34th America's Cup: multihulls!

Doug, old cobber, they're SLOW - and there are whitecaps around. If this keeps up in the final, it will be a rout.
The leeward foil halfway up (well, always said you don't need a lot of foil to fly) but although you're peering through rose tinted Raybans, the bear away attempts looked verging on being panic stations ... AND the foil flying is very erratic, windward hull climbing way up, then dumping. Luna Rossa, let alone the cursed Kiwis, will devour the barker.

 

34th AC

I say, old boy, do I detect a "wishing" clouding your usual perceptive bias?
Go 17ers!

 

I would have to agree with Gary, as the bear away looked to be erratic, and the foiling not as smooth as team New Zealand. Oracle looked to be laboured to get on the foils from what I understand of boats foiling so far. Is there any video footage of luna rosa foiling?

 

My prediction is oracle will give the other teams a good run for their money... right up until the point where they pitchpole it again and give the cup away.... they look way out of control to me, very unstable, twitchy, up and down like a yoyo... quite scary to watch... once they really have to push it in a race environment, no holding back, maneuvering restrictions, it`ll go over for sure...

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the wind conditions in SF Bay much more erratic than where the NZ vessel is testing?

Sorry for this 'basic question', but I haven't been following the boat forums, nor this contest very closely for a few months now.

 

34th AC

Part 2 of Cayards interview with Craig Leweck/ Scuttlebutt:

Different modes...
"With the focus on full foiling, it is important to recognize there are wind crossovers that impact the equation. If the winds are too light to fully foil, then the excessive drag caused by the foiling blades will be a big problem. While July and August are windy months on the Bay, September can offer a wider range of wind strength. The foiling package that works in the Louis Vuitton Cup (July 7 - Aug 31) may not work in the America's Cup (Sept 7-23)."

Upwind foiling...
"So far no team has been able to fully foil upwind. We see it when reaching and running, but not closed hauled, and I don't think we will see it in this America's Cup. But remember, even if the boats are not fully foiling upwind, they are still foiling to a less degree. A good estimation is that about half of the boat's displacement is getting lifted when sailing upwind."

Reconnaissance...
"It has been pretty interesting watching Oracle sail since the time we trained with them. They now, along with most of the other teams, are sailing with two different boards at the same time. One board is more suited for upwind and less stable when sailing downwind, while the more 'V' shaped board is more stable for downwind but produce more drag when sailing upwind.

"We can learn from watching how the teams deal with the unsteadiness of the less draggy board. They might fly lower on the less stable board since that will minimize the hull pitch, whereas they will fly much higher on the stable board since they offer a much safer ride. But again, more stability when fully foiling off the wind means they are paying the price upwind with the additional drag of the stable board."

More than foiling...
"While so much of the focus is on the foiling, it is good for the public to recognize that this America's Cup is different in a lot of other ways too. When you consider the extreme conditions we expect in July and August, and the tightness of the race course, we are doing things no one has ever done before. Even in monohull racing, we have never been hemmed into a box that is just three quarters of a mile wide. The reaction time needed for the helm and crew is going to make a big difference. Add in how the boats are fragile, breakdowns are going to happen, and maintenance will be a big factor. There are just a lot of new factors that will be determining the outcome of this America's Cup."

 

Just because ETNZ is foiling doesn't mean they are going to win. Foiling might not be right this cup it depends how fast they can get foiling, if we get footage of ETNZ foiling over a 10 mile run, it means nothing. We know Oracle is incredibly fast upwind from Cayard, where ETNZ might struggle due to the main foiling set up. Also when we see ETNZ foil it is mainly on flat water, where SF is rarely flat and Oracle knows the current really well.

 

Dream on, Evan. ALL the competitors will be foiling.

 

34th AC

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You're so right-forming a line behind USA 17! (Sorry ,just had to......)
--
All kidding aside, with Team Artemis now going foiling as soon as possible, this is going to be one spectacular show-a never to be forgotten gathering of the highest sailing technology the World can offer in 2013. With the most technically astute sailors the world has to offer going faster than any sailors have ever gone in the long history of the Americas Cup!


Go 17ers!

 

I love how this thread used to be a place of discussion and ideas, to where it is now with a few kiwis and an aussie always pointlessly saying that ETNZ will win and will repudiate anything anyone else says.

 

34th AC

======================
Evan, I wouldn't take all that too seriously-it's all in fun at least between Gary and me and is a right of passage during Americas Cup season. We have lots of technical stuff here and much more coming. Be sure you check out the story about Raphael and his Flying A Class Cat-he designed class legal foils for the boat and it flies w/o a "conventional" altitude control system. Some of the best minds in the world are working on that same problem for the AC. See the thread here and read the link to the catsailing article. Heres the link to the thread: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/multihulls/raphael-censier-flying-legal-class-cat-46435.html

Go 17ers!

 

34th AC

From Scuttlebutt tonight-Grant Dalton(TNZ) speaks:

CHANGES IN THE SAILING LANDSCAPE

Grant Dalton, Managing Director of Emirates Team New Zealand, provides his
view of the America's Cup activity from the southern hemisphere...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A lot has happened over the last few weeks in this run up to America's Cup
although to many observers it may tend to look like business as usual.

Well it is to a degree, I guess, but firstly Oracle has re-emerged and
Artemis has gone back to the shed. The landscape changed for us on those
couple of days that Oracle and Artemis trained together.

We got an answer to the questions: Is foiling correct? Is the trade off
worth it? We always thought we were right but could never be sure. Even if
the answer is still not totally clear, all teams are headed in the foiling
direction so that helps us put that one to bed.

Our present view of Oracle's sailing probably matches those of other
observers: They look really nice up-wind and are starting to sail well
down-wind.

They look like they are getting their act together really well now
(shouldn't be surprised by that) and, with the new boat coming on stream
soon, they will take a big step up.

Should we make the America's Cup final, we will have our work seriously cut
out to beat them.

Within Emirates Team New Zealand, it's all about the boat at present. Base
set up in San Francisco is underway, the sponsors are great; it's still
very much summer in Auckland and the wind has been perfect for testing.

Next on the horizon is the AC45 regatta in Naples. We will be there with a
full-strength crew. Is it just us or does anyone else think it is hypocrisy
that neither Artemis nor Oracle is sending their A team to Naples?

These are the teams that said Emirates Team New Zealand wouldn't support
the "future".

To be clear we simply didn't support linking the AC brand (shackling a
future Trustee if in fact that could even be done) to a class that may or
may not exist in the future (read cost).

Whether the AC45 exists in its own right is not up to us, we fully
supported, and still do, the establishment of a 'future' series if that's
what Coutts and Cayard want. It's not ours to prevent. So why not send
their A teams if the AC45 is the future?

I imagine they intend lobbying for permission to sail their AC72s when the
Naples regatta is being raced (which under the Protocol is not allowed
without prior approval).

To compete seriously at the ACWS regattas, teams need to be there to train
a week or so before the first race if they're to have any chance of a good
showing. That means another week of AC72 sailing lost.

We've even heard that Artemis was thinking of paying the US$100K fine if
they don't get approval. Now that would be a beauty! --http://etnzblog.com/#!2013/03/changes-in-the-sailing-landscape

 

34th AC

The fastest course racing sailboat in the world-go 17ers: (Click on the url for Da Big Picture-then use the u-tube icon to expand)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L9Ap_-8NZuU

 

Based on what doug? The racing results? bit too early to say that.

Also, a pretty dull video.

 

I actually re-watched it a couple of times as I tried to imagine the righting-moments as it sailed with slight heeling and pitching.

Are the primary balancing forces rooted in the huge difference in density between air and water, and that's why a small control surface (the foils underwater) can act against a large sail area in air, or is it still the shifting weight of the crew members on the "flying" hull?

This is new for me and I find it a bit confusing. I'd love the see a real-time graphic of the vector forces super-imposed over the 72 as it's gliding so gracefully.