35th Americas Cup: Foiling Multihulls!

Last Story of 35---and First of 36: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@sailing/2017/08/01/40818/below-decks-with-the-cups-new-keeper

 

Mr. America's Cup on 35: Dennis Conner https://www.facebook.com/mramericascup

 

The latest word is that it is back to mono hulls - Ha!
and
That each country has to have a high percentage of their crew nationals
and
Each boat must have a percentage of it built in the country it represents

Cool bananas!

Details are pending

 

I can't help but think that this wont please anyone. The traditionalists who want a slow mono with match racing tactics wont like it as it will still be apparent wind sailing and it's a second rate option compared to the multihulls if you want foiling performance, just a lose/lose rule really. Still I guess it's the NZers turn to do what they want.

 

I think there are 3 connected issues :
- the stadium : just light winds and sea state are not the challenge we expect from an America Cup.
- the format : is close/several meters match racing really exciting ? I prefer the show of all boats at their full speed, match racing also exist on 3 days races and based on meteo option , more exciting for the sailors I think
- the boat formula : I wonder if the number of hulls and the lenght are the right parameters, better now to consider the righting moment RM (e.g. RM 100 class , for 100 kN.m max between 0 to 30° heel) and the self-righting capacity after a capsize : yes or no
- side issue security: races with 5 minutes rescue boat following you, or races with 24 h rescue boat/helicopter ?

 

So, what happens now? Do the AC45s disappear too, replaced by something spectacularly dull? Perhaps a new competition will take over to keep these foiling cats going while the America's Cup becomes an irrelevance.

 

Irrelevant? Something like 97% of the world's sailboat racing is done in monos, so for most racing sailors the new boats will be more relevant than the old.

 

They've been taking great strides in exploring something new, and now they're going to abandon that to go back to something that lacks all that added interest even though there's so much left to explore with foiling cats. It's a really bad decision at this time, if that's what they've really decided to do. I suppose they could do foiling monos instead though, or they could try to block that with faulty rules and provide a contest between boats which bend the rules to different degrees such that the one that gets closest to flying wins.

 

The whisper is that they will be foiling monos of a new class. All will be revealed inside a week or two

 

But David, most racing sailors aren't really interested in foiling. The sailing press is, and a lot of the top sailors are - but roll back the decades and the same sort of guys were interested in IOR boats and 12 Metres.

And how much did we get from the last AC? Wasn't it just a few bits of information about the right foil setups for a particular class? The AC has almost never been about blazing new ground for a minute minority, it's been about taking ideas from little boats and making them suitable for the sort of mass-market yacht that makes up a huge proportion of our fleets.

 

Not really. Using monohulls for the next cup was a condition of their agreement with Patrizio Bertelli for the last one.

Team New Zealand confirm 36th America's Cup to be raced in foiling monohulls https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/96708812/americas-cup-to-be-raced-in-foiling-monohulls-confirms-italian-challenger-of-record

I am conflicted on the foiling part. It certainly makes the racing more of a spectacle, but it matters little to most sailors. Whether AC boats are "relevant" to average sailors matters as much as F1 cars are relevant to average motorists, who wouldn't be able to get one out of pit lane, much less do a lap. It's the same with boats in the last two ACs (at least).

Anyhow, seems this thread can now be abandoned, since foiling multihulls are no longer part of the America's Cup.

 

With the hulls out of the water throughout most of the races, it makes little difference whether it's monos or cats, so I'm happy with that. I'd also be happy to see a return to non-foiling AC boats at some point, but not yet - there are still significant advances that can be pushed forward with all this money, and those discoveries will filter down to better foilers of a more practical size for normal people.

 

Some prime objectives of the NZ defenders is to have the boats more affordable. to have more challengers, and for teams and their boats to truly represent their respective nations.

The fickle winds and seas of Auckland do not suit the big cats. Having a tight wind envelope is too restrictive, whereas restricting changes in configuration and racing in a wide range of conditions offers more opportunity to more teams. Its a bit like cricket where unforeseen changing conditions can change the winds of fortune.

I really hope that they revert to not allowing the defender to race in the Louis Vuitton Cup. That stunk to me.

For the record: changes were made in F1 some years back to slow the cars down. It was becoming too dangerous

 

This season they've just made them faster again, as it was too boring. Now they are breaking lap records again, but can't overtake each other due to the aero being more critical. It's tough work trying to set rules for sport, and I don't envy the NZ team given the antipathy in the previous event.

 

Lets hope that Auckland will have more of a cosmopolitan and festival atmosphere. This is what they are aiming for IMO. Small teams with limited budgets must be given a chance to win