34th America's Cup: multihulls!

The action I find most interesting in the LV cup are the chaseboats. Must have been 15 or more of them out there on the course. Good looking boats making 30 knots in a chop. Be nice to see them up close or hauled out

 

Well edited!.
The event has beautiful boats, a stunning harbour, fascinating technology, but the dullest races.

 

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So am I! Fixed for you.....

 

34th AC

This is getting ridiculous-too bad for LR. Closest race so far up until the wing control system broke.

 

Oh, Doug! Sometimes you remind me of the Black Knight from Monty Python's "The Holy Grail". You are invincible!

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CutOnce

 

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Same old same old on the racecourse today, but at 2hr14m of today's broadcast Nathan Outerridge gave a little talk about the wheel buttons controlling the foils which I'd not heard before.

 

Doug - you and I can talk about it together, I am transfixed by the boats - how the gybes make such a difference, that ETNZ was slower for much of the reach on leg 2 on port yet made it ahead with a great foiling gybe, that such good sailors are on the edge would make it amazing for them.

I remember my second sail on a 49er, we capsized about 15 times, were out of control most of the time, were shouting at each other "Grab that- do this!" I was sailing with a multiple Aust and NSW Laser champ and I could still sail well - it was one of the best sails I ever had - I was pushed way beyond my comfort zone and I loved it. I reckon this event will be a sailing highlight for many of the crews as these boats are beyond anything anyone could realistically foresee 5 years ago. Now they sail boats going 30 knots through a gybe. It may not impress many and I get that but I am very happy to watch whenever it is on.

cheers

Phil

 

34th AC

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Great comment, Phil. Thats sort of the way I felt when I first sailed my first foiler designed from scratch. I didn't capsize but it was basically a warm fuzzy feeling of terror that, in hindsight, was one of the best experiences I ever had on the water.
I learn almost everytime I watch these boats-they are such fascinating sailing machines and represent a major triumph of sailboat design. But they are only a begining and what a begining!

 

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So another day, another breakdown.

Another postponement.

If I were Patrizio Bertelli, I'd be wondering why fate
has chosen to beset his crew with these troubles;
It's like the labors of Sisyphus to get to the start line each day
with the only consolation being that Sisyphus never enjoyed a wind limit.

Now the girls on the runway, modelling the Prada fashions,
if this was happening to them it would be **** suddenly falling out and heels breaking, and desperate searches for lost contact lenses on all fours with panties slipping...

So thank goodness then, that the boat is subject to these vagaries instead.

lol

 

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Is this cool, or what?

Lurking around an obscure Kiwi website, I found a discussion about upwind foiling.

Here's the latest post:

But no relation to our G. Baigent, I'm sure.

lol

 

Not me, no cat, only had tri foilers; I'm sure Blackburn's quote is about David Knaggs; he first altered a Ron Given 14 foot Paper Tiger cat by adding foils, high angle of attack ones and the boat stayed up on its foils during gybes, probably tacks too.
Then he built a beautiful 18 x 25 foot tri foiler with wing mast rig (seen here sailing at Drunk's Bay, Rangitoto Island) which was very successful, then he lost interest after a few years - last heard it had rotted away at the bottom of his garden ... so he burnt it.

 

34th AC

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

The third breakdown among the two challengers in as many days came with disappointment because Race 3 began with great competition. Luna Rossa helmsman Chris Draper put forth a strong effort in the pre-start, keeping clear of Emirates Team New Zealand’s Dean Barker. Draper crossed onto the racecourse 1 second earlier and to windward of Barker.

Although the speeds were even on the reach, Emirates Team New Zealand was quicker on the ensuing run. The Kiwis averaged 35 knots compared to the Italians 33.83 knots, and that allowed Emirates Team New Zealand to lead by 20 seconds at the leeward gate.

“Unfortunately, we had an issue with the line controlling the twist profile of the wing and couldn’t keep sailing,” said Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena. “The line comes down to the base of the wing and wraps around sheaves. The sheaves moved and caused the problem with the tension of the control line. Fortunately it’s a quick fix, but unfortunately it stopped us racing.”

 

Me too.
Yesterday the race was reduced to a farce because the electronics failed on
one boat. Today a small equipment failure stopped the other multi-million dollar
boat in its tracks.
I'd be asking for my money back if I was the sponsor.

 

Reminds me of a conversation we once had in the DO. What is the most valuable thus "expensive" bit of equipment on a multimillion dollar passenger ferry?? The toilets(heads). Thus the head and systems servicing them need to be bullet proof. If they fail, the boat doesn't go to sea to earn its money.

It's always the little things that are often overlooked...

 

It's what we are learning that is interesting. We are learning what to choose when we tinker, not how to optimize once we are done tinkering. Opting well nearly always trumps optimizing well.

While Doug likes to think of foiling as a revolution, and maybe it is - the AC isn't a revolution. I think the AC boat rule effectively prevents the AC from being part of a revolution itself. I think the AC has precipitated what Nassim Taleb calls a Black Swan.

It is precisely the conflict between the rule's intent and what has come to pass, that makes the event so fantastical. There should be no expectation of any close racing. That is simply not an attribute of this sort of playing field. If you want to expect to see a close race, find a situation where there is a high degree of concord between the rule and the entrants. A 5K footrace between middle-aged suburbanites who are all short and squat could be expected to produce a close race given large training resources.

Leo might find the racing uninteresting, But I think what makes this event important (compared to my take on some previous AC's) is precisely the same thing that will make any close racing a fluke. And I like time trials. If I watch the Tour de France, I prefer to watch the time trial coverage. Peletons bore me, and I've been in a couple.

I think the significance of this AC will lie in it's effect on the small number of professional sailors and boat techs. It's potency as a source of inspiration to highly accomplished people will make it more likely to produce some real effect on the rest of us than if the races were closely fought between two siblings optimized in a minutely different manner. We need a real blow-out victory every once in a while to clear the air.

So it seems that neither Leo or I expect to see close racing. But while he says he wishes to see it anyway, I'd score the spectacle by the size of the blow-out. The bigger - the better. I'd wouldn't expect to benefit at all from a close race anytime during my lifetime.