Yacht / Country : be Happy
Sail No SUI - 59
Syndicate : FAST 2000
(First America’s Cup Swiss Team)
CEO : Raymond Bornand
Yacht Club: Club Nautique de Morges
Designer : Philippe Briand,
Peter van Oossanen
Boat Builder : FAST 2000
Skipper: Marc Pajot
Jochen Schümann
The syndicate, founded in 1996, built the most innovative,
but also the riskiest racing yacht of the AC 2000. Instead of a
rigid single keel with a trim flap, a ballast bomb and a
variable rudder, the designers constructed 2 rotating heavy
keels with bulbs of approx. 10 to each.
These should be connected via a mechanical synchronization
and control. But this was not built for some unknown reason.
Therefore, 2 independent helmsman had to control the yacht
which could be hardly stabilised. Money and lack of time
prevented then any further technical improvement.
To all disaster, the mast broke during an elimination race in
the Louis Vouitton Cup. The team had agreed with the
Australian competitors, that they loan them a spare mast .
But this was rejected by the race committee.
So, the Swiss parted off in the 2nd of 3 Round Robins.
The hull (the mast was broken and the deck hardware has
been sold) was later purchased by Team Alinghi and adapted
as a training boat in Alinghi's design and colours for the AC in
2003
SUI-59 be Happy challenger of the Louis Vuitton Cup 2000
The syndicate, founded in 1996, built the most innovative,
but also the riskiest racing yacht of the AC 2000.
AMERICA’S CUP HISTORY 1983 - 2013
