Ineos Team UK, which has partnered with four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie as team principal and skipper, will use its technologies and manufacturing know-how to develop Britannia, giving the best possible chance to bring the oldest international sporting trophy – and sailing's premier prize – back to Britain for the first time.
“We're really excited to be part of this fantastic milestone for Haas Automation,” says Sir Ben. “It's a great partnership for our team, because our designers and engineers now have access to high-quality Haas CNC machinery. For us to know we've got such reliability and accuracy is incredibly important, together with the technical support from Haas, both locally and globally, as we travel the world with the America's Cup.”
Chief designer Nick Holroyd outlines the complexity of the challenge: “Our AC75 [America’s Cup 75 class] race boat is the first foiling mono-hull of this size; it’s unlike anything ever seen on the water before. It’s hugely ambitious and sets out an entirely new type of boat, and with only 18 months to design and build there comes challenges, but that’s what makes the event so exciting.”
From the moment the AC75 class rule was published in 2018, the team has put in over 90,000 design and 50,000 construction hours to get Britannia on the water. Once the boat's development work has been completed in Portsmouth, the Haas Toolroom Mill, together with a Haas Toolroom Lathe, will accompany the team to New Zealand for the event.
This 10,000th installation in the UK, brings the total number of Haas CNC machines worldwide to over 225,000.
