USA 76 is one of the International America’s Cup Class racing yachts used by the ORACLE Racing team in their preparations to win the challenger series and hence win the right to challenge for the 2003 America’s Cup held in Auckland, New Zealand. She was launched on July 4th, 2002 http://www.sailing.org/news/4551.php several weeks after her sister ship USA 71 also went in the water.
USA 76 won 21 from 33 races on her way through the Louis Vuitton challenger series, and would be the only boat to beat SUI 64 from Switzerland twice. However, in the finals ORACLE was only able to take one race off the formidable Team Alinghi, who would ultimately march on to sweep Team New Zealand 5-0 in the America’s Cup match.
USA 76 Vital Statistics:
Length: 25.2 meters or 84 feet
Weight: 25 tonnes or 55000 lbs
Height of the mast: 35 metres or 115 feet
Weight of the bulb: 19 tonnes
Sail surface area: 325 m2 upwind, 750 m2 downwind