AC 18 for New Olympic Cat??

[Doug Lord]

from Scuttlebutt tonight:

A MINI AMERICA'S CUP MULTIHULL FOR THE OLYMPICS?

With the selection of 2016 Olympic events to be decided at the 2011 ISAF
Mid-Year Meeting in St Petersburg, Russia on May 4-8, the multihullers look
set to get back in for 2016, with every submission put forward having
either one or two multihulls on the slate. With the early indication that
ISAF is favoring a mixed event (one man and one woman), the main topic of
discussion in St Petersburg is what to do between now and November 2012
when the decision on the boat to be sailed and which class should be chosen
for 2016.

Given that there is only one multihull, it is extremely difficult to cover
the whole spectrum of multihull sailing, so ISAF needs to decide if they
want a simple "Laser equivalent" boat, or a high tech "49er equivalent".
Going the simple route would guarantee a large number of new nations would
have a shot at Olympic selection, while the high tech route could catapult
sailing into the 21st century.

After each Olympics, the IOC presents their Gold Rings Award to the sport
that provided the best TV coverage of the Games, and in 2008, in a huge
surprise to everyone, this went to sailing. Given all the negative comments
about suitability of sailing for TV, this was a great achievement and a
huge coup for ISAF. The way the award is decided is that the IOC Broadcast
division put together a highlights package for each sport and these are
then judged by an independent panel. The highlights package for sailing was
put together exclusively on the Tornado medal race, with a mix of onboard,
helicopter, boat level and tracking graphics.

So the class that provided ISAF with its greatest media coup was
immediately dumped from the 2012 event lineup. However this then provides
the opportunity to upgrade the boat, much the same as the Flying Dutchman
being dropped for 1996, and replaced by the much more modern 49er in 2000.

As for classes, the following are the likely candidates and a few fors and
againsts for each one. With the multihull likely to be a mixed disciplines,
one of the key aspects of choosing the boat will be whether the design
dictates that the skipper could be either the male or the female member of
the crew.

Everyone in the multihull fraternity agrees the Olympic Mulithull should be
a twin trapeze boat, true one design (so no development costs) with
spinnaker. The only real discussions have been about whether it should be a
16, 18 or 20 foot boat. The choices are most likely boats being an F16 such
as the Viper, an F18 one design such as the Hobie Tiger, or the 20 foot
Tornado or Nacra.

However, a very recent addition into the mix is a proposal from the design team behind
the America's Cup multihulls to design an AC18 with either a soft sail, or preferably a wing
mast. So as of today, the most likely candidates for selection in November 2012 are:

* An F16 design - such as the Viper. Most inexpensive, loads would allow a female to be
either skipper or crew. Other manufacturers such as Nacra likely to have an F16 soon.
* An F18 design - such as Hobie Tiger. Well established class and dealer networks for all
major F18s, heavy boat, would probably mean skipper has to be female. Would mean instant
Olympic fleet by many countries and probably the largest number of boats attempting to qualify.
* Tornado - Well established Olympic boat. Needs to work on one design issues. Longevity
of platform keeps costs down, but development costs of rigs made it unpopular with not
enough countries willing to campaign. Skipper would almost certainly have to be female.
* Nacra 20 - New kid on the block. Manufacturer class, so race it straight out of the box.
Skipper almost certainly female.
* AC18 - New design, with a wing mast. One of the advantages of a wing mast are that
the loads are significantly less, so skipper could be male or female. Photos attached.

There will no doubt be more information about the AC18 in the forthcoming months, but this
look a very exciting project - on that will provide a very clear career path for sailors from the
Olympic Games to America's Cup and bring the sports two premier events closer together.
What does remain to be seen is how many countries are prepared to take the step on campaigning
such a high-tech boat. read on:
----

Renderings from Mike Drumond/Oracle: check out those foils. How would a trunk for those things work??

[bscally]

Not sure about the foils...

But now the requirement for a splittable mast makes some sense.

--Brian

[Erwan]

Hi Everybody,

Not sure I understand what is mentionned about the new AC18,
Is it a forum suggestion ?
Or is it a project to be proposed at ISAF for Olympic?

Thanks

Cheers

EK

[Doug Lord]

Originally Posted by Erwan

Hi Everybody,

Not sure I understand what is mentionned about the new AC18,
Is it a forum suggestion ?
Or is it a project to be proposed at ISAF for Olympic?

Thanks

Cheers

EK

=============
It's in the first post Erwan: a proposal by Mike Drumond of Oracle.

[Erwan]

Thanks Dough

Apologizes for not reading with all the required attention

It would be great if ISAF jump for this boat, it could be a 19 feet long and still fits the 20 ft container.

Cheers

EK