BMW Oracle Racing launch version 2 of their BOR 90

BOR 90 sailing again with new bows. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget, used with permission.

The America's Cup Deed of Gift match continues to feature plenty of legal action in the courts. But more interestingly, both teams now have boats on the water - so now we can see what the designers are thinking. Alinghi have launched an enormous catamaran (fitting the 90 foot length by 90 foot beam "box rule") in Switzerland and BMW Oracle Racing have re-launched their BOR 90 trimaran in the US with wave-piercing bows on the floats, giving a radical new look to the boat. BMW Oracle Racing may still launch a new boat (or modify their current boat) once the location of the Deed of Gift match races is announced, but for now we can enjoy these shots of their behemoth undergoing a fresh round of sea trials.

New wave-piercing bows on BOR 90. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget, used with permission.

Wave-piercing bows like these have become popular on 16-foot A-Class catamarans, where they are said to reduce pitching in choppy conditions. Does this mean the BMW Oracle Racing team are already making some assumptions about the location of the Deed of Gift races (somewhere choppy), or are they trying several options to gather data for their final boat?

For comparison, the original bows on BOR 90. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget, used with permission.