The Boats – America’s Cup Class action
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CHN 95
CHN 95 is the first Chinese America’s Cup Class constructed in the history of the Cup. As the rules stipulate, it was built in China. This is another first, because never, up to present, has a carbon composite competition boat been built in China.
It carries the number 95, which signifies that it is the 95th America's Cup Class built since the birth of the rule, (America’s Cup Class construction rules), in 1992. It is an important number for the Chinese. The 5 represents firstly the 5 essential elements: fire, wood, earth, gold, and water. These elements are primary building blocks, because they allowed the Chinese gods to create the world. Furthermore, the association of the 9 and the 5 carries a symbolic dimension. When the 9 and 5 are written together, in Chinese characters, it signifies 45, or the result of the multiplication of the two numbers. And 45, is a number full of meanings: it was the age that a Chinese could become king. The Chinese have a proverb,”jiu wu zhi zun”, which signifies that at 45 years old, a man reaches his full potential, his apogee!
Construction in Dong Guan
The Chinese America’s Cup Class was built in Dong Guan, next to Shenzhen, in the heart of the Hong-Kong, Shenzhen, Canton triangle. An immense industrial city of more than 6 million inhabitants, Dong Guan provides 50% of the toys on the planet and 40% of the electrical parts for Macintoshes and Personal Computers.
It was built by McConaghy International, an Australian-Chinese joint venture, between the Chinese company “Jin Li” specialized in composites and the Australian boat builder “McConaghy", an expert in carbon race boat construction.
The Chinese America’s Cup class left its boatyard on the 14th of November 2006 and arrived in Valencia by containership on the 17th of December 2006.
A dragon on the racecourse
The boat's emblem, is an immense red dragon on the yellow sides of the hull, was conceived in close collaboration with the artistic design teams from Lladro. Symbol of China, synonymous with power and nobility, the dragon is an inescapable element in the Chinese culture. The dragon of the China Team is connected to this tradition, while evoking speed and elegance at the same time.