This video does a fantastic job capturing the feeling of racing a catamaran…on flat water.

It would be awesome to speed along at 30 knts but that is likely to come from wind above 10 knts, which combined with the tide often brings choppy waves to the city front. Are the giant cats foiling? They seem too smooth and too dry in the video — smooth and risk-free like a flight scenes from “How to Train Your Dragon”.

The engineering of these massive AC45 and AC72 catamarans is amazing; it will really push the envelope of sailing risk management. The speed and size puts huge stresses on a very thin and light infrastructure – more than 100 tonnes in multiple points. Another important consideration is what the air and water feels like at 30 knts — imagine sticking your head out the window of a car driving 40 mph in the rain. I remember when the PlayStation skipper (designed by the same person as the America’s Cup boats) said he ran pumps 24 hours a day to evacuate literally tons of water collecting in the reefs of their mainsail from the spray. And, speaking of details, where is the square-top main?

Regardless of fact or fiction, the video is inspiring — every time I watch it I feel the urge to take my miniature America’s Cup boat, the A-Cat, out on the Bay again and get bounced around. (Note: it’s no coincidence that an AC45 looks very much like an International A-Class Catamaran)

It’s definitely a different vision than the carnage from the eXtreme 40 series, but maybe that reflects the difference in racing style between designers Pete Melvin (Americas Cup) and Mitch Booth (eXtreme). Here’s another kind of “flying” when racing catamarans: