America's Cup 34-Multihull Proposal

[Doug Lord]

Here is the fairly detailed multihull proposal(see "Sailboats" for the mono version) :


Monohull & Multihull
High-performance and close racing
Light to strong wind range capability
Ease of shipping & transportation
22m max overall Length
"green" engines legal

Multihull
1.2 x wind speed upwind performance
1.6 x wind speed downwind performance
Displacement 4000-4200kg
Up to four moveable appendages
Wing sails permitted
Demountable assembly
12 crew

[Doug Lord]

Just read that this rule limits the boats to cats. And beam is limited. Lets see: BMW-O beats the crap out of a cat in AC 33, so the "powers that be" choose a cat for AC34. Right, geez.......

PS-at least wing rigs are legal..

[Briggsm]

Hi Doug,

This is based on my relatively uninformed opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.

Is this class an expansion of the Mini-Americas cup perhaps? maybe that would explain the no tri thing...

if this is not the case it does seem strange that they would model a class based on the style of boat that was soundly beaten...

If you recall after Budy Melges won the Cup on AMERICA\3 they tried a half scale IACC class that was hyped in all the magazines one month but then vanished off the face of the earth. It might be, like alot of new development classes that 2 or 3 boats get built then the class gets forgotten.

I've sailed in development and semi-development classes and unless the boats are relatively small or have building material limitations, or have dedicated people with booku cash(sponsors) these classes often get abandoned.

My point being, I wouldn't be surprised if this class does not last very long because of its expense and size. It seems more likely that some people might try and revamp the formula 40 class (or depart from).

Peace Briggs

[Doug Lord]

Hey,Briggs. I hate to see them come up with too stringent a rule-then it becomes one-designish whether its a mono, tri or cat. I guess well know more soon....

[BriggsMonteith]

I agree, Development classes have a way of going in waves. At first the develop quickly, like hull shapes, appendages, then they refine the fastest and then on through to the next breakthrough development. I think if the development can be very rapid in the beginning and make it through the refinement period to the next breakthrough quickly it has a much better chance of establishing itself! personally I'd like to see some development classes that don't allow exotic materials, I think alot of people would experiment that wouldn't otherwise.

Cheers Briggs

[Chris Ostlind]

Guys, try this one on for size...

The standard has to be defined in some direction, or the competitors will recede in wholesale numbers until there is no crowd for the playground.

No crowd for the playground.

The outliers can beef all they want about how one design beat another. That's a non-starter in the grand scheme of things. It's also small thinking if you wish to put on a regatta. The country interests in the race don't care about which design genre is fastest. They care that they can field a boat in these very distressing economic times and have the scroungable budget to get some kind of reasonable competitor to the start line.

Very simply put gents.... Cats are less expensive to produce than are trimarans. The big money guys know this, the everyday guys will understand this and the viewing public doesn't give a crap.

Quit re-arranging deck chairs on the sinking ideology of one type vs another and get on with the business of being happy that any kind of multihull is being seriously considered for the biggest, most widely marketed regatta in the history of boating.

[BriggsMonteith]

It's all trivial to me, I'd rather build and sail than watch. So it is my fault that I approach this from an angle where I could ever be involved. Most of this type of sailing is absurd anyway, just like pro basket ball, it's just a bunch of rich jerks(OWNERS) trying to outdo each other. Remember when the Americas cup used to be amature, Yeah, that was nice! at least we knew the wealthy people were willing to steer there own boats or at least ask an amature to do it! Professionalism has screwed all that up. It used to be that people would modify a boat that they already owned rather than pour money into a new boat! That doesn't inspire me at all. In the 1950s a fellow built an international moth catamaran. After it was proven highly successfull and unbeatable it was outlawed. Was this decision made because it was a bad boat, illegal or because it cost more? NO! It was, I believe because the class as a whole had an idea of the direction they wanted the class to go in and multihulls weren't it. I think the powers at be have just decided that they don't want to pursue such radically different boats and that is why.

[Chris Ostlind]

Yes, Briggs, there are "powers that be" involved. But these powers are also cognizant of the fact that they simply have to put it together so that it makes sense to enough entrants so that a significant regatta can happen.

After this last go-round, the public's interest has been seriously hammered. The only way to get back that interest.. as well as the attached sponsor investments, is to stage an event that draws large numbers of viewers and followers from as wide a base as possible.

This is where pragmatism enters the scene, somewhat tempering the indulgent desires of any governing body. Nothing like a world-wide economic gloom to tone down the big shots when their sponsors demand vast numbers of eyeballs glued to their product messages.

Who knows, maybe if they do get it together in an interesting format, you might even be persuaded, once again, to find the contest somewhat compelling and tune in your TV/computer to take it all in?

[BriggsMonteith]

Chris, I Agree. The more different the boats are, the more different the development rates will be. It's no fun if the same person wins all the time.

[Richard Woods]

I disagree somewhat with the amateur comments

In 1983 Australia 2 won the cup. The boat was owned and paid for by Alan Bond. But he never sailed it, all the crew were professionals. I don't think Dennis Conner owned Liberty, I believe it was owned by a consortium from the NYYC. In any event the owners never raced on it either.

However in this last AC both the boats were owned by active sailors and I believe both were on board during the races. OK they were sponsored boats, but the owners found the sponsors rather than sponsors finding professional crews to race their boat

So the AC almost returned to the "Owner Driver" concept.

Remember that in the 1930's J class heyday owners may have steered their boats, but the crews were essentially all professionals. In the UK, they were usually fishermen, who only got paid when they won.

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com