34th America's Cup: multihulls!

Perhaps you noticed that Simon wrote (while on the topic of the Artemis accident) that he'd recently been avoiding posting. That's a shame.

I enjoyed Simon's participation on SA very much during the run-up to AC33. He and I were in the tiny cabal of those who'd make a point of saying nice things about Alinghi, while castigating Ellison/Ehman/Coutts.




And are we on a new page, already? These pages are too damned short! ...oops, more bad language. lol.

 

I like multihulls of all sizes in most respects, but the politics and money and court disputes and bad feelings which have been a feature of the last couple of AC's are not always to my liking.

For example I find it slightly curious that no-one has mentioned the film 'The Wind Gods' here yet, which is I suppose the most technically interesting multihull filming ever done. Soon after the races in Valencia there was some footage on Vimeo from one of the hi-tech stabilized cameras used there (it was quickly removed however) and if footage like that is in this film then I'm going to buy it no matter how much they feature Ehman dissembling, or Coutts torturing the English language.

And it would have been a much better film I'm sure, if there been more than 2 races there, if it had been in summer, had the US team behaved better, and if it had not been wham-bam-Gracias Mam before Ellison floated away on his yacht.

Those elements (or the lack of them) I think, account for why there is zero excitement about the film of the costliest multihull spectacle ever staged.

...

As I mentioned above I am familiar with SimonN's posts over time, and am happy to rebuke anyone who berates him as being '******** delusional'.

 

Uhhh

Uhhhh.

Anyone followed the latest developments with the Artemis red AC 72 foot catamaran?
http://artemis-racing.americascup.c...ilor-andrew-simpson-dies-in-training-accident
They are first in the process of mourn. After that comes the re-evaluation of the design. Port connection between hull and front connection beam ruptured while turning away from the wind.
After that Andrew Sipson got crashed, trapped under the trampoline and drowned. Not sure if he was unconcious directly.
Discussion is AC 72 are too unsafe to race the cup with. the 45 footers are suggested as an alternative.
Noticed there is a mourn thread aboud this:
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/multihulls/artemis-pitchpoled-1-dead-47059.html

But this post is about what to do next with the AC 72 's?
Anyone?

 

Uhhhh. You've got to go back a couple of these pages, which are all too short, to find that discussion.

Here's a more impressive, and ominous photo of the bloody beam, I like that the angle shows the size of this monster better than with bow-on shots:



And here is the LARGER VERSION of the same shot.

 

33rd America's Cup

I ordered the film "Wind Gods" about three weeks ago and I just got it so I'll see it tonight! It's about the 33rd Americas Cup-the big tri vs the big Cat.
Can't wait....
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It was good-maybe a little too much about Larry- but very entertaining and simply specatcular photography. I recommend it......
In the extras, there is one called "Night Skipper"....and that was Magnus Clarke!

 

From Scutlebutt tonight:

At a press conference today (May 14) that included Tom Ehman, Vice Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, and Race Director Iain Murray, the following information was made available…

Artemis Racing: An internal review is underway by the team to determine the cause of the May 9 accident. It is believed the team has video of the event which, along with onboard load sensors and crew observations, will provide the cause for the accident.

Race officials: A committee has been assembled to review the incident and make recommendations to insure the safety of the event (click here for full scope). The committee expects to begin their process on Thursday when all the members have arrived in San Francisco. None of the four teams have indicated they will not proceed, and there is no indication at this time the current schedule will be changed.

U.S. Coast Guard: The organization is relying on the race officials to review the incident and incorporate any lessons into the safety plan for the event. A Coast Guard event permit is required – but not yet provided – to conduct the racing. The race official review committee intends to work closely with the Coast Guard to demonstrate that any recommendations get implemented to insure the safety of the event and fulfill all permit requirements.

Police: This investigation, separate from the above, is seeking to determine the cause of death and if a crime has occurred.

From today’s press conference, it was clear that this accident was not in the best interest of the America’s Cup. However, what was not clear was if the cause of the accident was due to a failure of design, engineering, or construction, what could be done to prevent it from being allowed to happen again.

“It is the team’s responsibility to build a sound boat,” said Ehman. “There are no scantling guidelines, so it is up to Artemis Racing to study whether their accident was a result of a breakage.”

It was not known what information would be made public

 

The police will rely on the corner's report for their COD investigation, which should be fairly obvious. It's likely he was unconscious when he went in, so the results will be inevitable. The police have an insignificant role to play, as accidents are precisely that. Of course, this assumes other findings don't conclude some form of negligence, which seems unlikely frankly. If this is the case, the state prosecutor's office, not the police will get involved. Don't hold your breath on this, as folks get killed in high speed sports, on a fairly regular basis and manufactures, engineers, etc. usually don't get charged. This is just a first for the A/C series.

The race committee has little bearing, other then a possible and likely slight delay in continued on water events. The probability of this is pretty remote, but it's there.

Artemis and the USCG do have some work to do, but I suspect a convoluted bit of speculation will result, with nothing firm, as to the cause. Most of the time (90%+), it's just chalked up to human error and understandably so. Unless finite analyze can find a short coming, the skipper and possibly the crew will get the blame. This will take many months to sort out, so the races will continue - there's just way too much money at stake to not race.

Until preliminary reports start to role in, about the various and suspected pieces, speculation is just that. Personally, I'm willing to wait for that, if for no other reason than to respect Simpson's efforts and passing. I sure hope he was unconscious when he went in, as the other prospect isn't something I'm comfortable relating with, as it's a fear I've had on occasion.

 

A little too much about Larry?

lol

How was the 'boat ****' factor? Had they managed to get any kind of close-ups of Alinghi 5 at all, or is Alinghi only shown in the same race footage that was broadcast at the time?

Is the film just an even longer glorification of Team USA themselves, with their Swiss opponents reduced to a minor supporting role, as in the Moscow BMW event video on Vimeo from 3 years ago, linked here?


Video from Moscow BMW event


Does the film contain a single post-race interview with anyone from Alinghi, or anyone sympathetic to Alinghi?

In the Moscow BMW event video, as in Valencia itself (I was among the spectators there) the BMW Oracle team entirely failed to say one gracious word about the Swiss team, their hosts. Do they do any better in the 'Wind Gods" version?

Apart from Larry finally roaring Muchos Gracias, did they pay any homage to the city hosting the event?

Does the film give any indication of how sparse the crowds around the Darsena were? How cold and dark it often was, how little business the shops had, how subdued the mood of the spectators was most of the time, how the European and American sailing celebs ignored each other in the posher restaurants? Any scenes from onboard the Alinghi spectator boats?

lol

But maybe there was something from onboard GGYC's rented megayacht? The parking of which in the Darsena along with 'Rising Sun's' great vast bulk was the main US contribution to the festivities...

My main takeaway from the Moscow BMW Event video was that it was a grand display of deplorable sportsmanship.
So I also wonder if they have achieved an even greater degree of deplorable sportsmanship, in 'Wind Gods'.

 

...

Here's yet another similar Team USA production, from the same post-race period,


I think it ought to have been entitled:

"I came, I saw nothing apart from myself, I conquered"

This Youtube embedding, like the Vimeo embedding, is not showing up in the post right away, so here is the ordinary link: SLAM VALENCIA, April 13, 2010



Voici un autre exemple de mauvais goût, où l'élément de toute concurrence disparaît complètement, à l'ombre d'un narcissisme grandiose.

 

Refreshing to read a well-written level-headed assessment, after having plowed through so much bilge on SA earlier today!

 

You've got some good hate on for the Oracle guys don't you?

Sure Valencia was dead, nobody, the teams included even knew the event would be there for sure until a few weeks before it happened, which made it a bit challenging to procure a horde of spectators. Sure it was dark and cold, it was the winter. Do you think it would have been immensely well attended is Ras El Khamia?, granted the Golf would have been better waiting for the breeze to come up but the no drinking thing would have been a major bummer, a dry AC, really?

BTW, Alinghi were not exactly the most gracious of hosts if you actually paid attention. Last I checked they were doing everything they possibly could (At the senior level of the team) to hose their competitors.

Come the end of the event, there were however plenty of Alinghi team members milling about drinking at the BMW Oracle base trading stories and having fun, as sailors do. During the event there was a certain bar where you could find plenty of both team members drinking together in the lead up to the event as well. Not to mention having dinner etc at each others homes and such leading up to the event.

Following the event the Sr Alinghi team members were not particularly gracious, which was unfortunate to say the least. To that extent I think you would find it would have been particularly galling to Ernesto to be interviewed by Larry's son, or his production company about his loss.

During the course of the event and in the lead up to it however, it was quite clear that everyone on the Oracle team most certainly had a high level of respect for the skills and talent of the entire Alinghi team (A considerable number of them of course had previously worked with the team and as these things go there is always plenty of dirty laundry all around), if not their approach to the broader strategic moves that were taking place in the court etc. There was never a moment where anyone ever said, "Ah, we've got this, we can relax". No quite the contrary.

As for getting footage of Alinghi? I hope they did get some and show it in the movie, it was a pretty cool boat and I know I'd like to see more of it. We did a few close drive by's in the Darsena to get a look but that was greatly discouraged by the Alinghi team, as we would have discouraged them from close approaches to the big boat. The thing was huge!, it had a lot more free board than the black boat which also made it feel very big too. Either way, both boats were truly monsters up close.

 

The closest look I had at both boats was during the day-long wait in the starting area for a first race on the Monday, after leaving harbor before dawn on a 30ft Ocqueteau a good friend of mine had conveniently just bought down the coast. Since there were few spectator craft present, and no partition zones enforced, we spent the whole day as close to USA17 and Alinghi5 as we wished. Alinghi made a show of sailing at good speed at arm's length past us several times, trying to wake Bennett up and start something!

lol

That evening after no racing had occurred, we were I think the last of the boats to return to harbor with the sunset. On our way back there were just a couple of the Spanish coast guard cruisers, USA17 w zodiak, and us. A wind rose up as light faded and USA17 then sailed for a while close along us at 20+ knots in the mist/light rain looking extremely powerful. I took good video of it which was exciting, since at that time such performance by the boat had not been shown publicly.

I never fell for all the elaborate efforts by BMW Oracle to demonize Bertarelli and SNG, unfortunately it was their corporate aim to intimidate and be obstructive towards the Swiss in all the ways they could devise.

It did not make for a good racing event, and I mostly hold them to blame insofar as I wish it had been otherwise.

 

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Unfortunately, the story is he wasn't unconcious when he went in: his mates saw him struggling and they dove in to try to free him and give him air.

 

That's what I heard too, I think it very unfair to put the blame on the crew for problems with the boat. If that happens there won't be much incentive to build and design with safety margins. In F1 they figure out what went wrong and name the mechanical problem or tell when the driver stuffed it.

 

just watch the preview!
now I'm jealous!
looks like fantastic graphics ect ...