34th America's Cup: multihulls!

...

I see that Scuttlebutt tweeted 8hrs ago "Confirmed: JK out, Ainslie in", and that VSail/Pierre ten minutes ago tweeted "Sir Ben to the rescue! Will the world's most awarded sailor change anything onboard Oracle Team?"

I suppose they have some confirmation beyond the photo of Ainslie posted on the most recent news story at the official AC34 site?

That photo shows Ainslie grinding however. And VSail's tweet attached a different photo also showing Ainslie grinding!

Isn't the Oracle self tacker finished and installed, yet?

 

Mr. Ellison, knock down that fence and let those kiwis roam free!

 

laughed my *** off Leo - i gotta repost it here, hilarious!!!

 

Oracle need to pull out the winged keel and have straight wins from now on

 

...

The Artemis accident is written about in more detail; Aaron Kuriloff, who wrote a muddled attack on AC34 in the Wall Street Journal a while ago, now has a new article in Business Week:

Made-for-TV America’s Cup Imperils Sailors Pursuing Speed

 

34th AC

Holy Carbon-we've really had it! Congrads to Team NZ!!! Please don't go back to leadbellies......

 

There were some little flurries of interesting racing, followed by the usual
procession.

I think returning to monohull leadbellies would be a retrograde step, but if the
AC is held in Auckland then the design challenges are difficult and fascinating.
I've started: have you Doug?

 

===========
I understand the wind is really fluky in Auckland-is that right? Won't be a breeze like San Fran will it?

 

Retrograde don't know, wing sail, human powered canting keel, DSS 80ft leadbellies might be exciting?

 

Yes. and the possibility of larger waves and swell.
As I said, a far more fascinating design problem than the bath-tub like
conditions of SF Bay.

 

The problem with Auckland is where do you create the stadium effect? The AC72 platform and foils are awesome so they will go fwd, perhaps the wing will get smaller or they will go to a big wingmast soft sail combo. But foiling is here to stay. The Wing was supposed to be the big ticket hero of this AC but foiling has turned out to be the technical leap and the viewing attraction. Don't think the swell will come into it. Just need a suitable shoreline so the fans can see. We havn't had a structural problem yet and this is always on the cards so the drama can still play out. Saturday will be absolutlely critical. If NZ do what they did today its all over red rover!! Cheers Peter S

 

We really want to see them go up the City Front in 20knots of breeze and a big ebb ... All this flood tide racing has made it look like a mill pond ... the ebb changes that.

 

34th AC

press conference live now 6:30 eastern:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbeNvkux750#t=986

 

The fans got to see a little bit of the race in SF. I very much doubt that
many would even have known whether the boats were foil-borne or not from
the shore.

From a design aspect, waves, swell and gusty winds will all come into play if
foils are used in Auckland. And, as you mentioned in another thread(?) so will
cavitation limits if the boats are smaller.

 

If they will also reduce the LOA to, say, 60 ft., to lower the cost and increase the participation, it would be great - I believe that the boats would still be super-fast and as spectacular as those of the current breed.