After Oracle Racing’s embarrassing daggerboard failure on the first trip out for their AC72, the America’s Cup defenders are back up and running and clearly keen to show that they can foil their new 72 foot Cup cat.

The Kiwis were the first to launch their 72 (see previous blog) and were no doubt delighted to be able to demonstrate that their cat flew on foils straight out of the box. Putting pressure on your opponents in the America’s Cup, in whatever way you can, is all part of the game and so it is of little surprise to see Oracle striking back with some great pictures of their jet black flying cat in action.

Aside from propaganda, the pictures provide more glimpses of what the next America’s Cup will look like next year. And while the overall fleet of contenders is much smaller than many had hoped and a fraction of what we saw in Valencia back in 2007, it looks like we will be getting some superb pictures of an entirely new world for the Cup.

Meanwhile, the second regatta in the 2012/13 AC World Series gets underway this week in San Francisco. Racing runs from Wednesday through to Sunday.

Live TV coverage will run from Thursday onwards. More details later.

Pics courtesy GRENIER / ORACLE TEAM USA