60815    This time too, Koch has been espousing science.

60816    Koch believes that if the yacht is superior, even women can vie for the Cup.

60817    He recruited a female crew and for the first time in history an all-female team has been assembled.

60818    Team members come from varied backgrounds, including former Olympic yachting competitors and American football instructors.

60819    Attention may focus on how far the women can advance in fierce competition demanding strength and stamina, but conversely it will be interesting to see if an object can really be made that will allow women to win over the men's greater physical might.

60820    What secret weapons did Koch include in the making of the America3?

60821    Until the start of the Citizen's Cup, the boat will be kept under wraps.

60822    The sizes of the competing yachts have changed along with America's Cup history.

60823    They can be roughly divided into 5 eras.

60824    In 1851 the victorious America was a new two-masted wooden schooner 30 meters in length overall.

60825    The two-mast style was popular through the third America's Cup in 1876, but from the fourth competition a single mast style came to dominate.

60826    Before long, steel and copper replaced wood in yacht construction, and from the eighth America's Cup the era of large yachts 36 - 42 meters in length overall commenced.

60827    Beginning in 1930 with the 14th America's Cup was the era of J-Class boats.

60828    The overall length of the yachts did not change from until then, but with each competition the efficiency of the sails improved, and this could be said to be the beginning of the modern America's Cup era.

60829    From the 17th America's Cup, competitions with regulated 12 meter-class yachts began.