Weather in Valencia is drizzly and cold (8 C). Alinghi is being measured this morning - public access inside the inner America's Cup Harbor (where Alinghi is parked) is restricted.

So far we’ve seen a couple different iterations of rear fairings that were all structured from a carbon skeleton skinned with a lightweight fabric. For a week now, USA-17 has had her rear beam fairings removed and a tarp over the center of the rear beam and stern of the main hull and there’s been all sorts of speculation about what that tarp is covering. I heard a rumor this morning that it could be a mechanical system that will control the angle of the aero-fairings on the rear beam so they can be used like ailerons on an airplane to increase or decrease righting moment! Before you laugh yourself out of your chair, remember that these boats are capable of (at least) 40 knots of speed over water in 15 knots of wind. That’s nearly 55 knots of wind across the deck of the boat. It is possible to reap some lift off a set of 6’ “ailerons”.

It’s still anyone’s guess about what’s under that tarp. It could be the text “if you can read this, you’re screwed Alinghi” for all we know.