34th America's Cup: multihulls!

I enjoyed that last fleet race, boat handling is just so important catch a sheet or misjudge a gybe and your left well behind. drawn for points at the top of the fleet. Felt for Team Korea they were doing so well up until that sheet caught.

 

34th AC

===================
Yeah, that was terrific! That move by Spithill to go around the opposite gate from everybody else was just brilliant. The worst two moves were when Artemis(?) got their jib twisted around the forestay and came close to a pitchpole getting it undone, and them Team Korea somehow fouled their Code Zero or gennaker(whichever is bigger) so they couldn't sheet it in.
Great to watch today!

PS- Thanks to Jeff, again, for pinning the link-made it easy to access.

 

Just like the C Class boats, these platforms are all about VMG up and down. Yes they are overpowered on reach and they are hull limited. This is why they do not do better when they do the drag race thing.

The VMG around the course (mostly up and down) is the real game they play and they are very good at it.

The C Class would be probably be faster than it is around the cans if they could hoist a foresail on the downwind (especially in light air). The AC 45 does not share this rule based limitation.

As a one-design that was just made for putting on a show in stadium conditions and for getting AC teams up to speed in multi's, they did not need to absolutely top technology. However, I betting you would be hard pressed to find something significant better around the cans on a typical day.

Those 90' multi's from the last AC are probably faster, but I not sure how well they would do the short courses that are currently in play. Other boats are better when conditions get rough or when wind is up a little more than the AC-45 was optimized for.

I would still jump at the chance to to join a crew if there we local fleets of these things all spread around (Not that I would be up to it of course, just wishful thinking).

 

34th AC

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

ORACLE RACING SPITHILL COLLECT THE DOUBLE

(November 20, 2011) - San Diego saved the best for last, testing the
America's Cup World Series fleet with the strongest winds of the week, the
gusts approaching 20 knots on Sunday afternoon. The race was full of
intrigue, with plenty of lead changes on the race course, and lots of near
misses and thrills and spills from start to finish.

ORACLE Racing Spithill, winners on Saturday of the Match Racing
Championship, came from behind to win the Fleet Racing Championship,
becoming the first team to secure a double win at the AC World Series.

Emirates Team New Zealand exploded off the starting line to lead the fleet
of nine AC45s into a tense, action-packed turn at the first mark. While the
Kiwi team led early, the next, long leg upwind allowed several teams to
shine, none more so than Artemis Racing who worked their way up to the front
of a very tight pack by the top gate. But ORACLE Racing Spithill chose the
favored mark at the top and was soon leading the fleet downwind at speeds
near 25 knots.

Earlier, in the AC500 Speed Trial, the fastest runs came on the teams'
second attempt down the course. First it was Emirates Team New Zealand
setting the pace. But then came the ORACLE Racing juggernaut. First Spithill
and then Darren Bundock, skippering ORACLE Racing Coutts, broke the record,
with Bundock's speed of 26.87 knots standing up as the winning speed. --
Full story: http://tinyurl.com/6wtwker

Results - San Diego Fleet Racing Championship
1. ORACLE Racing Spithill
2. Emirates Team New Zealand
3. Energy Team
4. Aleph
5. Team Korea
6. Artemis Racing
7. China Team
8. Green Comm Racing
9. ORACLE Racing Coutts

Results - AC500 Speed Trial
ORACLE Racing - Coutts - 26.87 knots
ORACLE Racing - Spithill - 26.79 knots
Emirates Team New Zealand - 26.56 knots
Artemis Racing - 25.98 knots
Energy Team - 25.96 knots
China Team - 25.67 knots
ALEPH - 25.19 knots
Green Comm Racing - 24.74 knots
Team Korea - 24.30 knots

PHOTOS: While the weather varied in San Diego during the America's Cup World
Series event, the quality of photos did not. Thanks to shooters Guilain
Grenier, Chris Cameron, Christophe Favreau, Sander van der Borch, and Steve
Lapkin for contributing to the Scuttlebutt photo gallery:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/1120
-----------------------

CH, CH, CH, CHANGES
Some updates from the America's Cup World Series event in San Diego:

* The next America's Cup World Series event is not until April 7-15, 2012 in
Naples, Italy, which will offer teams their first opportunity to train on
the AC45s outside of a scheduled event. Five or six boats will be based
during the break in Valencia, while Emirates Team New Zealand will be taking
their boat home to train with the Luna Rossa team once they receive their
boat. Oracle Racing has not yet declared where they are taking their boats
after San Diego.

* A rig extension has been introduced to the AC45 for the purpose of light air sailing venues. It is a four meter extension to the mast which will be
adding 8.4 square meters to the wing sail. The goal is to be lifting the
windward hull earlier, which will be aided by a program to reduce hull
weight. Consideration is also being given to reduce the crew from five
sailors to four for light air races. The target is for the hull to lift in
five knots, which will help next year for the light air anticipated at the
Italian venues of Naples and Venice. The option of using the current rig or
the larger rig will now be determined during events.

* A Code of Conduct has been introduced to ensure a standard of ethics is maintained amongst the teams entered in the America's Cup. The five man jury will consider any issues that fall under the code. The code is in part to protect the interests that are sponsoring the America's Cup World Series and 34th America's Cup.

 

Here is an excellent drawing of an AC 45 cat provided by vetro-a new member to these forums. Posted with his permission.

click on image for best detail:

 

34th AC

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

WINGS, THE NEXT GENERATION
By Kimball Livingston, SAIL

Wanna have some fun? Set Paul Cayard loose on the subject of America's Cup
34, some re-imagined and surprising wing-control mechanisms, and the
terrors of San Francisco Bay in full cry. The custom AC72 catamarans of
2013, he says, will be 30 percent more powerful but "much less stable" than
the AC45s that sailed three events this year on the America's Cup World
Series circuit.

And occasionally failed to maintain verticality.

Cayard's home waters, where the Cup will be sailed, are known to be a windy
spot, and when the ebb tide works against the seabreeze - one sixth of all
the water in San Francisco Bay goes out, and in, twice a day - then she be
lumpy, mon. Sea state, even more than wind strength, is something to fear
once the breeze is up, funneling through the Golden Gate and peaking on
many days at 18-22 knots. Unless it peaks at 30, and shucks, that's just
home for the home folks. But what does it mean to racing an AC72 with 38
hydraulic cylinders in the wing?

Until the first AC72s are launched in July, 2012, it's all theory, but, "If
you're making 25 knots upwind and 40 knots downwind, tacking on someone and
gassing them just isn't happening," Cayard says. "In seriously-overpowered
boats, the match will be about who can actually get the boat around the
course and figure out how to avoid that extra gybe that costs you maybe 20
seconds, maybe 250 meters."

As CEO of the Swedish challenger, Artemis Racing, Cayard is not shy about
telling you that his Challenger of Record team has gone its own course in
engineering an AC72 wing. The box rule governing the AC72 is one big
sandbox, so the engineers get to play. Oracle Racing Team Coordinator Ian
Burns explains: "I was involved in writing the rule for the AC72s, and when
we addressed the wing, we started with a complicated rule, to limit what a
designer could do. We added more and more pieces as we thought of more and
more outcomes, and we came to a point where it was so complicated - and it
was still going to be hard to control, because the more rules you write the
more loopholes you create - that we reverted to a simple principle. Limit
the area very accurately, and make it a game of efficiency."

The Artemis approach to efficiency, Cayard says, uses a three-element,
two-slot wing. No surprise. Any wing is much more efficient than a mast and
soft sail - for many reasons, not the least of which is that mid-leech
tension becomes a non-issue - and C Class catamarans long ago demonstrated
that three elements, two slots, are faster than two elements, one slot. I
expect every AC72 to have a three-element wing.

Unless, or until, someone develops a fully-warpable single-element wing,
but that's for another day . . . read on:http://www.sailmagazine.com/cup-watch/wings-next-generation

CORRECTION:

* From Kimball Livingston:
In my piece on the Artemis AC72 wing (in Scuttlebutt 3480), I described it
as having three elements, two slots. I have since heard from a C-Cat
designer Claudio Cairoli who points out that Yr Humble Reporter probably
made a naive error:

"As far as I know," Claudio writes, "C-Class wings have indeed three
elements, but only one slot that can be called as such. In fact, the second
element is like a trim tab on the trailing edge of the main element, while
only the flap (3rd element) is hinged with a slot, meaning an opening that
is meant to energize the leeward-side flow of the flap using flow from the
windward side of the main element-tab combo. So is Artemis really building
a two-slot wing? That would mean they are pushing for a high lift
coefficient, more than for high efficiency."

Yr Humble Reporter hasn't been able to unwind this with the Artemis team,
but I'm believing I stand corrected.
-----------------------
Illustration below posted by Steve Clark on SA to illustrate 3 element, single slot wing sections:

 

34th AC

From Scutllebutt Europe today:

Article 60.1 Suggests No Room For 'Un-Like' in AC34

In the world of social media, some brands are still struggling with how to manage public comment being made about them via platforms like Twitter and Facebook. No longer are complaints and criticisms written on letters and only seen by the customer services team - opinion is posted on blogs, indexed by Google and commented on by the world.

Many savvy brands and some sports franchises have social media policies and employment contracts to stop rogue employees or athletes using social media or even traditional media to cause damage to the reputation of the company. Anyone who has ever signed an employment contract will have seen clauses that limit use of email or the internet in such a way that stops an employee bringing the company into disrepute. Employment contracts also usually contain clauses that prevent company representatives speaking to the press without consent from management.

So with such mechanisms available, and with an existing rule (69) that deals with misconduct and bringing the sport of sailing into disrepute, why does the America's Cup need to put in place a wide ranging rule that seems to forbid any kind of criticism? (responsible expressions of legitimate disagreement are not prohibited.)

Article 60 may be seen as being aimed squarely at Emirates Team NZ. Grant Dalton has made several public statements that could, under the strictest definition of the proposed article, be construed as disparaging, however other teams may also be affected...

David Fuller's full editorial at: www.yachtracing.biz

 

34th AC

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

FROM THE BOSS

Iain Murray, Regatta Director and CEO of the America's Cup Race Management
(ACRM) organization, is in charge of independent conduct of the regattas.
Here is some information he shared during his weekly conference call:

* The cost of operating the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) events needs
to get in line with revenue received. The events have thus far been too
expensive, and while a balanced budget may not be realistic, it needs to
get closer.

* The next ACWS event, which is April 7-15 in Naples, Italy, will have more
boats than the previous ACWS events (which have had eight teams and nine
boats). Included in this would be the Luna Rossa team, but Murray implied
that additional teams would be there. Fifteen AC45s have been claimed, with
Artemis Racing now having two boats.

* The 2012 ACWS events in San Francisco, which will be in AC45s on Aug.
11-19 and Aug. 27-Sept 2, will have shoreside spectating in front of Golden
Gate Yacht Club and St. Francis Yacht Club. The course location will span
from Crissy Field to Fort Mason. The team bases will be based at Pier 80,
which is some distance away, but consideration is being given to having
overnight moorings near the race area.

* A Youth America's Cup World Series for 2012 is not confirmed. This
corrects information in Scuttlebutt 3482 which said a 2012 event was
scheduled. If a 2012 event is held, it would be between the ACWS events in
San Francisco. No additional details are available. A Youth America's Cup
World Series in 2013 will be held, but no details are available.

Additional info: http://tinyurl.com/SailBlast-120611

 

34th AC

from Scuttlebutt tonight:


RIDING TWO HORSES AT ONCE

(January 10, 2012) - Britain's three-time Olympic gold medallist Ben
Ainslie will be helping the Americans to defend the America's Cup next year
in a strange hybrid deal announced today at London's Festival Hall.

In a move which seems to have him riding two horses at once, he will be
contesting the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) representing the Royal
Cornwall Yacht Club but is being welcomed into the San Francisco-based
Oracle defence team and saying he hopes Oracle will win the cup.

How he would vote in the competitor forum, which includes teams from
France, China, Korea, Spain, Italy and New Zealand, is unclear, as is
whether he intends to pay the $200,000 entry fee that would give him a full
vote at the America's Cup table.

The 34th America's Cup, which started with a yacht of that name beating the
best of Britain in a race around the Isle of Wight in 1851, will be staged
in San Francisco next year, But Ainslie, who has long wanted a campaign of
his own and had seemed to be on his way with Sir Keith Mills' Origin team,
will have to wait under the terms of the deal struck with the man appointed
to run the next cup, Kiwi Sir Russell Coutts.

Coutts has welcomed him, expensively, into the Oracle fold with the
creation of Ben Ainslie Racing, which should make its debut in San
Francisco in September in a 45-foot, wing-powered catamaran of the kind
used in a series of exhibition regattas. The extent of the funding from
Oracle is unclear and it is said that Ainslie will be paying his own bills.

Until September, Ainslie has been picked to represent Britain at the
Olympic sailing regatta in Weymouth. A win there would give him a fourth
consecutive gold medal to add to his silver in Savannah in 1996.

Before that he faces a tribunal hearing into being disqualified from the
last races of a world championship in Fremantle last month for leaping from
his Finn singlehanded dinghy onto a television boat to remonstrate with the
driver. A jury at the time said there were mitigating circumstances and the
British tribunal being convened by the Royal Yachting Association is
expected to say that the disqualification was punishment enough.

But the tribunal findings will be passed to the International Sailing
Federation's executive committee. As this was not his first brush with
authority for gross misconduct, Ainslie must hope that he is not given a
suspension that would prevent him from competing in his home Olympics. --
Stuart Alexander, The Independent, read on:http://tinyurl.com/Independent-011012

COMMENT:
Ben said in his announcement that his challenging team will be
underwritten by Oracle for the AC45 races, and that he will be joining
Oracle for the 2013 defense once the AC72's are launched. To be clear,
Ben's team must enter the America's Cup to compete in the ACWS... which I
understand is occurring. So Stuart's comment above about voting rights is
on point, and if Ainslie's team does have voting rights, it does make you
wonder who may influence them. And I can't wait to hear the ACWS broadcast
commentators try to explain this arrangement to joe public. - Craig Leweck,
Scuttlebutt

 

Deal keeps Team NZ in Cup hunt

A deal struck with Luna Rossa will help Team New Zealand compete against the eye-watering budgets of the billionaire-funded America's Cup teams. The Italian team's arrival in Auckland this week marks the beginning of the first formal collaboration between two teams in 160 years of the America's Cup. Emirates Team New Zealand last year sold the Italian team the design to their AC72 - the new class of catamaran that will be sailed in next year's America's Cup.

Over the next 12 months the two teams will work closely together, first sailing in SL33 prototypes, which ETNZ unveiled this week, and post-July in their newly launched AC72. At the end of this year the two teams will split off and build a second AC72, which will be worked up based on performance information they have gathered from race training. While on the surface it would appear the Kiwi syndicate are selling secrets to the enemy, Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton said the agreement was mutually beneficial.

The deal effectively allows two-boat testing, although it is layered with restrictions imposed by the protocol governing the next America's Cup. In the covert world of America's Cup sailing, the sharing of design information and budgets seems to go against the nature of the sport. Dalton, however, said he was enjoying the close working relationship with Luna Rossa.

"It doesn't feel strange for me, because I can see we were doing it for the right reasons, but for the yachties they were initially like 'hang on a minute, we're selling kiwifruit to the Chinese here'," he said.

"And my argument to that is that, one, it's highly beneficial to us financially in an incredibly hard time. And two, I back our guys to beat [Luna Rossa]."

While such collaborations are allowed for under the protocol, Oracle and Artemis appear uncomfortable with the arrangement. Both the defender and challenger of record went to the international jury seeking clarification on the rules they signed off on. The wrinkle in the protocol uncovered by ETNZ and Luna Rossa was that while the teams would have been allowed to build two new boats, by working together in a particular way they could get more out of that provision of the protocol than was contemplated.

The jury ruled over Christmas that the collaboration was legal, but imposed a few more limitations on the rule. "The only variation that came out of that when the international jury ruled was telemetry switching - having both boats wired together. We're allowed to race train against each other," said Dalton.

ETNZ had another victory in the jury room over Christmas in regards to voting rights after Dalton protested over the ability for teams that have not paid their entry to the 2013 event to get a vote on matters affecting the 34th match.

"Because all these little teams are beholden to the defender because of the deals that have been done for their boats, we're always going to be out-voted, so Oracle could push through changes that we didn't see benefited the overall cup. "We questioned whether it was right that a team that hadn't paid their entry should be able to influence bigger issues further down the road, and the international jury agreed with us."

It was an important victory as there are nine teams listed on the America's Cup website as "challengers", but only three of those - ETNZ, Luna Rossa and Artemis - have paid the entry fee to the main event. While the world series, sailed in identical AC45 catamarans, has attracted several new teams, these teams have not been able to secure the funding to mount a challenge for the America's Cup proper next year. Dalton said that Oracle helmsman Sir Russell Coutts' promises to cut the costs of competing in the cup were nothing more than "empty promises from a team funded by a billionaire". "The 45s to a point have masked that because a lot of teams have signed up for that because you can be in a 45 for bugger all, and you need a lot to be in the cup."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news/print.cfm?objectid=10778640

 

How can they allow thoes two hulled things to race? No ultimate stability they turn turtle. Im an old multi sailor and I remember when. For me the people who controll raceing and through that boat design are a bunch of hypocrites

 

G'day bloke. Don't know's where it is that you are coming from, please explain? What on earth is wrong with "thoes" ( thoe's ?? - two hulled things)
You got a problem - go to the toilet.

"hypocrites" & - what are you. Like sailing, watching sailing - well then "cop-it sweet" eh?? go go watch footy. Ciao, james

 

This collaborative seems odd to me. I get it but still seems odd.

 

The recognition and acceptance of the multi as a fast raceing -cruiseing or charter boat took a long time. The USA Americas cup people went to what they considered the dark side because they were trapped when the rules allowed a bigger and faster machine than the 12 to challenge. So in there desperation they turned to the cat. and in doing so they and all the spectators and followers of the cup and general public got to see first hand what happens when you let the cat out of the box. If the rules and unusual circumstances of the mono-cat race had not materialized I doubt the establishment behind such raceing would be encouraging multi hull use.

 

From Chris Cameron, ETNZ, a picture of the new wing extension for the AC 45's:

click on image-