34th America's Cup: multihulls!

Yes,and just as an aside note---The newest state of the art Chinese aircraft carrier ------------Is a CATAMARAN.

 

34th AC

Highlights(or lowlights) depending on how you look at it. Includes the Greencomm double capsize: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvk4D-GlUgE&feature=youtu.be

You know, I don't know about the rest of you, but these boats just take my breath away-can you imagine 72 footers in San Fran(or Plymouth, for that matter) in 30 knots!!?

 

The racing was ... intense. Check it out. I can only think of 18 footers approaching this - but the ASC45's would leave them for dead in terms of savage acceleration. The on board filming is superb. Forget monohulls from now on ... they are like goat farts compared to thunder.

 

34th AC

Plymouth schedule: http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-Plymouth-2011

BROADCAST:
Viewers can tune in to the America's Cup YouTube channel.
Featuring a multi-screen player, viewers can choose from live onboard
footage, a graphical overview or an eagle's eye view, as well as from
expert sailing or standard sports commentary as part of the daily
livestreaming. The racing is also available on demand at
http://www.youtube.com/americascup

===============
9/10/11---Thanks to Jeff for pinning the AC channel/thread info to alert everybody that racing starts today in Plymouth in AC 45's!

UPDATE: 9/12/11-- Next race day is Wednesday the 14th...reruns of the last two days are available on the link above. Skip Saturday and go directly to Sunday-spectacular speed!

 

Crew Management, Graphics Collection/Presentation

Real interesting film on America's Cup behind the scenes crew management, and graphics presentation

http://www.youtube.com/americascup#p/u/0/Fp93JI2NlRE

 

34th AC

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

REVISED: The race schedule has been revised. Racing on Wednesday and
Thursday will include a total of six fleet races, with the standings from
the fleet races used to seed the nine crews entering the match racing
championship, scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The schedule for Sunday
will be one fleet race, a winner take all contest for the ACWS Plymouth
Championship. -- Details: http://tinyurl.com/Plymouth-rev-091211

SAN DIEGO: After Plymouth, the America's Cup World Series moves to America
where San Diego will host the third event on November 12-20. While there
will be open viewing areas surrounding the bay, it is hard to beat the VIP
experience if you can afford it. Both corporate and individual packages
include excellent viewing plus parking, booze, food, and a photo op with
the America's Cup Trophy. Prices range from $850 for a couple on the final
race day to $10,950 for a corporate table of ten for the week. Details
here: http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-SD-091211

MORE SAN DIEGO: Australian double Olympic silver medalist Darren Bundock
will be given the helm of ORACLE Racing Coutts in the ACWS San Diego (Nov.
12-20). Russell Coutts will stay onboard. Driving the decision is the
chance to start rotating members of the sailing team so that more
experience AC45 racing and because Coutts is sure Bundock will sail the
boat faster. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-091211

 

34th AC

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

TWO STEPS BACKWARDS(September 13, 2011)

With racing to resume on Wednesday at the America's
Cup World Series in Plymouth (UK), today was an opportunity for the nine
competing teams to complete punch lists following the weekend races. But
for two teams, the to-do list on Tuesday got significantly longer:

* China Team is now the first team to log a full pitch pole capsize. While
training today in 25-30 knots, skipper Charlie Ogletree explains what
happened: "We stuck both bows in a bearaway which resulted in one heck of a
capsize. I think we flipped so hard right that after the wing hit the
water, the sterns hit the water. I think we went all the way around."
Despite the significant wing damage and minor hull cracks, the team
believes repairs will be completed in time to continue when racing resumes
on Wednesday. -- Full report:
http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Blog/2011/9/China-Team-Capsize/

* It was discovered today that Green Comm Racing's port hull was damaged
during Sunday's capsize and will have to be replaced. The entire team will
work throughout the night in order to be ready for Wednesday's races. "We
have been working flat out in order to repair the wing and be ready to race
on Wednesday," explained sports Manager Luca Devoti. "We also recut our
jibs and we thought we were 100% ready. When we double-checked the hull we
found there were some structural problems. The only solution was to replace
the damaged hull." -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/GreenComm-091311

ACWS-Plymouth website: http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-Plymouth

SCHEDULE: Racing on Wednesday and Thursday will include a total of six
fleet races, with the standings from the fleet races used to seed the nine
crews entering the match racing championship, scheduled for Friday and
Saturday. The schedule for Sunday will be one fleet race, a winner take all
contest for the ACWS Plymouth Championship. -- Details:
http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-Plymouth-rev-schedule

LIVESTREAM: All racing in Plymouth will be streamed live beginning on
Wednesday at 14:10 local time (09:10 EDT). Viewing online at
www.youtube.com/americascup

SAN DIEGO: Entries are being accepted for a free drawing to award 4 VIP
Experience tickets to the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) San Diego (Nov.
12-20). These 4 VIP tickets grant the winner and 3 friends to an unrivalled
hospitality experience. Entry deadline is October 15th. Details here:
http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-082811
================
More on the AC 45 action: http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/


Comparison render of AC 45 and AC 72: (!)

 

34th AC

Light air! After Sunday it is hard to watch-sooo slow......

 

34th AC

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

YOU HAVE TO BE THERE

Perhaps you don't consider yourself a car racing fan, but until you see a race in person, you'll never know. The speed is... mesmerizing. Maybe the
multihull format of the 34th America's Cup is the same way. Here is a
description of the racing in Plymouth by Yachting World editor Matthew
Sheahan:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Standing on the upper deck of the committee boat during Sunday's
outstanding race was an eye opener. Aside from the spectacular view from
the upper deck 15ft above the water, the breezy scene was unlike anything
I've witnessed before.

At first there was nothing particularly different to any other busy
pre-start area as competitors sniffed the stiff breeze, practiced their
beats and runs, hoists, gybes and drops. There were timed runs into the
line and plenty of spins up into the breeze to pause and check the
conditions.

Yet the pace at which all this and more was happening was mildly
disorientating.

When an AC45 makes a practice timed run into the committee boat end of the
line in 20-27 knots of breeze, it does so at 20 knots plus. As each of them
whistled past the committee boat's transom with what looked like inches to
spare, you could hear the high pitched whistle of the foils as they passed
and almost feel the vacuum in their wake as if you were standing on a
railway platform as an express train barrels through.

At one point Loic Peyron on the French Energy Team came through flying a
hull so high that our eyes seemed to meet at the same level as the windward
hull appeared to pass up and over our aft quarter.

Helicopters screeched around the pre-start area at what felt like just a
few feet above us, while jet skis and RIBs scorched around like
snowboarders on a black run as the sea was whipped up into a foaming
frenzy. Our entire world seemed to be running on fast forward with a
battlefield soundtrack to match as the stiff breeze flogged the various
signal flags, including a giant chequered start flag so violently that it
sounded like a group of Harley Davidson motorbikes were buzzing the
committee boat.

Above the background din, various radio calls were being made between mark
boats and competitors, the VHF radios turned up to what felt like full
volume. How course marshal Harold Bennett could hear anything above the
noise, let alone respond, was beyond me. -- Read on:
http://tinyurl.com/YW-091411


Racing Thursday starting at 9AM EDT-see the link in the pinned post.

 

34th AC

First match race Aleph vs Greencom: Aleph led almost the whole race but screwed up a gennaker set allowing Greencom to come charging up just before the finish! Quite a race.

 

34th AC---Plymouth

Spectacular racing today!

 

From Scuttlebutt Europe today:

The Focus Shifts to San Diego

Pack-up started in the Plymouth Race Village on Sunday night and continues throughout the week, with the cargo ship HR Constitution being loaded with the lifeblood of the America's Cup World Series, including the AC45 race boats, 102 shipping containers, 20 support boats, and one of the cranes used to hoist the AC45s into the water. The ship is scheduled to depart Plymouth Sound on Sunday and to arrive in San Diego by October 24, approximately three weeks ahead of the first race day.

As in Plymouth, where officials estimate over 115,000 took in the race action from up on the Hoe, racing in San Diego will be tucked in close to shore, allowing for a 'stadium sailing' experience for the race crews and spectators alike.

"San Diego is going to be a fantastic place, a harbor laid out perfectly like Plymouth," said ORACLE Racing skipper Russell Coutts, who won the America's Cup in the Californian city in 1995. "When San Diego hosted the America's Cup (1988, 1992, 1995), the racing was a long way out to sea. That won't be the case this time."

Official practice racing is scheduled to begin November 12-13, with the San Diego Match Racing Championship running from November 16-19 and the climax event, the Fleet Racing Championship on Sunday November 20. The Speed Trials will be held on the first day of the Match Racing Championship as well as the final Sunday. Live coverage of racing will start on Wednesday November 16.

America's Cup World Series 2011-2012 Overall Standings

1. Emirates Team New Zealand - 38 points
2. ORACLE Racing Spithill - 34
3= ORACLE Racing Coutts - 28
3= Artemis Racing - 28
5. Team Korea - 26
6= Aleph - 18
6= Energy Team - 18
8. Green Comm Racing - 17
9. China Team - 13

www.americascup.com

 

34th AC

Some of you AC45 afficionados may be aware that there was a three boat pileup in the racing at Plymouth. Here is the AC Jury report:
(note costs at end of report!)

 

Ugliness Rears its Head Racing Fast Boats in Slow Conditions

This is not about AC boats but about similar boats and an incident in ,of all places, Nice, France. A story of skippers run wild-from Scuttlebutt tonight:

IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
Professional sports are played in stadiums. Boundaries intensify the
action. Rules govern the game, and referees insure the rules are followed.
While each sport is different, they all agree the referee is to be
respected. Any player disputing a call risks being removed from the game
and/or financially penalized.

Now that professional sailing has brought its sport into the stadium, it
was only a matter of time before the pressure to perform and the decisions
of an umpire resulted in ugliness. Here is a report by International Umpire
Jos Spijkerman, who was working at the Extreme Sailing Series Act 7 event
last week in France:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It was in Nice, but it wasn't nice anymore. I'm usually quit capable to
find the positive side of and event and write about that. The last couple
of days I wasn't able to do that, so to avoid writing something I would
regret later, I skipped posting altogether.

The wind in Nice was a deciding factor - or better said the lack of wind.
It frustrated sailors who felt it was "pot luck" on the short courses. It
frustrated the RC as they struggled to find reason in starting. It
frustrated the Organisers as they wanted to have some races for all the
VIP's that were invited.

In the morning we did some fairly decent races a little way from shore. In
the afternoon in front of the spectators and VIP tent it was bad. The
Extreme 40s struggled to get some speed, were very slow manoeuvrable and we
had multiple boat rounding's (and incidents) at marks. That cumulated in a
couple of very dubious manoeuvres by several boats. Almost as if they
deliberately were breaking the rules - something that is very hard to
prove.

And when we gave a penalty all their frustration came out - you guessed it
- against the umpires. I'm well aware that people need to vent their
emotions sometimes, but being called an idiot in a five minute rant is
un-acceptable. We were very close to getting out the black flag and
disqualifying boats. It didn't get any better in the next races.

It feels like all the effort we have spent to build up a relationship with
the sailors has been wiped away by this behaviour. The CU spoke with
several skippers but found them uncooperative and emotional. We will let
things cool off and pick this up in Almeria (Act 8) next week. But the
border has been reached. If this happens again, it will have consequences.
-- http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2011/10/ess-act-7-nice-france.html

BACKGROUND:
The Extreme Sailing Season is in its fifth season, with this
year's nine event tour travelling through Asia, Europe, and North America.
The platform used is the one design Extreme 40 catamaran, with the format
for event including 'stadium' short-course racing in front of the public.
The 2011 ESS has grown in part due to the multihull format planned for the
34th America's Cup in 2013. -- http://www.extremesailingseries.com/

 

Seconds ago, as I watched through my living room window, i saw Banke Populaire hoisting her huge sail, in the middle of Pittwater.
What an amazing sight that is.
I sincerely hope the new owner is going to shadow the Sydney-Hobart race in a few weeks time.
Please excuse the OT.