Leap of faith

Duncan MacLane and Dave Hubbard continue their technical review of Team Dennis Conner's hurried catamaran defence of the 1988 America's Cup

During the wing design process reliability was always key in our thoughts. Many people thought the wingsail would be unreliable, considering it something of an unknown. However, the Patient Lady family of wingsails, forerunners for the Stars & Stripes', had proved very reliable once fully developed. Over 14 years we'd built and sailed eight wings hard, plus made numerous iterative modifications. Once we'd eliminated some early learning-curve issues, got phenomenal builders onto our team and Dave came up with his elegant control system, consistency and reliability soon followed.

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