High Seas Showdown

Dec. 13, 2008 — -- It's a tale of wind, water and war between two very rich men over one very old prize. When the America's Cup began over a century-and-a-half back, gentlemen in starched collars raced wooden schooners in defense of national pride. These days, it's all about billionaire pride, high-powered lawyers, high-priced sailors of fortune and what could easily be the fastest sailboat ever built.

Meet the BMW Oracle Racing 90 and her crew. It's not the snazziest of boat names. "Sea Monster" would work, or something like "Oceanus." But really, you could call this thing "The Fuzzy Navel" and it would still strike pure awe.

At the waterline, the boat is 90 feet square -- the size of a baseball infield. The mast is taller than the Statue of Liberty. But Kevlar and carbon fiber also make it light and strong enough to push the limits of physics and sail almost three times faster than the wind. Even a mild gust lifts one of its three hulls out of the water…suspending its passengers like spiders on a web in the net that spans between the hulls. The crew wear helmets and life vests to protect them in the event of a crash.

As the boat moves swifly over the water, the craft constantly groans and creaks, a reminder of just how much force is at work. On the day ABC correspondent Bill Weir sailed with the crew, the hull of the boat was absorbing 15 tons of torque. Captain Russell Coutts knew this because the boat is rigged with dozens of computer sensors that beam data to a small monitor he wears on his wrist.

"We're doing 24 [knots]," Coutts notes. "That's pretty fast."

Coutts is the most accomplished competitive sailor alive; the only guy to win an Olympic gold medal and three America's Cups. And even though he helped design this boat, it scares him. And as Coutts and Weir talk, there's a boom and the entire boat shudders. Coutts and the crew run to see what they've hit. It's a seal. "Poor thing probably never heard us coming," says Weir.

But with a machine this powerful…and untested…aquatic speed bumps are just one potential tragedy. "Pitchpoling would be bad," Coutts explains. "Capsizing would be bad. Breaking something would be bad."