Wasnt that the point? Connor & co did not know anything about the boat the kiwis already had buildt in secret, before they challenged, except the length and width (and boy, was the kiwi boat wide!). The kiwis was obviously thinking "outside the box", and to catch up they needed something really spectacular. There was no requirement for a monohull in the challenge, so they looked at the fastest sailing vessels on the planet, foilers, planing skiffs, trimarans etc., but landed on a C-class on steroids as their best option. They did pretty good under the circumstanses, I would say.


Now, I dont think SS had a proper winglet. I would say they had a tapered top on their wing to reduce tip vortex. I understood winglets to be 90degrees or so to the foil, and their primary function to reduce pressure leakage? Secondary, reduce tip vortices?