It has been rumored since quite some time that the first Artemis AC72 yacht was lagging in terms of speed, so Paul Cayard’s statement doesn’t come as a surprise. It seems that Juan Kouyoumdjian can design the fastest Volvo Ocean Race boats and win three consecutive editions of the round-the-world race but definitely was off pace it in the brand new world of America’s Cup catamarans.

It’s a bit of an irony though. A few years ago, in 2005 or 2006, Kouyoumdjian was complaining that an America’s Cup raced on the old, slow ACC boats was similar to racing Formula 1 with farm tractors. Now that he had the chance to design an exciting Ferrari or Lamborghini his computers came out with a tractor… Hopefully, the modifications Iain Percy is referring to will transform the tractor into a racing machine.

As for the team’s second AC72, our spies in Alameda claim that she will fly from Valencia to San Francisco on a pair of Antonov cargo planes. Instead of Valencia’s port we will now have to keep a close eye on its airport.