Meet the Speedy New Hydrogen-Powered Chase Boat Supporting Racers in the America’s Cup

The teams competing in this year’s America’s Cup have already revealed their respective racing yachts. (Alinghi was the first to launch its highly engineered AC75 foiler, followed by Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa, American Magic, INEOS, and Orient Express Racing Team.) Now their chase boats are hitting the seas.

Bluegame, the Italian shipyard owned by the Sanlorenzo Group, officially delivered a hydrogen-powered support vessel (BGH-HSV) to American Magic during a ceremony in La Spezia on Wednesday.

Designed to meet the strict requirements of the America’s Cup, the new catamaran will “fly” across the water on high-tech hydrofoils at speeds of up to 50 knots in a similar fashion as the AC75 racers. Powered exclusively by hydrogen, the multihull has a range of 180 miles and can carry gear to the American Magic crew sans emissions.

The chase cats of the America’s Cup have played an important role in pioneering green technology for the wider marine industry. Bluegame assembled a team of highly experienced yachting experts to work on the BGH-HSV and has thus made significant developments in areas ranging from propulsion to engineering. Bluegame plans to mainstream the existing fuel-cell technology and roll out larger hydrogen-powered yachts in the near future, adding that the experience gained with the BGH will serve as a springboard for the future BGF line. The first BGF model is expected to hit the seas in 2025.

“The efforts and significant investments in research and development to achieve the performance, speed, maneuverability, and reliability necessary to successfully support the American Magic team have been rewarded,” Bluegame founder Luca Santella. “The result is a vessel that marks a new, historic milestone in the application of cutting-edge technologies for more sustainable boating.”

Bluegame will deliver a second unit of the BGH to the prestigious Orient Express Racing Team in the coming weeks as the competition ramps up. The third and final preliminary regatta, which will take place in Barcelona from August 22 to 25, will see all six AC75s compete for the first time. The five challenging teams will then battle it out in the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Series from August 29 to October 7. The winning team will advance to face off against defender Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America’s Cup from October 12 to 27.