What has Astraya got to do with the America’s Cup challenge which is scheduled for February this year?

Well, a lot. Reports from Valencia, Spain, where the races will be … um … raced, show that the technological edge is now held by the Swiss Alinghi 5 team – the catamaranic Defenders – over the trimaranic BMW Oracle challengers.

The techno-edge results from the use of microlight aircraft (trikes) to determine wind speeds and direction at mast height, rather than at sea level where the winds are different. This involves GPS, Iridium and even iPod(!) to send the telemetry to the helmsman.

What’s Australian is that the aircraft are designed and built in Australia by Airborne Aviation and the chief pilot, Peter Wilson, is an Australian who runs a flying school in Tumut, NSW and trains pilots all over the world.

So Australian technology and Australian pilots could well mean the difference in the outcome.

You can read more about the exploits at AirEscape.com.au where they’ve got pictures and video etc.

[tags]Australia, sport, sailing, yachting, America’s Cup, Alinghi, Alinghi 5, Oracle, BMW Oracle, microlight, trike, flying, weather, telemetry, technology, computing, GPS, Iridium, iPod, Australian values, airescape, adventure, escapade, adrenalin, learn to fly, flight training[/tags]