AC 36 Foiling Monohulls

The final NZAC-- comments from Martin of catsailingnews.com : America's Cup 36: AC75 Class Rules revealed | Catamaran Racing, News & Design http://www.catsailingnews.com/2018/03/americas-cup-36-ac75-class-rules.html
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"Reading TNZ fb that the soft Wing they are developing will "Trickle Down"... not even close, as many sailmakers have been playing around with the concept for years, lately Heru Sails with their A-Cat & I-Fly 15 soft wings among their long time Windsurfing development. Same for the entire Windsurfing industry and the double luff sails.

We highly respect the talent, professionalism and level of the designers of the AC75 rule, but if this concept was proposed say on an Internet forum or here or anywhere else, it would have been labeled as ridiculous complicated solution just to please the old guard with a visual Monohull central platform.

And now this Soft wing "breakthrough" to replace the hard wing, along supplied foils, OD mast tube and else. In the end it was better to keep a simplified multihull platform and leaving the hard wing , instead of over complicating with a ballasted 3pt monohull foiling dangerous experiment.
On their reduce cost but maintain foiling goals, best alternative would have been an scaled GC32 or updated softwing AC50 without all the playstation controls.

Don't let aggressive sailors drive these things on the chance of destroying and hurting their fellow competitors, not on their actions but only on the new Rule creators and Team owners/Leaders stubbornness on a single hull Cup.
I like Classics & Tradition too, but this AC75 monster is nowhere honoring the old good times."

 

Well, speaking as someone with more than a little flight control experience, I think they have it backwards. Placing artificial constraints on the flight control system in order to maintain some superficial connection with sailing tradition is IMHO accepting a great deal of unknown risk for no real benefit. If they wanted to prevent a control systems arms race, then they should have just developed a standard one and made everybody use it. Then they could have loosened other aspects of the foil design.

I fear that this arrangement is going to be "interesting," in the sense of the of the old Chinese curse.

Cheers,

Earl

 

Thoughtful article on AC/ foiling Safety-April 1st, 2018-from Scuttlebutt Europe:

Workplace Safety Rules mean blunt edge foils: America's Cup design engineers reeling

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Newly enacted workplace safety rules are in direct conflict with the newly released America's Cup Protocol and threaten to completely upend the next America's Cup, said sources close to Team New Zealand today.

Specifically, new European Union rules governing sailor safety have decreed that the leading edge of any boat appendage must be no less than three inches across and have a parabolic ratio of not less than .06 krellnids (an industry term denoting the curvature back to the trailing edge). That shape quite literally won't fly, says TNZ's Glenn Ashby.

"We couldn't generate sufficient lift in our testing tank at 50 ******* knots."

The impetus for the mandated blunt edge foils was last year's accident involving famed French sailor Frank Cammas in Brittany.

Franck Cammas, the Groupama Team France skipper, underwent emergency surgery after nearly losing a foot in a training accident.

The Frenchmen fell off a GC32 catamaran during training in the waters just off Brittany, north-west France, and was hit by the rudder at full speed, leaving his right foot partially severed.

New Zealand is a signatory to the World Workplace Safety Act which incorporates all European Union workplace safety regulations.

New Zealand's health and safety record has been labelled as 'woeful' and a 'national disgrace' by a consultant with two decades' experience in the sector.

In the wake of the Pike River Mine disaster, the government last year set up the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety to carry out the first wide-ranging review of the system in two decades.

"We have NEVER looked into the horrific injuries involved in sport. I myself have had my senses considerably dulled by being hit time and time again by the boom of my beloved yacht Clementine" said Fred Dagg, the newly appointed Minister of Safety and Farmarkelling in Sport. "Thank goodness the Frogs sorted this out after Cammas' accident, we now have a regulatory framework to enforce without having to do any research ourselves at all."

 

Check the date on the above.

Cheers,

Earl

 

Don't give the EU ideas - it might happen.

 

Excess of rules can kill everything.

 

Including sense of humour, apparently. To state the obvious, the article is an April fools joke.

 

Soft Sail Wing Rig: article here: Developing the Soft Wing Concept >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2018/04/10/developing-soft-wing-concept/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scuttlebutt%205057%20-%20April%2011%202018&utm_content=Scuttlebutt%205057%20-%20April%2011%202018+CID_2c74ddc72555247e6539bf8460f8ce17&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter&utm_term=Developing%20the%20Soft%20Wing%20Concept

 

Interesting Q and A session with Ray Davies and Dan Bernasconi:
Emirates Team New Zealand https://www.facebook.com/EmiratesTeamNewZealand/videos/2183823024976071/

First question on righting moment: an AC50 was about 13t/m, AC75 will have close to that in displacement mode (probably a combination of the windward foil being extended more or less horizontally above the water and lift from the immersed leeward foil), but when foiling will have approximately 45t/m so about 3 times the RM of an AC50. Numbers like that point to some amazing potential if they can be realised.

Also a question on safety: crew must be tethered when going forward of the main foils.

 

Interesting that flying altitude will be manually controlled using flaps on the foils as opposed to moving the whole foil on the AC 50.

 

TNZ--
Peter Burling will return to Team New Zealand as AC skipper for 2021.
Team New Zealand have confirmed Peter Burling will be their skipper for the 2021 America's Cup.
Burling was a helmsman with the team who reclaimed the title in Bermuda last year and is currently competing with Team Brunel in the Volvo Ocean Race.
More: America's Cup: Changing roles in defense >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2018/04/19/americas-cup-changing-roles-defense/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scuttlebutt%205064%20-%20April%2020%202018&utm_content=Scuttlebutt%205064%20-%20April%2020%202018+CID_e3e4facd4f95668c4f2aef2a07cee80c&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter&utm_term=Full%20report

 

American Magic-- Dean Barker is helmsman!
American Magic lands familiarity and experience >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2018/04/26/american-magic-lands-familiarity-experience/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scuttlebutt%205069%20-%20April%2027%202018&utm_content=Scuttlebutt%205069%20-%20April%2027%202018+CID_b5d46a5f7d4f2f3be2ffa6f744cdac42&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter&utm_term=American%20Magic%20lands%20familiarity%20and%20experience

 

British AC Team Gets New Sponsor:
America's Cup: Britain gets rebranded >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2018/04/26/americas-cup-britain-gets-rebranded/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scuttlebutt%205069%20-%20April%2027%202018&utm_content=Scuttlebutt%205069%20-%20April%2027%202018+CID_b5d46a5f7d4f2f3be2ffa6f744cdac42&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter&utm_term=Americas%20Cup%20Britain%20gets%20rebranded

 

Key AC36 Dates:

September 28, 2017: 36th America’s Cup Protocol released
November 30, 2017: AC75 Class concepts released to key stakeholders
January 1, 2018: Entries for Challengers open
March 31, 2018: AC75 Class Rule published
June 30, 2018: Entries for Challengers close
August 31, 2018: Location of the America’s Cup Match and The PRADA Cup confirmed
August 31, 2018: Specific race course area confirmed
December 31, 2018: Late entries deadline
March 31, 2019: Boat 1 can be launched
2nd half of 2019: 2 x America’s Cup World Series Preliminary Events
February 1, 2020: Boat 2 can be launched
During 2020: 3 x America’s Cup World Series Preliminary Events
December 10-20, 2020: America’s Cup Christmas Race
January and February 2021: The PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series
March 2021: The America’s Cup Match

 

Ben on INEOS and the AC: