34th America's Cup: multihulls!

Amazing how so many folks open their mouths before they have thought what they are going to say.. Please do some research before you post an opinion that bears no resemblance to reality.

 

There is some truth here. The first VO70 canters had "Do not exceed" speeds for conditions that were established by sailors exceeding them and damaging the keel systems.

Sailors are used to being able to sail as hard as they can, not limited by the boat. The design spec for a 33 knot limit was meant to give them virtually unbreakable boats. One teams failure upset the plans.

 

so list the age/boat for kids if they go down the multihull route

 

I agree boats are expensive. That is not limited to Multi's

Hmmm
Hobie 16, Raced in Pan-Ams and still many active fleets $10,000 new
Laser Radial/Standard $10,000 +

Compare the F-18 to a 49er ... the prices will be similar

 

And now that an invasion of new foiling models can be expected to hit the market in the near future, the prices will skyrocket. Those beasts will be pretty costly to build and to maintain.

 

ISAF Youth Multi SL16 from $6000 USD used
ISAF Open Multi (Olympic) NACRA 17 16759 Eros new complete

Yes youth boats (all boats) are insanely expensive compared to cars. But that is not a multihull problem.

 

You won't see foiling multis in youth programs. That is a not a valid concern.

Youth and ISAF boats tend to be long lived.

When your club and country can kickstart a youth multi program with Hobie 16s for the same price as Lasers (actually about 50% because the Hobie has two crew) there is no financial barrier to entry.

New, competitive boats in any of the classes are stupid expensive. But starter boats to seed a program are not.

 

I was not talking about youth categories. Just about my general forecast of the market in the near future.

 

Hard to get a kid interested in a Hobie they think they should be in a museum so its SL16 but nobody has any and what age group before they can sail one?
Most countries sending youth to worlds / youth olympics have never sailed the boats before so both the sailor and the country are hesitant to buy.

 

It depends on where you look and who you ask.
Multihulls were very poorly represented during Cowes week amid safety concerns. E.g.

"Further questions over the safety of the new high-speed catamarans which
"have taken the sport by storm have been raised by the near-total absence
of multihulls at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week this year, with
some sailors believing them to be too “fast, dangerous and hairy” for the
regatta."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...ing-the-solent-in-worlds-largest-regatta.html

At least I can get back to designing some proper, butch multihulls today:
4500 deadweight Surface Effect Ships travelling at 50 knots.
Guaranteed to put some lead in any real man's king post. (AC "sailors" need not apply!)

 

A slight digression:
I find it so amusing to hear all those voices on the American boat talking with accents which are everything but American... And I like it.
If I had to chose one single part of this AC edition which I would underline as the most significant (ok, apart the big foilers stuff, ok), it would be the idea that valid persons from all over the world, regardless of the nationality, can become part of the team and work and sweat together for a common objective. I find it an enormously educative example.

 

What you said there Powerabout, is something that was often repeated back when I was active trying to encourage more multihull sailing for kids.

There is a pretty big difference from one region to another, how the youth programs are run, how the boats are provided.

My experience was mostly in a few European countries. The first to have really good youth programs including multihulls were the French of course.

Their larger sailing clubs with dozens of both mono- and catamaran dinghies for kids are a delight; that has been a feature of many of those French clubs since the late 80's. Those catamaran dinghies were all two-kid boats, the French had models for all age groups.

In other countries without the benefit of French yachting dirigisme, it was typically difficult for the sailing clubs to agree upon and commit to/pay for any new dinghy type, whether mono or anything else, to keep their young sailors active in the age group after the Opti stage. These clubs all had a big dropoff in activity after the Opti stage, and they were usually desperate to agree upon some two handed boat, but they dismissed the various catamarans available, for fear of not being able to establish a viable fleet with the other clubs in their area.

Suitable boats have been out there for a long time, and now (as I said in my previous post) I think the presumptions which blocked them from considering cats are finally beaten down.

That's good I'd say, because a faster two-kid beachcat is a good addition to youth programs after the Opti class.

 

Opti's age out at 15. 15 year old kids can be pretty massive these days. That is much of the attraction to the Laser/Laser Radial. The boats are ergonomic horrors and old tech, but they have the Olympic status and a strong used market (the boats are crap and a good sailor needs a new hull every year when they go soft).

In the Western Hemisphere the Pan-Am Games are #2 to the Olympics and the Hobie 16 and Snipe are valid choices for international competition.

You can put two young people in a competitive Hobie 16 for less than two Lasers or a 420 or 29er.

Interest for the kids is not a big deal. The kids will sail most anything their friends sail. The kids want chucky cheese time after 2 races, the parents and coaches want 4 races until after dark.

Interest of the parents that write the checks is important. We have found that the "after Opti" boat needs International Status to keep parents on board. The Hobie 16 fills the bill quite nicely, but the adults with the "its old no one wants to sail one" mindset makes the boat a hard sell to the club members you are asking for money. :-(

I'm at the end of my competitive (if I ever was) sailing days. I may buy a couple of Hobies to see if I can stop losing the boys to kite and windsurfer and losing the girls to boys and babies. Mixed crews on Hobie 16's to become a force in the Pan-Ams might work.

We are far off topic except that the AC72's in the AC will make selling the Hobie 16 idea to the club easier.

 

Thanks for your insights.

Can you (or others here) offer an opinion on the Nacra design that has been
selected for the 2016 Olympics? Or is it still too early.

Again, it is slightly off-topic, but relevant to the pathway that youngsters
might take to foilers and AC racing. (i.e. it's a very long bow )

 

the new olympic choice was going to be a smaller boat than a T but yet due to European female sailors size the crew weight is very high so it still excludes Asian teams.
The boat was going to be any boat that didnt already have a class
there you have it.