Stars & Stripes’ New Hard-Wing Sail Shows Its Stuff Off Point Loma

A new hard-wing sail on the Stars and Stripes catamaran won its first test against its soft-rig counterpart Tuesday off Point Loma.

The hard-wing boat won two 20-mile races in airs of 6-8 knots. The boats were very close upwind, said Bill Trenkle, operations manager for the American crew. But the hard-wing boat pulled away downwind. “We’re really excited,” Trenkle said.

The designers of Stars & Stripes’ original hard-wing sail had the 15-knot wind off Long Beach in mind when the boat was built. But in March, the San Diego Yacht Club and Sail America, in an effort to eliminate the uncertainty surrounding America’s Cup, announced that the races would be off Point Loma, where the breezes tend to be lighter.

As a result, the Stars & Stripes soft-sail catamaran became a quicker boat, and designers began working on a larger hard-wing sail.

“We were a little bit discouraged (at the time the switch to Point Loma was made),” Trenkle recalled. “But it was incredible how quickly (eight weeks) our guys got us a new wing.”

The new hard-wing sail is 18 feet longer and yields a 40% greater sail area than the previous hard-wing sail.