34th America's Cup: multihulls!

It's a hell of a show, BUT it needs more competition....more teams that are competitive !! I lost interest long ago, and I'm an ardent multihull fan.

 

Foiling, introduced too early?

I think the foiling aspect was introduced too soon for this 'event'. Not that is isn't exciting, it certainly is. But developing this aspect along with the much larger size boats than the AC 45's just put too much financial strain on these teams, and a lot of them had to drop out.

I can even remember starting to lose interest in that previous 'two boat' event. Now I'm going to end up with another one, rather than an exciting elimination series.

The AC 45 series was exciting. I believe that should have stuck with a formula that would have allowed for a more competitive 'world-wide' event. Then maybe introduce foiling next time.

As I see it know there may be just enough backlash that multihulls might not be included in the next America's Cup. I've seen that happen before.

...just my 2 cents

 

This all depends on who wins. If the US get their butts kicked they will not want to go back there. History shows that the US and its citizens do not readily pursue international sports in which they may not excel. They much prefer to stay at home with their national sports and call the winners 'World Champions'. Golf, tennis and athletics are exceptions. Apparently the Whitbread died through lack of interest from the US. For the US to be interested the boats would have to call at a US port.

I am predicting that if NZ wins they will go with the status quo and the US will stonewall. NZ would be quite happy to stay with the rule if it loses. We would just try to do better.

As I am seeing it.

 

Wasn't NZ pretty reluctant to want to go this mutihull route originally.

 

When NZ wins they better hire good lawyers. Hundreds of them....

Larry wont be happy

 

Good question. I don't know enough to comment with surety. Some pro sailors were, for sure. Others, I understand, were instrumental in the decision. We were shown a meeting on TV where those with influence were trying to sell the concept to the sailors, many of whom did look very resistant.

But, hell, It must be a special buzz to crew these things, aside from the physical demands which are clearly significant.

There is no doubt that closer results will be required to attract a bigger audience. This should evolve in the event of a repeat in 4 years time. The learning curve for most teams will have flattened off. The boats will become much more similar in design and performance. That's is usually the way things happen. There is a great Aussie car race: Holden against Ford. Damned if I can tell the difference on looks. Both teams have found the same formula for performance.

 

Once bitten twice shy. When the NZ team said that they 'came prepared' you can be sure that they will have had lawyers in the mix many months ago. If there is a dispute the resources available for NZ will not be intimidated or insignificant. The Arabs will not lay down. Bring it on Larry

 

Hopefully the Kiwis will reform the program and pump up the volume.

Simple, physical boat.

Eliminate rich guys with fetishes.

Prize money would be the draw. 25 million payout for the Louis Vuitton, 50 million for the Cup.

 

IF the Kiwis win, they have to retain the 72 and wing. Imo. You just can't chuck all that hard won pioneering knowledge away and start again. And what with? A 50 or a 60 or even a 65 - dime a dozen, even the MOD70 is just a big ORMA.
The 72's are unique, unbelievably fast, ditto spectacular - the wing? Can't go back to soft sails now. Just ask the sailors. Genie has flown.
The AC designs today need to be larger than life. This is not for your average sailor - although there will be/has already been, trickle down.
However there must be a way to get the wing expense down - maybe one design.
But the real cost is the large staff and crew. Is a 60 or whatever REALLY going to reduce costs by a significant amount?
What you blokes think?

 

You want 25 .... 2 boat syndicates....eliminated to 12 for the LV.

Whatever boat makes this possible is the correct choice

 

That might add some excitement, especially if they had a few different types
of courses. For example, some courses could have shorter
legs, as you suggested, others could have one or two very long legs, and
others could require sailing around Alcatraz one or two times.
Someone on another board suggested "fleet racing" with the last couple of
entrants being eliminated at each stage. (I have no opinion one way or the
other on that interesting idea.)

I definitely think they should reduce the size of the boats to encourage more
participants. Mono, multi, with or without foils, is irrelevant. More
competitors would be more exciting and possibly encourage a lot more innovation.

 

The Cats out of ther bag so to speak. I can't see them going back to monos. It would be like the F1 guys going back to having the engine in front and no aerodynamic devices... ain't going to happen. Now the wing is interesting because they claim the logistics of this is the main cost driver. So if they went back to a soft sail they would probably go same speed but their VPP would be different. But the wing is amazing so I can't see them flick this either. By the time we get to the next cycle wings may have been simplified??? The real ??? is would the next "caretaker" of the Cup go to a new set of rules or stay AC72? We may know in a months time. Peter s

Does anyone know where to get the data for the AC72 polars? I've dug around the AC site but can't find it yet people claim its in there somewhere? Peter

 

@GoGoGoStop and petereng:


Here's a page with the race stats and AC72 polar info:

AC Official Race Noticeboard

... The 'chatter' Aug. 17 recorded that ETNZ were doing 42.11 knots when they took their nosedive.

 

^^^

Of course, I find Martin Vanzulli looked at the polar numbers from the AC72 long ago, made a diagram of them in July, and wrote about it on this page:

CatSailingNews.com AC72 Polars & Penalties

 

AC72 Polars

Hi,
Heres the polar in a conventional plot. Hi Blackburn, you can put this into catsailor if you wish. Regards Peter s