Oracle Team USA's AC72 new wing

December 17, 2012 – San Francisco Bay

A little over two months ago, USA 17 — Oracle Team USA's AC72 — pitchpoled on San Francisco Bay, severely damaging the boat and obliterating her massive $2 million wing sail. On Friday, Jimmy Spithill told local-Bay-sailor-turned-AC-reporter Genny Tulloch that 17's new wing sail is not only finished and ready to be transported from New Zealand to the Bay, but that the boat should be sailing early in 2013. "It's been a good exercise to see how the team would react to a challenge like this," Spithill says in the interview below. "We're just really excited to get back on the water." Spithill uses the word 'excited' a lot in the piece, and for good reason. In addition to getting 17 sailing again, Boat Two — as they're currently calling the team's second AC72 — is on track to join her sistership on the Bay next year as well, which means sailors will enjoy the spectacle of two AC72s blasting across the Bay before the world descends for the finals next fall. That really is something to get excited about!