50’s sails one of the most advanced and powerful on the market, enabling it to take on the toughest of conditions and sail faster and smoother than any other boat.

Speed and Stability

When it comes to sailing, speed and stability are two of the most important factors to consider.

The F50 Catamaran is a high-performance racing yacht designed to give sailors an edge in these areas.

Its unique hull design allows it to reach speeds of up to 50 knots and sail in more extreme conditions than most other boats.

This impressive speed is achieved through the combination of an aerodynamic shape and a hydrofoil system that enables it to lift out of the water and glide over the surface.

This reduces the amount of drag, allowing the boat to reach higher speeds.

The F50’s hydrofoil system also provides greater stability than traditional sailing boats.

The hydrofoils create upward lift, allowing the boat to stay afloat in more challenging conditions.

This makes it less susceptible to capsizing, meaning sailors can push the boat to its limits without fear of tipping over.

Additionally, the F50 is equipped with a lightweight carbon fiber mast and advanced sail design, which helps it handle strong winds and waves more easily.

America’s Cup Racing Performance

When it comes to high-performance sailing, the F50 Catamaran is a top-of-the-line racing yacht designed for the America’s Cup.

It is equipped with a unique hull design that is optimized for speed and stability, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 50 knots and sail in more extreme conditions than most other boats.

The F50 features a lightweight carbon fiber mast and advanced sail design, allowing for powerful and precise sailing performance.

Its aerodynamic shape and hydrofoil system enable it to lift out of the water and glide over the surface, providing greater speed and stability than traditional sailing boats.

The F50 Catamaran has been specifically designed for the America’s Cup, featuring a unique combination of features that allow it to reach and maintain high speeds in a wide range of conditions.

The combination of advanced sail design, lightweight carbon fiber mast, and hydrofoil system make the F50 an ideal vessel for racing.

The F50’s aerodynamic shape and hydrofoil system enable it to lift out of the water and glide over the surface, providing greater speed and stability than traditional sailing boats.

Additionally, the F50 is equipped with a lightweight carbon fiber mast and advanced sail design, allowing for powerful and precise sailing performance.

The F50 Catamaran’s unique design and features make it a popular choice for America’s Cup racing.

Its lightweight construction and aerodynamic shape make it fast and stable, while its hydrofoil system allows it to sail in more extreme conditions than other boats.

Additionally, its advanced sail design and carbon fiber mast make it powerful and precise, allowing sailors to achieve maximum performance in a wide range of conditions.

Overall, the F50 Catamaran is a high-performance racing yacht designed for the America’s Cup.

Its unique design and features make it an ideal vessel for racing in challenging conditions.

Its lightweight construction, aerodynamic shape, and hydrofoil system allow it to reach and maintain high speeds, while its advanced sail design and carbon fiber mast make it powerful and precise.

Final Thoughts

The F50 Catamaran is an impressive feat of engineering and design, with features that make it the perfect racing boat for taking on the toughest of conditions.

Its unique hull design, aerodynamic shape, hydrofoil system, and advanced sail design all come together to provide superior speed and stability, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 50 knots and sail in more extreme conditions than most other boats.

If you’re interested in learning more about this remarkable boat and how it works, be sure to check out the F50 Catamaran and all of the incredible technology it has to offer!

James Frami

At the age of 15, he and four other friends from his neighborhood constructed their first boat. He has been sailing for almost 30 years and has a wealth of knowledge that he wants to share with others.

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SailGP F50: On board the sailing equivalent of a Formula 1 racecar

• August 20, 2019

The F50 is the new one-design foiling 50ft catamaran used for the SailGP circuit, and is adapted from the AC50 used in the 2017 America’s Cup. Mark Chisnell steps aboard

“I think 99% of people believe that we received these boats from Bermuda, repainted them and sent them on their way again. I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to explain quite what we’ve done, but the amount of work that has happened here in New Zealand has been simply phenomenal,” explains Brad Marsh, technical team operations manager for SailGP . “The only thing that resembles the previous boats is the length and width; they have been modified in every respect.”

Marsh is talking about the F50, the boat developed for the SailGP circuit. The basic plan was simple enough: to take the AC50s that raced in the America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017 and use them to jump-start a one-design fleet for the new professional circuit. The AC50 would transform into a strict one-design F50 with standardised components.

The fundamentals of the boat didn’t change: it is still a 50ft foiling catamaran with a hard wingsail. The F50 foils using rudders with elevators, and two L-shaped daggerboards. The crew control the angle of attack of both to achieve flat, fast and stable flight.

Australia won the inaugural Sail GP race in Sydney. Photo: Sam Greenfield / Australia SailGP Team

But almost everything was built new, from the daggerboards and rudder through the control systems and hydraulics to the headsails, as well as two new hull platforms. “We have been going since November 2017, when they started laminating the daggerboards,” recalls Marsh, who has been overseeing the work at Core Builders Composites at Warkworth, north of Auckland.

“In April 2018 we received our first containers with the boats from Bermuda. In October 2018 we sailed the first boat, and in February 2019 we sail our first regatta. I think it’s been about 135,000 man hours.” It’s an immense amount of work, a lot of which is not immediately visible – like the adaptations that mean the boats can now disassemble for shipping.

“It’s the closest thing that sailing has to Formula 1 now. We are a travelling circus going to international venues. We’ve had to take boats that weren’t intended to be dismantled at all, and turn them into something that could go on this travelling roadshow. Every component has to be stored in a container and assembled and disassembled quickly so we can get as much time on the water as possible.

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“We know when we go to an event the intention is to have two days of practice and two days of racing, so there’s no point in having two weeks of assembly for four days of sailing. So we’ve had to be very clever about how the systems and boat work so that it can be assembled quickly, sailed reliably, packed up quickly and transported safely around the world in containers.

“We have 66 40ft containers that have all been custom built. The wing goes in one container, the hull or platform breaks down and goes into two containers, plus the boards and rudders. It’s about having a system and set-up so you don’t lose all the pieces and you’re not running around looking for bits.”

Battery power

There have been philosophical changes as well as practical ones – one of which is very visible. There is just one grinding pedestal, compared to the two on which the America’s Cup crews laboured so much blood, sweat and tears. The foil rake, rudder pitch, cant, wing twist and jib sheet is now driven by lithium ion batteries, leaving just the wing sheet adjustment needing the manpower of two grinders.

The lithium ion batteries which have replaced the manual grinder-produced power are housed in a central pod. Photo: Mark Chisnell

“The boats have moved away from the physical, grinding aspect, to focus more on the technical side of the sailing challenge,” said Marsh. “Using the batteries means we don’t need a sixth sailor as grinder, but we have changed the roles around.

“So we have one person, the flight controller, whose job is specifically to fly the boat. In the past that was done by the helmsman: now we’ve split that role off so it can be focussed on.”

During the last America’s Cup, the crews were restricted by the power available from the grinders. “They had to limit their tacks and gybes, but it also meant they had to limit how much they moved the daggerboards and rudders. Now we have unlimited battery power, the teams are able to move all the components as much as they like.

Adding batteries resulted in a redesign and rebuild of the entire hydraulic system. The system now demands over five times as much oil as when the hydraulics were grinder-powered. Photo: Mark Chisnell

“The introduction of the flight controller means that one person is there with his or her joystick and they are constantly moving the daggerboard in an effort to keep the boat level and in constant flight.” The extra workload on the hydraulic system meant that it needed a complete redesign and rebuild.

SailGP took delivery of four of the six boats that competed in Bermuda, and the F50’s development team – led by technical director Mike Drummond – was able to go over all of them and select the best ideas from each for the new fleet. The details of the different control systems and hydraulics used on each AC50 had been tightly guarded secrets during the Cup.

“It was extremely interesting for us. We had the opportunity to take four different boats from the America’s Cup and bring them back into one shed, pull everything out and see what the different teams did. Then we had to go through and standardise these things, so that each boat is identical,” said Marsh.

The boats have been redesigned for quick assembly and disassembly at each venue. Photo: Mark Chisnell

The one thing that didn’t change significantly was the wingsails, at least not yet. “The wings are still about 85% as they were in Bermuda. By the time we had rebuilt all the boats, built 28 daggerboards and 28 rudders, stripped, reconfigured, rebuilt and repainted the boats, we didn’t have time to do the wings as well.

“We have now started a project to build eight new wings for the 2020 season. They are going to be a modular wing, which will allow us to assess the conditions and set up for each regatta. They could be set to be 4m taller than the current wing, the same size, or 4m shorter than the current wing,” explained Marsh.

“The idea is to be able to have the boats foil in very light winds, and still sail in very heavy winds. This opens up different venues to us.” The boats will constantly develop to keep them at the bleeding edge of what’s possible, while remaining one-design.

Nothing like this has ever been done before – the nearest is probably the developments the VO65 went through between the last two Volvo Ocean Races . Those boats generated some of the most exciting offshore racing ever seen.

It will be interesting to see if the same philosophy can deliver that result for high-speed, short-course inshore racing long-term. The America’s Cup community will be watching with interest.

How SailGP’s foiling F50 catamarans sail so much faster than the wind

Arguably the most technologically advanced sailboats on the planet right now, the one-design SailGP F50 foiling catamarans are capable of breathtaking speeds – at times, reaching four times the velocity of the wind that drives them. But how do they do it?

Beating the balloon

Bending the laws of physics

Faster and faster

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This is how SailGP's NASA-inspired wings make the F50 boats fly

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SailGP Teams, Back at Full Strength, Power to the $1 Million Prize

Japan is the leader as racing begins in Cádiz, and with crews back from the Olympics, boats now have their A-teams.

By David Schmidt

With $1 million and a season’s title up for grabs, attracting some of the world’s best sailors to SailGP was easy. But, with the allure of the Olympics and one star sailor’s paternity leave, keeping them on the boats for every race has been harder.

SailGP’s second season began in April in Bermuda, where eight teams from as many countries competed aboard identical F50 catamarans. The 36th America’s Cup had just concluded, so crew members who had competed in that regatta had time to return to their SailGP teams for the start of the season.

But then came the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and some SailGP teams were stripped of their best sailors as they headed for Japan. The Great Britain SailGP Team also lost Ben Ainslie , its driver, who had won an America’s Cup and five Olympic medals, for two events when he took leave around the birth of his son.

The absences caused the racing in Italy in June and Britain in July to be less competitive.

“The fact of the matter is, in any sport, if you don’t have your best athletes who you can field on the field, you’re more than likely not going to get as strong a result,” said Russell Coutts, SailGP’s chief executive and a five-time America’s Cup winner. “You can’t just sub a good sailor in that hasn’t had the training on a F50. The teams that have tried that this year, it hasn’t worked, it’s failed.”

But the top talent, including Ainslie , returned before the regattas in Denmark in August and France in September, and now — with just three left in Season 2 — competition is stiffening ahead of the regatta in Spain, which will take place at Cádiz on Saturday and Sunday.

The teams will be seeking to increase their chances of qualifying for the season finale in San Francisco next March. Only the three highest-ranked teams will advance to the Grand Final, which comes with the championship title and that $1 million.

Ainslie’s team is in fourth place. Asked if the absence of top sailors had made a difference in the level of competition, he said, “How much of a difference, that’s arguable, but definitely [it] would have made a difference.”

Instead, Ainslie points to the teamwork needed to sail these boats at top form as more critical. “That’s just as important, if not more important, than who’s steering the thing,” he said.

Teamwork may be crucial aboard boats that race on hydrofoils at highway speeds, but losing a significant percentage of A-listers early in the season was still challenging.

“The positive parts of having so many Olympians on your team is that you have an incredibly high level of sailing talent in the group,” said Peter Burling , driver of the New Zealand SailGP Team , which is in sixth place. “We had five out of our team competing at the Olympics.”

This group included Burling and Blair Tuke , the team’s wing trimmer. They arrived in SailGP after helping Emirates Team New Zealand win the America’s Cup, but left after Bermuda for the Olympics, where they won silver .

“The Olympics ended up right in the middle of SailGP season, and there’s a lot of us on the team [for whom] the Olympics and Tokyo had been a goal for a long time,” Tuke said. “So that was where the priority lay, but now that’s fully shifted and everyone is focused.”

Focus matters, but so do results.

“You could say it was definitely difficult,” Burling said about maintaining leadership continuity throughout the season. Despite the team’s standing, he sees its Olympic involvement as a positive. “It really does help sharpen your skills.”

Coutts did not agree and said the Olympic timeout had “been a disadvantage.”

“You’re racing against the best guys in the world,” he said “If you give them more time against you, you’re going to get hurt, aren’t you?”

Time matters greatly. SailGP’s rules restrict each team’s on-the-water practices. Unlike Olympic-class boats, F50s regularly see 90-knot closing speeds, so learning curves are steep, and experience brings results.

“The biggest thing is really, how consistent can you keep your roster?” said Jimmy Spithill, a two-time America’s Cup winner and the driver of the United States SailGP Team. “This fleet is very short time as it is — there’s not very much practice, you can’t really train between the events — so the time you spend together is very important.”

The boats, which cost about $4 million each, are identical. Larry Ellison, a two-time America’s Cup winner and the founder of Oracle, is the majority owner of SailGP. Ellison also owns seven of the teams, Coutts said. The boats may be the same, but how each team sails them is not. So much of practice is spent developing a playbook of choreographed maneuvers.

“We feel a lot more competitive now than we were in Bermuda,” said Rome Kirby , an America’s Cup winner and the United States SailGP Team’s flight controller. It is “time in the boat, time together as a team.” And time spent polishing the playbook. “You need to do it together. There’s no cheat code.”

Each boat is equipped with electronic sensors that constantly gather data and send it to an Oracle-run cloud where it is available — along with onboard video footage and audio from microphones worn by the crew — to all the teams.

“It speeds up the learning and therefore the competitiveness,” Coutts said about the shared data.

Teams also receive the same hardware and software upgrades. “No one can completely dominate, because you can’t get every decision right,” he said. “The fact that the boats are so close in performance, even with the technique differences, means that we see different winners at events regularly.

“The design teams are just continuously working on improving the performance of the boats, and also we’re looking at the racing and seeing how” it can be enhanced it, Coutts said.

So the boats constantly evolve, but if sailors miss events, they can find themselves and their team less competitive. Spithill said the entire fleet was more competitive now because crews “have more races and more time on the boats.”

Japan is currently on top of the standings, followed by the United States and Australia, which are tied. Those three teams are separated by just two points.

“All of the teams are acutely aware that we’re halfway through the season and every race is critical,” Coutts said. “There’s definitely an added dimension to that.”

This awareness and the bolstered rosters mean that racing in Spain, and beyond, should intensify.

“We’re at a point now where we’re very similar to the crews that people sailed with in Bermuda,” Burling said. “And I think each team had their best foot forward in Bermuda.”

While having stronger teams is great for fans, it is telling that even some teams that are led by America’s Cup- and Olympic-winning sailors have not even managed to finish in third place this season.

“SailGP is probably one of the most competitive classes or circuits” in the world right now, Kirby said. “I would say that it’s probably more competitive than the America’s Cup.”

SailGP also puts something else in play: serious money.

When asked what was the bigger motivator — the title or the cash — teams had different answers.

“The prize purse is something that would be very nice to split around the team, but for us, the focus is definitely on trying to win the competition,” Burling said.

Others are more pragmatic.

“I mean, how could you not be motivated for a million dollars?” said Spithill, whose team has battled adversity this season, including collisions, a capsize and a serious injury, yet is still in second place. And if other teams do not care about the money, “then no worries, we won’t give them the million dollars.”

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Engineering:F50 (catamaran)

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The F50 is a one-design foiling catamaran used in the SailGP race series. The name is an abbreviation of " F oiling" and "a hull length of 50 feet". [1] The F50s are adapted from the AC50s used in the America's Cup, with modifications including new control systems and modular wingsails. [2] The F50s are one of the fastest racing classes in history, with a predicted top speed of 52.2 knots (96.6 km/h, 60 mph); [3] the current F50 speed record, achieved by the France SailGP Team at the Range Rover France Sail Grand Prix in 2022, stands at 53.96 knots (99.94 km/h, 62.10 mph). [4]

Three AC50s from the 2017 America's Cup were converted to comply with the F50 one-design rule to create the new SailGP fleet racing circuit. [5] Three more boats were built from scratch by Core Builders Composites to create an initial fleet of six boats crewed by teams from the United States, Australia, France, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom. [6] For the 2020 SailGP championship, the Spain SailGP team used the F50 of the China SailGP team after their departure. [7] A seventh F50 was commissioned for the Denmark SailGP team, which also joined for the 2020 SailGP championship. [8]

• 1 Specifications
• 3 F50s in culture
• 4 References

Specifications

The F50s use a two-element wingsail and jib for propulsion. One removable section in the wing can be used to achieve mast heights of 18 m (59 ft) and 24 m (79 ft) to suit wind conditions. [9] By the third event of the 2021-22 SailGP championship, SailGP plans to introduce a 29 m wingsail for use in extremely light conditions. [10] In SailGP regattas, the mast height, jib, and equipment are selected in competitions by the Tech Team Operations Manager, following a consultation with the Regatta Director and representatives from each team. [3]

Apart from the wingsheet, which is powered by two grinders , all trimming is hydraulically powered by electric motors and lithium-ion batteries. [2] This includes active pitch control of all appendages, daggerboard lifting/lowering, and the jibsheet. The reduction of one grinding position on board therefore allows the F50s to sail with just five crew. The geometry of the F50's daggerboards have been extended outside the maximum beam of the boat to provide more righting moment. [3] [11]

The F50s comprise a one-design development class. However, unlike most one-design sail classes with fixed rules, the F50s are being constantly developed with changes implemented on all boats at the same time. This prevents technological arms races, while allowing performance improvements. [12]

The F50s have a crew of six, consisting of a helmsman , wing trimmer, flight controller, two grinders and a strategist. [13] The flight controller controls the F50 using a double twist-grip device, which enables more accurate adjustment of the rake of the daggerboard. This relieves the helmsman, who previously flew the boat using twist-grips on the wheel, of flight control duties - allowing them to focus on tactics. [14] Additionally, the F50s have active control of the rudder pitch; crews are no longer required to set and lock off the rudder pitch before the start of each race, as was the case with the AC50s in the 2017 America's Cup. [5] While racing, crews stay in the windward hull.

F50s in culture

F50s were featured in Christopher Nolan's Tenet (2020). The scene featuring them was filmed in August 2019, following the 2019 Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Cowes. The F50s belonging to the Japan and United States SailGP teams were used, with each being rebranded and painted white and blue respectively. [15] Rome Kirby and Tom Slingsby were two of the athletes involved in the filming of the scene. [16]

• ↑ Fretter, Helen (4 October 2018). "The $1million match race: Ellison and Coutts unveil SailGP circuit for 50ft foiling catamarans Fretter Helen" . Future plc . https://www.yachtingworld.com/news/the-1million-match-race-ellison-and-coutts-unveil-sailgp-circuit-for-50ft-foiling-catamarans-116360 .  
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 "SailGP F50: On board the sailing equivalent of a Formula 1 racecar" (in en-US). 2019-08-20 . https://www.yachtingworld.com/extraordinary-boats/sailgp-f50-board-sailing-equivalent-formula-1-racecar-122851 .  
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "SailGP Explained // The F50" (in en) . https://sailgp.com/general/sailgp-f50/ .  
• ↑ "RELIVE THE BEST MOMENTS OF THE RANGE ROVER FRANCE SAIL GRAND PRIX" . https://sailgp.com/news/22/gallery-best-moments-france-sail-grand-prix/ .  
• ↑ 5.0 5.1 "SailGP F50 v America's Cup AC50 catamarans" (in en-GB). 2018-10-17 . https://yachtracing.life/sailgp-f50-v-americas-cup-ac50-catamarans/ .  
• ↑ New, G. J.. "Building the New SailGP F50" (in en-GB) . https://www.sailweb.co.uk/2019/01/16/building-the-new-sailgp-f50/ .  
• ↑ "SailGP" (in en) . https://sailgp.com/news/sailgp-lineup-to-shift-for-season-2/ .  
• ↑ "SailGP announces Denmark SailGP Team presented by ROCKWOOL to join world-class lineup for Season 2" (in en) . https://sailgp.com/news/sailgp-announces-denmark-sailgp-team/ .  
• ↑ "All about SailGP’s new adjustable F50 wing" (in en) . https://sailgp.com/news/sailgp-new-adjustable-f50-wing/ .  
• ↑ "The sport’s best athletes go head-to-head as SailGP kicks off | www.pressmare.it" . https://www.pressmare.it/en/regattas/sail-gp/2021-04-24/the-sport-best-athletes-go-head-to-head-as-sailgp-kicks-off-31225 .  
• ↑ The supercharged F50s , SAILGP, 2018-10-03 , https://sailgp.com/news/f50-supercharged  
• ↑ F50 arms race , SAILGP, 2019-05-01 , https://sailgp.com/news/skills-arms-race/  
• ↑ "World's Most Advanced Hydrofoil Boats Fly Above Water" . CNET . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8eq8hoUhBE .  
• ↑ "Back to flight school" (in en) . https://sailgp.com/news/flight-school/ .  
• ↑ "SailGP makes its Hollywood debut" (in en) . https://sailgp.com/news/sailgp-makes-its-hollywood-debut/ .  
• ↑ "On the set of Tenet" (in en) . https://sailgp.com/news/on-the-set-of-tenet/ .  

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What are Drivers, Flight Controllers, Wing Trimmers and Grinders? F50 crew roles explained

Know your Flight Controller from your Wing Trimmer? How about your Driver from your Grinder?

SailGP's cutting-edge F50 catamaran is a technological marvel and only the most elite athletes can fly one of these boats, which hit speeds of nearly 100 km/h (62 mph) in the perfect conditions.

The crew have to be at the top of their game each time they race the F50, but do you actually know what each of the people onboard are doing on the boat to ensure it flies across the waves?

For those SailGP fans not so up to speed with the intriciacies of the F50, we join Japan SailGP Team Driver Nathan Outteridge for a brief explanation of each role on the F50.

“The main thing the Driver does on the boat is make the decision where to go on the racecourse," says Outteridge. "They communicate to the crew what the plan is.

“Furthermore, most of the skippers in the teams, myself included, are heavily involved in the logistics of the event.”

Flight Controller

Outteridge continues: “The Flight Controller is responsible for keeping the boat in the air. Every time the boat touches the water is a time the Flight Controller has made a mistake.

“He needs to keep the boat flat and keep the boat locked in going fast. He needs to have a very good relationship with the Driver and Wing Trimmer to make sure the boat is locked in and going quick.”

Wing Trimmer

“The Wing Trimmer needs to have a really good understanding of how to generate power, and how to distribute that power on the boat," says Outteridge.

Japan teammate Chris Draper, who trims the wing on the F50, adds: “I can basically control all the power in the boat at any one moment.

"I have to put the wing in the right shape and communicate to Nathan the best modes to sail to get to the goal as quickly as possible.”

“At the front of the boat we have two Grinders positioned," finishes Outteridge. "One Grinder faces forward and one Grinder faces backwards. Both of the Grinders at the front are turning the handle for the winch to make sure we can trim the wing sheet as effectively as possible.

“Leo Takahashi is our primary No.1 Grinder and he faces forward, and Yuki Kasatani is grinding facing backwards. He’s looking at [Wing Trimmer] Chris Draper in the eyes and making sure he knows what Chris needs in terms of the amount of power.

“He also has to be very brave, because he’s going round the racecourse extremely fast facing backwards, so he has to have a lot of trust in the guys behind him.”

Learn more about the crew roles on one of SailGP's cutting-edge F50s by watching the below video

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