34th America's Cup: multihulls!

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Doug Lord, Sep 13, 2010.

  1. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  2. Doug Lord
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    Artemis

    From Scuttlebutt Sailing:

    The Artemis Racing team has not revealed the cause of the accident. Video from local news helicopters revealed an overturned platform, with the wing lying on the water surface under the starboard hull. The forward cross beam was damaged, and the port hull had sheared apart just forward of the rudder.

    One witness said the boat pitch poled, with the impact causing the beam and hull to break apart. Another source said the forward beam gave way, which then led the hull to snap just forward of the aft beam, and the mast then fell over. The boat began to cartwheel, ultimately trapping Simpson underneath and drowning him.
     
  3. Jakson
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    Jakson Junior Member

    previously viewed these boats a few months back

    in a video online. It was obvious to me that extreme hull pitching was present with the huge rig in the process of rounding a mark. Insufficient forward hull buoyancy...... but it should be understood that there is a point where it's not possible to provide enough buoyancy and special precautions when coming about are needed. Things happen very fast and completing a hundred tacks is no assurance every tack can be completed successfully under all conditions. A few wave systems can add together for a surprise bow burying wave. I am still jealous that I could not have sailed on one of those boats though!
     
  4. Jakson
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    Jakson Junior Member

    I just read it occurred while bearing away..so maybe a fouled sheet......but the lack of forward lee hull buoyancy was a factor in the cartwheel. Just bad luck or an accident. I'm sorry the gentleman got caught underneath.
     
  5. xarax

    xarax Previous Member

    Perhaps an automatic mechanism that can detach / release the net ( in the case of a capsize ) would had prevented this tragic accident.
     
  6. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  7. cavalier mk2
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    cavalier mk2 Senior Member

    I thought they had air bottles for this sort of thing. A great backup would be long snorkels that everybody had strapped on. Automatic inflatable PFDs are a liability for this kind of racing....better to bail out than hang on but there will be reluctance in case the boat recovers.

    Do they have personal GPS locators to find crew locations quickly? A quick look at a monitor could save valuable time....if a crew is unconscious they can't help themselves. Most likely there will be more crashes in competition even if they limit the wind the races run in so it is good to practice now. In a windy series a team with a Tahiti Ketch could win at 3 knots if the other team had problems.
     
  8. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    I salute someone who died doing what he wanted to be doing, and hope the fact gives what comfort it may to those he leaves behind.

    But I think this incident, or one like it, was almost inevitable. The push to make sports more 'extreme', and therefore more television-worthy, has greatly increased risks to competitors - and not just in the America's Cup or other competitive sailing.

    How many people watch NASCAR races at least partly to see if there's going be a crash?
     
  9. Jakson
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    Jakson Junior Member

    video of the capsize?

    I was wondering at what speed and under what conditions the capsize occurred. The above account by the father of the skipper was not available/could not be seen.
     
  10. warwick
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    warwick Senior Member

    Another interesting question would be when did the boat break up, before during or after the capsize? At this stage I would think it all would be speculation.
     
  11. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Artemis

    From the Daily Sail: ( http://www.thedailysail.com/inshore...he-artemis-ac72-capsize-and-andrew-simpson-de )

    Bernie Wilson from AP asked the not unreasonable question – “after two capsizes and one death – are these boats too dangerous?” While Stephen Barclay ducked this, referring to the future publication of Murray’s investigation, Murray put the incident into context: “There have been a lot of fatalities. There were five off San Francisco last year and that wasn’t judged to be too dangerous and ocean racing has continued since. Larry Klein the 1989 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year drowned after simply falling overboard in San Francisco Bay in 1994. I was involved in the Sydney Hobart race when six people died. We have to live with these things and we have to go forward in the best way that we can. The AC72s are progressing sailing. We have come a long way from the 12m with cotton sails to Kevlar sails or carbon fibre masts or five rounds of the ACCs boats. It is progress. It is what these guys want to do - they want to take sailing to the next level and these boats provide that platform.”
     
  12. Jakson
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    Jakson Junior Member

    New reports say the boat failed mechanically, and then cartwheeled....back to the drawing board!
     
  13. peter radclyffe
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    peter radclyffe Senior Member

    quote from S A, today, artemis , thread
    The the most eye opening incident was the main beam cracking during load testing as the boat was towed on the bay without the wing in place. Apparently the beam was not properly supported while the rig was not in place. If some of the reports we are hearing about yesterday's event are true, the main beam folded, the wing fell and one of the hulls tore away, as the main beam was split into two pieces. This is called a total catastrophic failure. Nothing the sailors can do at that point. Nathan's father stated that his son reported to him that he was just sailing normally and the main beam broke in two. It is possible that the beam broke while stuffing the bows, but that is a normal sailing condition and should not a cause massive structural failure. The beam should definately survive a capsize as well. It is the main structural element of the entire yacht. It should be the last thing to fail. Ever. Even in the America's Cup class.

    I'm not an engineer, but I can't stress enough how critical the main beam is to keeping these boats in one piece. If if goes, everything else fails very quickly as the whole boat folds up on itself, possible trapping the crew. Carbon fiber is not something that is easily repaired to first quality. Especally with something as highly loaded like the main beam, You want a lot of straight, continuous fibers spanning from port to starboard to take the strain and twisting. Repair splices, discontinous fibers and hearing load cracking noises are not desireble for a part like this. Personally, I would have had serious reservations, sailing at 40 knots with a repaired main beam that had cracked and repaired earlier.

    I could be wrong, but I don't think this is so much about pich-poling, going too fast or the bay being too windy. If the boat broke, it's about engineering and/or sailing with equioment that was not up not up to the job. Why wasn't that beam replaced? Maybe it was replaced. I dont have all the facts, but it did break in two. That we can see.
     
  14. Stephen Ditmore
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    Stephen Ditmore Senior Member

    I'm in agreement with Peter's post, based on things I've read.
    Monohulls have also had catastrophic structural failures in America's Cup racing. Two broke in half because of structural failures at the deck:
    • OneAustralia [1995]
    • Oracle [was it 2003?]
    Many racing monohulls have experienced keel or mast failures.

    While I'm for giving designers as much freedom as practical with respect to other areas, I'm with Olin Stephens in favor of requiring raceboats to comply with engineering/scantling rules. What's different about high performance multihulls is that there is no generally accepted scantling standard. Thus far ISO has basically failed to come up with a scantlings regime applicable to these boats. This is urgent. It needs to be done, and it needs to be right. Ideally it should be consistant with the latest standards for composite aircraft - yet it should't be needlessly complex. There should also be a standard for inspecting repairs, modifications, and areas that may have been inadvertantly damaged.

    To protect human life, racing needs to be done in boats that are sufficiently strong.
     

  15. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

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