Engineering a win for America’s Cup

Andrew Gaynor ’98 remembers watching the 1983 America’s Cup on television; his heart sank when Australia took the cup from American hands for the first time in 132 years.

As an engineering undergraduate, Gaynor joined a competition to design, construct, and race a solar-powered boat, which took second in the national competition and still hangs in the machine shop.

He served on design teams for the 2010 America’s Cup winning BMW Oracle USA team and the 2007 semi-finalist Italian team, designed masts for competitors in the 2008 and 2011 around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, and in 2008 launched JAG Composites in Barrington, R.I.

Fast forward to September 25, 2013. Thanks in no small part to Gaynor, who helped design its cutting-edge AC72 catamaran, Oracle Team USA completed one of the greatest comebacks ever to clinch the America’s Cup, winning by a mere 39 seconds. Gaynor hopes Team USA calls him back into service for the next race so he can design an even faster, better boat.

“That’s the fun part of engineering: having the opportunity to design something, build it, and then go back and apply what you’ve learned to the next job.”

— Chris Barrett, ’08