Little America's Cup gallery - 1

Top French photographer Christian Fevrier gives us his insight on the high performance C-class

1989 US Challenge, McCrae, Australia
The WingMill wing at rest on McCrae beach - another wonderful piece of aerodynamic sculpture. Bryan Dair skipper commented: "Gybing is a wild-looking manoeuvre. The slats on the wing are out, so it looksa lot bigger. When you gybe, the wing goes up in the air, helicopters around and comes back down. It's pretty wild. You need complete crew co-ordination. The guy driving is also pulling the wing around while the crew is flip-flopping it. It is an acrobatic adventure..."

It certainly was. Just before one start she capsized. The Wingmill was an American challenger from the Californian Cabrillo Beach YC. First named Taku/Coyote, the challenger used a see-saw wing fitted on a twisting and rocking mast. Crewed by brothers Steve and Brian Dair, the challenger appeared to be difficult to control. During the capsize the superb wing was reduced to many pieces.