America's Cup Trimaran Wings It

The boat that's hard to believe just got harder to believe.

On Tuesday, the BMW Oracle Racing America's Cup challenger hoisted what is believed to be the world's largest wing, which it will test later this week as a replacement for a traditional soft-sail rig on its monster trimaran.
    
Complete with flaps, the wing will tower nearly 190 feet above the deck when it's installed this week. It is longer than the wing of an Airbus 380, the world's largest passenger airliner.
    
The wing was unveiled on Monday, five days after the trimaran's 200-foot carbon-fiber mast fell and broke in two during a sail on the Pacific Ocean. On Tuesday, with the wing in place, the racing boat lifted in the wing into place in San Diego Harbor.
    
"We've been working for six months now on building the largest wing for a sailing boat that's been constructed before," said Ian Burns, the design coordinator for BMW Oracle Racing. "Really exciting day for us because now that we've rolled it out of the shed, we can see the thing in its proper element, and it's looking quite beautiful."

Rules that were in place preventing the use of a hard sail or wing are no longer in place, according to Burns.

"Hopefully -- and we are pretty certain -- it will be a significant amount faster in certain wind conditions," Burns said.

BMW Oracle Racing will face defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland in a best-of-three showdown beginning Feb. 8 for the oldest trophy in international sports.