Wave Piercing Bows

The AC cats seem questionable in the total design not just the bows. The whole front half of the boat seems to lack adequate buoyancy. I'm quite surprised they didnt go with a trimaran hull format or a vestigal hull like a D35 it would have helped reduce the number of pitchpoles and resultant damage to wing rigs and potential injuries to crew. Since the boats are one design they did not have to go with such a high aspect wing rig either it's almost as though they sat down and planned a pitchpoling cat, it ties in with their crash and burn marketing campaign I guess but I'm not sure it's good for multihulls in general.

 

The cats used in the AC itself will not be one-designs. My guess is the high aspect ratio wing of the AC World Series boats is intended to provide the teams some experience with a sail similar to the AC boats will have.

Lack of buoyancy forward puzzles also but the designs may have been optimized for almost flat water.

 

Wing rig practice will be helpful but somewhere the correlation between risk and benefit even in a racing context seems to have been ignored. Every time I see one of these boat pitchpole I think "ouch there goes another large wad of cash" would be nice if they addressed the stability issue because you can see the sailors have to back off frequently to deal with it.

According to their publicity the boats were designed to deal with a large range of wind strengths however they dont seem to deal with higher seastates very well at all. Maybe foil assist is one path to take or reduce the height of the wing (was gobsmacked when they showed the wing extension for light weather). When one of these boats was out training the crew decided to take a break and sat stationary briefly head to wind, it led to a backwards capsize. That makes you wonder about the designs stability both fore and aft.

 

You guys have been busy....I think you are forgetting Murphy's law though.....things outside the planned parameters have to be allowed for..... Years ago I was introduced to Ramsey's Law which states that Murphy was a raving optimist

 

I suppose the main point of my last post is what i said in the last sentence. I'll repeat it again: There is no change to the deck, just a change to the shape of the foam add on.

Not seeing how that affects either Murphy or Ramsey?

 

non e of this is even relevant.... here's a lovely example, which not only works but looks gorgeous too. does it look like a whale? will it pitchpole? can you still park and anchor it? does it Peirce the waves? wtf?

 

Well, you're contemplating a Ram bow......the good thing about foam bows is you can change them easily if you want to update the look....Timeless looks come from function not fad but if you pick what looks good to you at least one person will be happy.

 

Exactly, Groper. Those seem to be what is in fashion and are most likely the shape I will choose.

Cavalier, the bows don't even have a function (see groper's video link) except to accept frontal impacts, so your last post makes little sense. It is about *fashion and attracting customers only*.

Personally, I like plumb bows, but I think the majority likes what is new and cool - the bows that groper shows above.

 

An entertaining video which at times shows what modern bow shapes can do, both good and bad. Do watch the helmsman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n98psRCHhQ0

 

Thanks for that I laughed but at the same time admired the helmsmans commitment!

 

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That was hilarious -thanks! But nothing to do with the bow shapes.....

 

Bows do function beyond fashion, what does Kurt say?

 

I don't understand surface piercing bows. I have always thought that going over waves was better than going under them. I have never piloted a boat with a reverse bow, but it would seem to me that it would go under the waves more than a traditional bow. That difference of a few feet mean many thousands of pounds of water on deck, more water leakage and greater chance that the boat becomes a submarine in heavy seas. Same as a transom, in heavy seas I rather have a straight or pointed transom than a reverse, simply more flotation and less chance of a wave getting the better of you.

 

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Kurt says" next year everybody will use these bows"-referring to the so-called X bow. See it and his comments here: http://multihullblog.com/2012/04/new-rowing-trimaran/

 

There you go then. Another marketing thing to consider is the customer base. It takes awhile to build a boat so the more affluent mature crowd may be a better market than the young money who might not want "Pops" as a skipper.