34th America's Cup: multihulls!

Oh come on, NZ are like our little brothers and we would never take pleasure
from their failures. However, advance orders are being taken for these beautiful
neck adornments just in case there is a rush later this week.

 

I think that requirement would be impossible to regulate and enforce.
There are too many ways that you could establish a company or other entity
to mask the input from non-resident designers.

 

34th AC

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The talking heads say that there have been more lead changes in these races than ever before. And that appears to be true to me too-so I don't get how you can say this-unless you haven't watched them all?

 

There have been more lead changes which have made some races more
exciting than the many processions we saw in the LV and earlier AC races.
However, it is a bit disingenuous to claim a lead change alone makes for
exciting racing if the changes occur when the leading boat is ahead on the
other side of the course but is one tack or gybe behind the other boat.

IMO, lead changes and the fascinating tactical battles at the starts have
been the highlight of this regatta. That and the superb graphics and replays.
I only wish they had a small panel with continuous displays of VMG, boat
speed and some other data so that post-mortem analysis would be easier.

 

34th AC and Leo

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I'm so glad you enjoyed something about it , Leo.

 

As I said before, there are many aspects I love, especially multihulls and lifting
surfaces, which I have been researching for 20 years. (Only that silly
Waterworld trimaran comes closer to embodying all my research interests!)
I just found most of the races dull once one boat leads by a few hundred
metres.

 

Penalty rule.

" The lateral gap was big and Barker could drop his bows and park in front of Oracle. However Spithill was way too good – a late luff, both luffed, the Kiwis up head-to-wind and cost them two penalties as the hulls touched and Barker then failed to keep clear."

Please whats the penalty rule. I was waiting for ETNZ to do 2 360 deg turns but did not see that happen like in the old mono AC races.

 

34th AC

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Penalty is what the umpires say it is-I think I heard they got a two boatlength penalty but I didn't see them take it. The Kiwi's are penalized something like 5-0 during the racing compared to Oracle.

 

I think you have this backwards. A rigid wing can be pivoted closer to its center of lift, which means the forces needed to control it can be much smaller than for an equivalent soft sail. I remember Tom Speer mentioned this advantage when we were discussing the Oracle wingsail and TNZ soft sail of the previous AC.

 

THANKS DOUG.


Yeah thats what I read in a report and did not believe it. So what are you saying, there is no defined fixed written penalty rule like it was in the monos previously. How do they measure 2 boat lenghts and when. They where in a stalled position or virtually in irons. So they THE UMPIRES count one two three - penalty done? or if ETNZ had of won by a boat lenght arguments when the race is awarded to ORACLE by one boat lenght by the umpires. Stupid would you not say. All that ***** footing around at the start and getting 2 penalities = two boat lenghts which represents 1 sec at 40 knots.

Any comments from other posters or is the answer with foilers WHO CARES.

 

Such an articulated complex wing is not allowed by the AC72 rules...
However, if the advantage of a wing sail is so small compared to the advantage of foils, I believe it makes no much sense to try to improve the speed of the boat by a more complex sail. It would be better if the present restrictions on the dimensions and mechanisms of the immersed appendices are reduced.

 

AC racing rules are available here: http://static.squarespace.com/stati...acing-Rules-of-Sailing-AC-Edition-v-1.15-.pdf Penalties are covered on pp 11-12.

Description of the penalty system used in the AC World Series: http://www.cupexperience.com/blog/2012/09/understanding-penalties My understanding is the AC system is similar.

Article about the AC penalty system: http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Americas-Cup:-New-Racing-Rules---Jimmy,-Youve-got-Mail/80939

 

Dear Basil - The kind of statement made that this won't happen again is false. Of course it will happen again. It's the nature of the Americas Cup. Each one gets bigger and bigger. Technology moves on, sailors move on. In the next two cycles we maybe see races averaging 40kn or even 50kn. This AC has lifted sailing to a new level. Cheers Peter S

 

Ashby taught both Barker and Spithill how to sail a multi so I guess he wins either way??

 

This quote from the NY Times, regarding the second race yesterday:

“They were going pretty damn well,” Barker said of the upwind leg. “It was the first time we recognized there was a condition where we’re maybe not as strong as we need to be.”

I think, if he believes what he said, he's a very slow learner. Oracle have been all over NZ upwind since they started the comeback. NZ have no answer to Oracle's ability to switch modes upwind, and sail high and fast, or low and faster. While their VMG isn't radically higher than NZ's, it allows them to decide where they want to be on the course at any given time - foiling upwind allows them to get to the other side much faster than NZ can, and benefit from a shift or higher pressure.

I just hope that if Oracle win, they keep the venue and the class, and announce that the next AC starts in 3 weeks time ...