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October 24, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Practice Racing on the Great Sound in Bermuda

SoftBank Team Japan “hooks” Oracle in the pre-start. Click image to watch the video.

The three Bermuda-based teams, Artemis Racing, SoftBank Team Japan and Oracle Team USA held a series of practice races on the Great Sound, using their AC45X test boats. There were lots of lead changes, but these came mostly from mistakes – boats dropping off their foils when gybing or tacking. We can assume that by next May, when the round robin America’s Cup Qualifiers begin, that all the teams will be making fewer mistakes. This was match racing, and we did get to see some traditional match race tactics. In this short video during a pre-start we see Team Japan hook Oracle, luff them head to wind and win the start.

October 24, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Ernesto Bertarelli and the Earl of Dunraven Inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame.

The New York Yacht Club’s storied Model Room was the site of the induction ceremony for two leading personalities in America’s Cup history, Ernesto Bertarelli and Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, fourth Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl.

Ernesto Bertarelli (left) received a half-hull of “Reliance” from Steve Tsuchiya (center) chairman of the selection committee and Bill Lynn (right), CEO of the Herreshoff Marine Museum, home of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame. “Reliance” defeated Sir Thomas Lipton’s Shamrock III in 1903 and was Nat Herreshoff’s masterpiece – over 202 feet (60m) from the tip of the bowsprit to the end of the boom, with a bulb keel of 102 tons.

Dunraven – Vilified Polymath and Innovator

Dunraven was a soldier, journalist, yacht designer, adventurer and statesman. He challenged for the America’s Cup twice, in 1893 and 1895. He was the first person to propose challenger selection trials, but was refused by the New York Yacht Club. His massive yachts Valkyrie II and Valkyrie III ushered in the golden age of the 90 footers. Unfortunately for Dunraven, this was also the beginning of the Herreshoff era. Nathanael Green Herreshoff designed and built yachts that won the America’s Cup six times in a row, beginning with Vigilant in 1893 and Defender in 1895. In 1895, Dunraven chose to believe his advisors who told him that his opponent had cheated by taking on extra ballast at night, lengthening her waterline. An acrimonious and public feud was fought in the press and in an investigation conducted by the New York Yacht Club. “Defender” was cleared of wrong-doing and Dunraven was vilified.

Bertarelli – the First and Only Challenger to Succeed on the First Try

“Anytime you do something that you love, you have that smile on your face.” Watch this video.

Ernesto Bertarelli built his Alinghi team around a core group of Kiwi sailors who had already won the America’s Cup twice – Russell Coutts, Brad Butterworth, Murray Jones, Warwick Fleury, Simon Daubney and Dean Phipps. All of them are now members of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame. He assembled a complete team of designers, managers, boat builders and shore crew. In 2004 he initiated what is now called the America’s Cup World Series, organizing a series of regattas as part of the buildup to the 2007 America’s Cup. The 32nd America’s Cup, held in Valencia, Spain, is the only America’s Cup to turn a profit and pay out shares of the proceeds to all the competitors. After two years of unfriendly competition in the New York courts, Alinghi lost the America’s Cup in 2010 to BMW Oracle Racing, in massive multihulls that recalled the golden era of Dunraven, Lipton and Herreshoff.

Bertarelli gave an eloquent acceptance speech, saying, “The journey that has brought me here was not a solo expedition, but rather one made possible – and shared – by the hundreds of people whose talent, passion and dedication were the DNA of the Alinghi Team. To them all, I say, remember the mission that we set ourselves all those years ago: ‘We want to build a team to be proud of’. We did it!”

October 24, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Modified Round Robin America’s Cup Qualifiers Schedule

Does Land Rover BAR have the easiest schedule?

On 18 October 2016 ACEA published a modified schedule for the double round robin America’s Cup Qualifiers. Instead of 10 days of racing with each team racing once per day, the AC Qualifiers have been reduced to eight days with at least one team having to race twice on every day. This is a big deal.

Here is the original schedule:

Original America's Cup 2017 Race Calendar
Original America’s Cup 2017 Race Calendar

Here is the new calendar. You can download it here.

America's Cup 2017 Race Calendar
America’s Cup 2017 Race Calendar

The big advantage of the new schedule is having a guaranteed layday between the Challenger Playoff semi-finals and finals.

Stamina and Limited Substitutions
Much has been made of the physical demands on the grinders. Only two crew substitutions can be made between races, so when a fresh team comes up against a team that has already raced once, the fresh team will have a big advantage.

And, what if something breaks during your first race? Even if you have time to make the repair, your preparation for the second race will be thrown off.

A Closer Look at the Schedule

Does Land Rover BAR have the easiest schedule?
Do Oracle Team USA and SoftBank Team Japan have schedules almost as good?
Do the Kiwis have a good schedule?
Do Artemis Racing and Groupama Team France have the worst schedules?

All of the teams have a day off on Thursday 1 June, after six days of racing. Five of the six teams get another layday, all except Emirates Team New Zealand. In return, the Kiwis only have two days when they race twice. Each of the other teams has two races on three days. Let’s look at the schedules, team by team.
Land Rover BAR seems to have the best schedule: they have to race twice on three days, but each time they will be racing against another team who has already raced earlier in the day. BAR also has two laydays in a row – Thursday 1 June, when all the teams are off and Friday 2 June. This will let them regain some strength for the last day of the round robin when they face Team Japan, and, in the very last race of the round robin, Oracle.
Oracle Team USA has it almost as good: each time they race twice in a day they too race against another team that has already raced earlier in the day. But… they have to race twice on two successive days, Day 2 against Land Rover BAR and Day 3 against SoftBank Team Japan.
SoftBank Team Japan only has to race a fresh team once. On Day 6 their second race is against Oracle Team USA, but Team Japan has a layday on Day 5 so they should be rested for Day 6.
Artemis Racing faces fresh teams on two of their three two-race days. Interestingly they will face BAR twice when BAR is fresh but Artemis has already raced earlier in the day. Like BAR, they get two days in a row off – May 31st and June 1st – before the last two days of the round robin.
Groupama Team France may have the toughest schedule. They race twice on three days, twice against teams that are fresh. The one time their second race of the day is against another team that has raced it’s against BAR.
Emirates Team New Zealand is the only team that races twice on only two days – both times against fresh teams: BAR on Day 3 and Team France on Day 7, the day after the layday for all teams. This seems like it should be a good schedule, but they are the only team that does not get a day off on one of the race days.

October 17, 2016 By Jack Griffin 1 Comment

What Do You Notice About the Way These Boats Sail?

Oracle Team USA in their AC45X test boat.

Oracle and Team Japan training in Bermuda.

Land Rover BAR training in their AC45X.

Have you noticed that the AC45X test boats often sail bow down when foiling? One of my best sources helped me understand this. Lift increases with speed and with angle of attack. The rudder elevators generate more lift at higher speed, pitching the boat into the bow down attitude. This reduces the angle of attack of the rudder elevators, providing pitch stability. The longer answer gets into the load per unit area on the rudder elevators compared to the daggerboard wings, and the way pitch – heave coupling can produce either stable (good) or unstable (bad) ride height and and pitch. I’m working on a detailed article about this. Watch for it in a future issue.

October 17, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Hurricane Nicole Makes Direct Hit on Bermuda – Video

On Friday 14 October, the eye of Force 4 Hurricane Nicole passed directly over Bermuda. Winds hit 114 mph before and after the eye. Ninety percent of Bermudian households lost electric power but only seven minor injuries were reported.

All three America’s Cup teams were well prepared and came through the storm unscathed. Oracle Team USA posted this video showing the storm at its peak, with before and after images from their base. Click the image to watch the video.

October 17, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Avoiding a Capsize – Groupama Team France Video

This Team France video shows them training in Lorient, France with their AC45x test boat. I don’t think they were in real danger of capsizing, but the gybe at 40 seconds into the video did not go right! Of course, we’ve seen footage of all the teams splashing down as they work to master their manoeuvres. Click the photo to watch the video.

At about 40 seconds into the video they start a gybe but the boat starts to heel too much. They make a quick recovery and the boat splashes down off its foils.

Notice the camber in the wing and the angle of the horizon.

All the camber is released and the horizon is at a less scary angle.

October 11, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Moving to Fukuoka

The final stop for the AC World Series is Fukuoka, Japan. Fifty containers are on their way from Toulon.

Image: ACEA Video

Racing is scheduled for 19-20 November. From the leaderboard below, you can see that Land Rover BAR’s 14 point lead will make them hard to catch. Winning the AC World Series would give them two bonus points in next year’s round robin America’s Cup Qualifiers. Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand will be fighting for the bonus point that goes to the runner up. Oracle has yet to win a World Series regatta; this is their last chance. SoftBank Team Japan and Artemis Racing will be battling for fourth place. Since the AC World Series results will be used to break ties in the Qualifiers, every place counts, and these teams will be fighting hard. Groupama Team France looks unlikely to escape the cellar – they will have to count on a good performance in the Qualifiers to avoid elimination.

October 11, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Oracle’s Race Boat Arrives in Bermuda

The America’s Cup Class yacht that Oracle will race in the America’s Cup Match next year has arrived in Bermuda. The team will now assemble the hulls, crossbeams and pod, which were built in New Zealand. Electronics, hydraulics, winch systems and other equipment will be installed. The boat may not be launched before 27 December, 150 days before the first race of the America’s Cup Qualifiers. Click the photo to see the boat being constructed and to hear General Manager Grant Simmer talk about the process.

Image: OTUSA Video

October 11, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Building an Island in Bermuda

Click the photo to see a one minute time lapse video showing a year’s work on the infill project to build Cross Island, the site of the America’s Cup Village. The infill was completed on budget and ahead of schedule. In the next phase of work utilities will be installed – water, sewage, electricity, communications – so the space can be turned over to ACEA. Thanks to Scott Stallard for the photo.

October 11, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

“We’re Going OK”

Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby’s dry sense of humour is on display in his final comment in this video of the team training in the Southern Hemisphere winter. Just after the Kiwis show a foiling tack, Ashby tells us, “We’re going OK.” Click the photo to play the video.

Image: ETNZ Video

October 3, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Athlete Monitoring and Measuring

Click image to play video.

Head Athletic Trainer Craig “Oscar” McFarlane explains in this video how he manages individualized training programs for Oracle’s grinders. When the athlete goes into his anaerobic zone or when his core temperature rises above a certain level, his power output goes down.

% of
Max Heart Rate
Zone 1 Recovery Very Low 60-70%
Zone 2 Endurance Moderate 71-75%
Zone 3 Intensive Endurance Moderate Plus 76-80%
Zone 4 Anaerobic Threshold Race / Pace 81-90%
Zone 5 Threshold Endurance Super Threshold 91-93%
Zone 5a Anaerobic Endurance Speed/End Power 94-100%

Oracle uses a system called Zephyr from Medtronic to monitor and track each athlete’s performance both in the gym and on the boat.

October 3, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Land Rover BAR Base in Bermuda

Land Rover BAR has begun building their base at Dockyard. They have said they plan to launch their race boat on the earliest allowed date, 27 December 2016, 150 days before the first race on 26 May 2017.

October 3, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Land Rover BAR Two Boat Testing

I reported back in August that BAR had launched their fourth test boat but until now we didn’t have any photos of both their boats together. Leigh McMillan helms one of the test boats. In this video you can see different shape daggerboards being tested. Aside from the daggerboards, the only other visible difference in these photos and videos is that the Anabel’s nightclub logo has been painted on the rudders of only one of the boats. Anabel’s is one of the team’s sponsors.

Notice the outward curve of the daggerboard and the pronounced dihedral (upwards slope) of the daggerboard wing.


The starboard daggerboard has an outward curve and clear anhedral (downward sloping) daggerboard wing.


The boat on the left has an outward curving daggerboard. The boat on the right has a straight board. Both appear to have dihedral daggerboard wings.

October 3, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Why Did the Bracket Break?

Midway through the America’s Cup Match, Oracle changed the way they set up and trimmed the wing. They changed the twist profile, opening the wing more at the top while closing the leech at the quarter-span and half-span of the wing. They also opened the slot between the tab on the leading element and the flap segments of the trailing element. This reduced lee helm and allowed them to foil upwind. These changes increased the load on the wing winch by 170%, far above initial limits. This increased load might have added enough stress in the wing to break the bracket.

October 3, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Wing Breakage Almost Lost the Cup in 2013

Oracle wing technician Jeff Causey with glue gun 40 minutes before Race 19 of the 2013 America’s Cup. Click photo to watch video.

Less than an hour before the start of the deciding race, a bracket broke inside Oracle’s AC72 wing. Oracle and Team New Zealand were tied 8-8. This race would decide the 2013 America’s Cup. The breakage needed to be stabilized or else the control arm for the wing’s flap would be jammed and Oracle would be unable to race. This video shows what happened.

September 19, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

About Those Bonus Points

There are still lots of questions about the bonus points… The winner of the America’s Cup World Series carries two bonus points into the round robin match racing “Qualifiers,” which begin 26 May in Bermuda. The runner up gets one bonus point. With six teams (remember that defender Oracle Team USA races in the Qualifiers), in this double round robin, a perfect score would be 10 points. The winner of the Qualifiers will start the America’s Cup Match with a one point lead. If Oracle wins the Qualifiers their opponent in the Match starts with a score of minus one (-1). If a challenger wins the Qualifiers and they make it through the “Challenger Playoffs to the Match, Oracle starts at minus one.

So, those bonus points could be very valuable. Remember, too, that the final AC World Series ranking will be used to break ties at the end of the Qualifiers. If two challengers are tied for fourth, the AC World Series results will determine which challenger is eliminated and which one goes on to the semi-finals of the challenger selection.

Series Leaderboard

Going into the final regatta in Fukuoka, Japan in November, Land Rover BAR has a comfortable lead to grab the two bonus points. Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand will be battling for the final bonus point.

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September 19, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Control Systems

As important as daggerfoil shapes, the control systems on the AC Class race yachts will be key to winning the America’s Cup in 2017. The class rule prohibits computer controls, but there is no limit on systems to give the sailors information to help them decide what setting to use. Think of it like putting a mark on your jib sheet and a mark on the deck: trim the sheet so the two marks line up to get back to the setting that gave the best speed when you tested. Here’s a big difference: there is no limit on what the teams can do with their AC45x test boats. Remember the conspiracy theory in the Kiwi media during the 2013 Match in San Francisco? Supposedly Oracle had secretly installed a gyro controlled computerised flight control system from Boeing. While that was a crazy rumour, nothing prohibits them from installing an automatic flight control system on their AC45x test boat and recording how the system controls the boat’s flight. Then they can use that information to develop their sailing playbook and readouts for the sailors to use in fully manual mode on the race boat.

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Shirley Robertson interviews designers at Artemis and Oracle, including an AirBus flight control systems specialist. Click here or on the image to go to Shirley’s interview.

September 19, 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Bart’s Bash – Andrew Simpson Honoured in Global Regatta

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Andrew “Bart” Simpson was killed on 9 May 2013 in a training accident on San Francisco Bay when Artemis Racing’s AC72 capsized and broke up. His friends, led by his Star boat Olympic Gold and Silver medal teammate, Iain Percy, set up the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation to encourage children and young people to sail. You can contribute here.

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Thousands of people at hundreds of clubs around the world race in Bart’s Bash. Artemis Racing, SoftBank Team Japan and Oracle Team USA raced their AC45x test boats in Bermuda.


Video: Watch this interview of Andrew Simpson and Iain Percy at the 2013 UK Star Championships, sailed in a snowstorm.


Video: Iain Percy tells about Andrew Simpson’s personality and spirit.


Video: Listen to Grant Simmer, Tom Slingsby and Andrew Campbell talk about Bart in Oracle Team USA’s really wonderful video.

Contribute to the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation here.

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