34th America's Cup: multihulls!

All the J's were built to Lloyd's scantlings by rule and no advantage was given to the defender. They crossed under reduced rigs, usually as a ketch. When racing the challengers were rigged to the maximum area allowed by rule. Yankee crossed the other way in 1935, ketch rigged, demonstrating the above equivalence. A diagram of her appears in my 2010 Classic Yacht Symposium paper on the technical history of Yankee. PM me if you'd like a copy.

Cheers,

Earl

 

So where the mizzen chain plates removed? the mast steps and partners? Did the defenders stop practising racing while the British were ocean sailing? The hull shapes that the Americans used were very different from the British - was that influenced by the fact that the latter had an ocean to cross before they could race?

Any advantage, however slight, is still an advantage

Richard Woods

 

The contemporary commentators certainly decried the problems encountered by the bermudan rigs of the early Js, and noted that they sat on very strong and seaworthy hulls. The introduction of Lloyds requirements spelled the effective end of the career of Vanitie and Resolute which could otherwise have been converted to fairly effective Js; they were converted to rate with the Js but were not eligible to race for the AC.

In 1937 the problems with J Class rigs lead to the introduction of a minimum rig weight of 6,400 lb. This, according to Ian Dear, lead to the end of one J (Enterprise, I think) because she was too small to be competitive with the heavier rig.

While some may claim that the rig problems of the early Js show that the Cup has historically been a contest for radical designs, the fact that the Js ended up with such restrictions on hull and rig construction is yet more evidence that historically, the AC has NOT been about all-out speed. It's normally been a fairly typical major development-class event in mainstream type of inshore racing craft - just using bigger boats and budgets and (in some ways) more competitive.

Interesting info, Erle and Richard, and I would love to hear more about Marchaj and Yankee.

 

Haters are going to hate, no matter the counter defense ... so not worthy of a reply.
However, for the open minded, the enlightened, this AC is going to be a marvelous spectacle.
Already I can watch the San Francisco videos repeatedly, never get bored ... and this is just the beginning.
Cheers.

 

If expressing a dislike for a type sailing craft is wrong and something done by "haters", then what about those here who regularly express dislike for types such as conventional ballasted monohulls?

Aren't they "haters" too?

 

Sadly such simple points, where the corollary must also be true, are totally lost and above his head. Everything is binary to him...which is easy to spot from his postings.

 

What would make a "practical" AC … a race to deliver perishable cargo?

 

I've done many racing and cruising miles on conventional" monohulls, CT; but mostly lightweight ones, have nothing against them, enjoyed the experiences of planing. But boring heavy boats, no, kept away from them if possible, but have sailed on a few, boat tests for NZ yachting magazines - but preferred the "en"-lightened versions, much more fun, the joy of fast sailing ... so no, don't hate monohulls ... although a certain simplistic hater would like to brand me so.

 

Define practical.

Well, if this were true, your posts would not be so vehemently opposed to anything other than what you feel is the "right way" and "brave" and "enlightening" and baahh humbug to everyone else who disagrees with you.

Addressing people because they disagree with your views is totally different from being corrected on technical matters for the sake of hyperbole and ego. Views are just that, either accept everyone has them and they may well differ from yours...or you could, to add more weight to an opinion/view it can be supported by facts, as in physical facts. But that kind of ruins the hyperbole, and my view is better than yours, doesn't it!

So, whilst your comment may appear genuine in not hating monohulls, your postings to date, suggest the opposite.

Some people like those "boring heavy monohulls", to the same extent that you enjoy your AC types. Really...So what?

Your posting are not different from those by Chris Ostlind who constantly hounded Doug Lord simply because Doug likes foils and expressed his love for them, whereas Chris, hhmmm...well hard to pin him down even when he was coherent...but, really..so what?

 

You are a pompous, lecturing, boring fellow, are you not, Ad Hoc?

 

Practical: Concerned with the actual doing of something real, not theoretical or ideal. Capable of being put to use.

 

And what "use" is that...?

 

Gary, that's where the whole difference between various points of view lies. Some people enjoy fast sailing, others enjoy slower and tactical one. To each it's own. We should stop judging others by our own or meter of preferences, calling our alikes open-minded and enlightened, and dismissing the others as just haters.

Felix Baumgartner likes free-falling from the outer atmosphere, I personally don't. It doesn't make me old, retrograde or obsolete. Just a person with different point of view on joys of life.

To me (and not just to me, judging from reactions I hear around) this format of AC races is terribly boring and unattractive, like watching a road bicycle race on tv. You evidently don't feel it the same way - so to each his own. At the end of this edition of AC, we'll see how successful this idea about huge racing foilers was.

However, it is not a good reason to not discuss the technical side of this sport, just like I have enjoyed discovering the technical aspects of Baumgartner's jump. It can be done constructively even when points of view are diametrically opposite.

Cheers

 

There's no "practical" or "use" in an AC race. It's a game pushing the limits.

What's your definition of "practical" as you used the word?

 

The text accompanying that photo (above) of Nigel Irens' Clifton FLasher, at Weymouth Speed Week in 1774:

Clearly it was a crime against nature by the misdirected 27 year old Nigel Irens, with his friends and neighbors, to drag this mutated cripple on a shoestring budget to Weymouth, and temporarily dominate the C Class category with a speed record they held for a couple of years (22.14 knots)...



Perhaps the only thing more embarrassing to Marchaj (if he wrote that quoted item) than having been the author of such pontificating windbaggery, is that anyone should drag it forth 30-40 years later as authoritative.