James Spithill & Multihull racing in AC 33*
BYM News Executive Editor Marian Martin caught up with James Spithill in a Med Cup brake. Marian focus the interview in how the 90×90 Mulrihulls are going to affect/change the traditional AC Match Race duels.
*Thanks to Marian and BYM for letting us reprint excertps of this talk.
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There’s the crew, as well as the boat. As far as I know, there’s only Cammas & Co with any big multi experience in BOR. How long is it going to take you to learn a whole new technique of racing?
JS. Well we’ve been pushing really hard and, personally, I’ve been racing in the Formula 18 catamarans and I’ve got an A Class catamaran I’m racing and there’s the Extreme 40s and sailing on Groupama 2, the 60 foot tri.
Yes, but these are still going to be different. 
JS. Yes and it’s very, very difficult to train on a very big multihull, you just can’t get one. Groupama 3 is being fixed and the big Banque Populaire isn’t finished; so, you’re right, it is difficult to train on those sized boats, but the fundamentals, the concepts of smaller boats usually go through to the big ones.
There seems to be two sorts of small boats; the Xtreme 40s which seem to often sail with a hull very high out of the water and the Decision type designed to only lift a hull slightly at maximum speed. Do you expect to be high in the air on the giant, because everyone is talking about the danger?
JS. Well, to be honest listening to the experts and we’ve had some great guys come in to coach us I reckon we’ll mostly have the windward hull just out of the water. I reckon the only time we might fly a hull high is downwind, just so you can sail deeper. If the boats are close I don’t think you’ll see a high flying hull, because of the safety factor. We’ll be pushing, but if you make a mistake in one of these it’s all over, it’s end of campaign. If you make a mistake in a monohull, you might break a sail, but the boat’s OK. That’s something too that you learn from when you’re sailing on the little boats.
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Read the complete interview at BYM News:
https://www.bymnews.com/august/james-spithill.php
