The Invictus Challenge
Airbus Industrie intends to sponsor a second effort for the Little Americas Cup (LAC) competition to be disputed in Perth, Australia in March 2006. The LAC is disputed using C Class catamarans subscribing to very few rules. As a result, all of the boats make use of wing-sails as opposed to fabric and this is just one example of the spirit of innovation that pervades this class of yacht racing. At the present, the Airbus entry, named Invictus, is the sole British entry. The 2004 entry was built by a team of engineers that are currently based at Airbus’ Filton site in South-west England. An American syndicate called Cogito won the 2004 competition. Cogito is generally accepted as the fastest Class C catamaran in the world. We at Airbus and Ska Tecnica would like to change that in March 2006. Some information on the Invictus syndicate can be found on the team website at www.team-invictus.co.uk or please see the Interesting Links and Information section in this site. Ska Tecnica, a sponsor to the Invictus Challenge and a service provider to Airbus Industrie Aerodynamics department will oversee the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic research and development aspects of the project.