MOD70

The MOD70 trimaran Orion, hull #2, owned by Thomas Siebel was shipped from Europe to Banderas Bay for training a little more than a month ago. She's expected to head north to San Francisco in the next few weeks.
The MOD70 is a one-design class that was created to replace the fast but fragile ORMA 60 trimarans. Last year seven of them raced across the Atlantic, and during the first 24 hours they all covered over 650 miles. It's our understanding that the top speed has been just under 40 knots. There was also a MOD70 inshore circuit in Europe.

The MOD70s, or something similar, are what should be used for the America's Cup. Unlike the AC72s, they are one-design and therefore much less expensive to build and maintain. Unlike the AC72s, they use soft sails instead of wings, and their masts are 100 feet rather than 131 feet. While nobody is going to claim that you can't flip a MOD70, unlike the AC72s, they are ocean-proven and much less edgy. Indeed, even though they are 10 feet longer than the ORMA 60s, the sail area was reduced by 5% for greater safety. Thanks to the soft sails, it's much easier for average sailors to identify with MOD70s.
True, MOD70s might be a couple of knots slower at max speed than the AC72s on the Bay, and they don't foil. But at around 40 knots of maximum boat speed, is anyone going to notice?
The MOD70s were designed by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, who have designed countless racing and cruising multihulls. Indeed, the America's Cup has called Prévost to be part of the team investigating the destruction of the Artemis AC72 and the death of Bart Simpson.