Trickle Down Technology from the America's Cup: The Ultimate Proving Ground

by Cyclops Marine 2 Sep 23:00 NZST

The America's Cup has always been about more than just what happens on the water - it's a catalyst for technological innovation that pushes the boundaries of what's possible. The technologies developed and advanced in the Cup often shape the future of the sport and permeate the cruising world.

The popularisation of foiling technology, refined through America's Cup research and development has transformed the thriving world of high-performance dinghies and is now even shaping high-performance superyachts.

Advancements in materials science have also been a game-changer. The use of carbon fibre rigs, and Dyneema for running rigging, to name just two examples, have significantly enhanced performance by reducing weight while maintaining strength and durability. The recent explosion in structured luff sail technology since the 36th America's Cup is also often attributed to the drastic performance uptick after their uptake in the 2021 competition.

The list goes on - from Australia II's famous winged keel in 1983, to canting keels in the 2000s, wing sails in the 2010s, to high performance sail materials and electronic control systems in more recent years. Without development in the Cup, race boats and cruising yachts the world over would likely look and perform very differently today.

Monitoring technologies have also seen significant advancements due to the extreme demands of America's Cup racing. In an environment where precision is so vital, the margins are tiny, and every minute performance gain matters, the development of accurate, live and logged data collection has been crucial.

The AC75 itself is a testament to the spirit of innovation that defines the event, featuring advancements that have set new standards in the sport. As an innovator, Cyclops Marine's journey has also been intertwined with the AC75 and the Cup itself. Most of the teams in the 37th America's Cup are Cyclops customers, and our flagship wireless load sensor for soft lines, smartlink, was developed in part alongside INEOS Team UK in the lead up to the 36th America's Cup. While load sensing has been used in the Cup for some time, smartlink delivered a compact, light, robust solution that could easily be added, removed and reinstalled into different parts of the rig and various control systems.

Traditional load sensing solutions have been easily damaged and typically require regular re-calibration. Fully pre-calibrated, and extremely durable, smartlink (and other Cyclops sensors) can be installed and left onboard for months at a time, with assured accuracy to within 1% - providing huge benefits for teams through gruelling testing, training and racing campaigns.

smartlink has since been adopted around the sailing world. The modifications that made this trickle down possible were largely around data processing & displays. America's Cup teams have data professionals to understand and put complex data sets to use, but several important developments have made the data easy for anyone to harness. These include: simple Bluetooth connection to the Cyclops app and a number of third party apps; compatibility with all major marine displays; and several new ways to view the data in more intuitive user-friendly formats-like the B&G safety warning dial which gives cruising sailors an easy way to maintain rig safety.

To learn more about the differences between load sensors used in grand-prix racing and those used by weekend racers and cruisers, read our article on the evolution of the load pin here.

The development of smartlink in the Cup also influenced Cyclops' broader technological trajectory. The second iteration of smartlink - smartlink² - has been formative in our wider range, with the housing of other sensors (like new smarttune 7/8" and 1" models) following its example. It has also given rise to a new Bluetooth chip design, with more frequency options & increased range for larger yachts, and new lithium sealed batteries-improving durability for the harshest marine environments.

Today, the technology is not only used by groundbreaking yachts which take inspiration from the AC75 - like Baltic 111 'Raven' and Mills 60 'Flying Nikka' - which both utilise foiling and are equipped with Cyclops sensors - but also by amateur sailors looking to gain a competitive edge.

Another major part of the trickle down process has been the advent of sensors for dinghies. Cyclops is proud to have played a central role - shrinking its technology down to Nano-size and creating smarttune models for thread sizes down to 1/4".

These sensors also facilitate direct connection to Sailmon MAX and Vakaros Atlas 2 - bringing simple data to a wide range of sailors.

Innovation is inherently catalytic, with each breakthrough driving further advancements. And the breakthrough of structured luff sail technology has brought the advent of smartluff - manufactured exclusively for North Helix Sails by Cyclops Marine. Structured luff sails rely on optimal load sharing to deliver maximum power, and the ability to hit precise load settings with smartluff has taken performance gains to the extreme-empowering sailors to hit the recommended sail/cable load sharing ratios provided with every North Helix sail.

Sailors have achieved another level of precision by pairing smartluff with smarttune or smarttoggle sensors, for a full picture of the load share ratio which is instrumental in boat performance.

As we look to the future, the rate of innovation is so dramatic that it's hard to say what the next standout trickle down will be. It's equally difficult to predict what the Cup will look like in the coming years, but it's a fair bet that the relationship between America's Cup innovation and the wider landscape will continue to grow stronger.

And, if recent years have proven anything to us at Cyclops, it's that as innovation takes place, monitoring solutions need to evolve in turn-allowing sailors to understand and control the new technologies and enhanced performance power at their disposal.

Year-on-year, data analysis is having a stronger influence on decision making, both on the water and off it. This trend has been seen at grand prix level for some time, but for the weekend sailor, we are at the tip of the iceberg. As data becomes more widespread, alongside changes in the tech we use when sailing, we can also expect fundamental changes to how we sail, both in terms of performance and safety.

Explore how Cyclops is being used in different areas of sailing here.

Or contact us to talk to an expert.