Racing Heritage

America’s Cup Program

From IOR keelboats to AC75 foilers — Farr Yacht Design has shaped the America’s Cup across five decades of the most intense design competition in sailing.

No sailing event places greater demands on a design office than the America’s Cup. The rules change every cycle. The budgets are unlimited. The penalty for a wrong design decision is elimination. Farr Yacht Design has competed in America’s Cup campaigns from the IOR era through to the AC75 foiling monohulls of the 37th Match, each time bringing the same systematic performance methodology to the fastest and most competitive designs in the world.

The Cup’s one-design eras brought a different kind of challenge — optimising sails, appendages, and crew systems within a locked hull — and Farr’s involvement with American Magic in the AC37 cycle confirmed the office’s continued relevance at the frontier of Cup technology.

2021–24

American Magic — AC37

Challenger

Farr Yacht Design’s involvement in the American Magic AC37 campaign confirmed the office’s engagement with the leading edge of Cup technology in the foiling monohull era. The AC75 class pushed yacht design into genuinely uncharted territory — hydrofoil-borne monohulls reaching 50+ knots — and Farr’s contribution to the American Magic program represented one of the most technically demanding projects in the office’s history.

AC75 foiling monohull — America’s Cup 37th Match

1992

America’s Cup Campaign

IACC Era

The International America’s Cup Class (IACC) introduced a new measurement formula that rewarded sophisticated VPP-driven design optimisation — exactly the methodology Farr had been developing through the Whitbread era. Farr Yacht Design’s involvement in IACC campaigns brought offshore racing performance thinking to the inshore match-racing arena of the Cup.

IACC 75— International America’s Cup Class

1983–87

12 Metre Era

12 Metre

Bruce Farr’s involvement with 12 Metre design during the final era of that class at the America’s Cup brought the Farr design office into contact with the Cup’s unique competitive environment for the first time. The 12 Metre rule, like the offshore racing rules Farr had already mastered, rewarded boats that found real speed within the measurement formula rather than simply gaming the rating.

12 Metre class — America’s Cup

The full racing record

America’s Cup. Whitbread. Volvo Ocean Race. The complete Farr record is in the portfolio.

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