Cup Experience

Many America's Cup fans say this is their best source of information.

By

Video – First Racing in America’s Cup Class Catamarans

America’s Cup Class catamarans racing for the first time! Watch the pre-start between Oracle’s Jimmy Spithill and Land Rover BAR’s Ben Ainslie. With port tack entry, Oracle is allowed to enter the starting box 10 seconds ahead of starboard tack, right of way Land Rover BAR. But they are late and cannot cross in front of BAR. Both boats go into a dial up.

By

America’s Cup Winner “USA 17” AC72 at Mariners’ Museum

Winner of the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco, USA 17 has become a permanent exhibit at Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia. She will be the highlight of an America’s Cup exhibition, “Speed and Innovation,” which will open in May 2017. I got the chance to climb over and inside USA 17 during my recent meetings at the museum in my role as “guest curator” of the upcoming exhibit.

AC72 Winner America's Cup at Mariners' Museum
USA 17 – AC72 – Winner of the 2013 America’s Cup, at Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia

 

Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia, home of America's Cup winner USA17 AC72 wingsail hydrofoiling yacht

 

Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia, home of America's Cup winner USA17 AC72 wingsail hydrofoiling yacht

 

AC72 Winner America's Cup - mast step on crossbeam
The view from near the middle of the forward crossbeam made me realize how BIG this yacht is! And, how much higher the top of the pod is compared to the hulls. In manoeuvres, the crew were scrambling up and down much greater heights than you think when you see the videos. Athletes? You bet!

America’s Cup Geek Warning!

If you read on, I’ll take you deep in the weeds with details only America’s Cup geeks like me enjoy. Proceed at your own risk.

In the previous photo, did you notice those two circles on the centerline? The forward one is the mast step. The aft one was not used, but was prepared when the designers considered moving the wing aft to counter the lee helm problem. I wrote about this in my book “Turning the Tide” – so it was very cool to see it.

 

AC72 Winner 2013 America's Cup in San Francisco - starboard helm wheel. Oracle Team USA
Jimmy Spithill’s view. Notice the black buttons on the inside of the wheel – controls for daggerboard rake. Do you see the black button on top of the post for the wheel? Before a tack or gybe, Tom Slingsby would cross over to the leeward side to prepare the wing winch, and then hold down that button until the moment it was time to let the daggerboard come up.

Here’s a video that will show how important the button was. This is from Race 4, at Gate 2, the end of the first downwind leg. Ouch! In spite of the error, Oracle won this race, their first win. The error shows that early in the America’s Cup Match, they had still not mastered how to sail the boat. But by the finish of Race 8, their second win, they had improved dramatically, and were on their way to winning, even though at that point the score was 6-0 for the Kiwis.

 

Grinder Simeon Tienpont was called “Hydro” because he ran a lot of the hydraulic controls on the boat. Some of his controls are shown in the next two photos. Not shown are the controls to switch the flow of oil between hulls and the controls for daggerboard cant. A lot of hardware was stripped out of the hulls long before USA 17 was donated to the Mariners’ Museum.

AC72 Winner America's Cup - daggerboard control panel
AC72 Winner America’s Cup – daggerboard control panel connections in Simeon Tienpont’s cockpit

 

AC72 Winner 2013 America's Cup in San Francisco - daggerboard control buttons
AC72 Winner 2013 America’s Cup – daggerboard control buttons on the cockpit sole: F (forward rake) A (aft rake) UP, DN. The buttons still click when pushed, but of course the hydraulics have been stripped out of the hull and the grinding pedestal has been removed.

 

AC72 Winner America's Cup mast step - 2 positions
AC72 Winner America’s Cup mast step – two positions. To correct the lee helm problem, the designers considered moving the wing aft but decided against the move. Do you remember the story about the famous lay day, Monday 16 September, with the score 7-1?  ETNZ rejected Regatta Director Iain Murray’s suggestion to race, in order to get back on schedule. ETNZ did not sail that day, but Oracle did, testing a simpler solution than moving the mast step aft – they put an additional 1.5° of rake in the “mast.” They thought this might help reduce their lee helm problem, but it did not, so they went back to the previous rake setting, and they never changed the mast step position.

 

AC72 Winner America's Cup - mast step inside pod
AC72 Winner America’s Cup – mast step inside the central “pod.” That post is just below the forward circle in the previous photo. Presumably they would have needed another post like that, had they moved the wing aft.

 

AC72 Winner America's Cup - electrical panel inside pod
AC72 Winner America’s Cup – electrical panel and battery brackets, inside the central pod

 

AC72 Winner America's Cup - daggerboard seen from forward cockpit
AC72 Winner America’s Cup – daggerboard seen from forward cockpit. That’s the daggerboard you see through the circular hatch. This is the cockpit where Shannon Falcone and Joe Spooner worked the grinding pedestal. BTW, just to the right of that red arrow, you can see one of the scuppers.

 

AC72 Winner America's Cup - daggerboard & box inside hull
AC72 Winner America’s Cup – daggerboard & box inside the port hull. The daggerboard “cage” has been removed, with the mechanical feedback foil control system designed by Dmitri Despierres (still with Oracle) and Neil Wilkinson (now with ETNZ). This is where the imaginary “Little Herbie” would have been installed, had it existed. I’ve actually corresponded with the retired Kiwi 747 pilot who wrote the (unsigned) description of the mythical “computer controlled gyro-stabilized Stability Augmentation System” that got the Kiwi media all aflutter. He said the media blew his document all out of proportion. My conclusion: Little Herbie either did not exist or was the best coverup since NASA faked that landing on the moon.

 

Some Interesting America’s Cup Artefacts

The next three photos show polar info that was left in the hulls.

AC72 Winner America's Cup - polars wing trimmer
AC72 Winner America’s Cup – polars  pasted next to the wing trimmer’s position.

 

AC72 Winner America's Cup - polars deltas
AC72 Winner America’s Cup – polars deltas.

 

AC72 Winner America's Cup - polars & daggerboard settings
AC72 Winner America’s Cup – polars & daggerboard settings. A couple of things to notice… The table is dated 8th September 2013 – the second day of racing. It has data for boards Nr 9 and Nr 10. On the first layday, Monday 9 September, they tested an asymmetric setup, with boards Nr 5 and Nr 10, but they chose not to race with that configuration. Oracle used the symmetric setup with boards Nr 9 and Nr 10 in all 19 races.

By

Man Overboard – Close Call for America’s Cup Sailor Graeme Spence

America's Cup sailor Graeme Spence of Oracle Team USA went overboard
Graeme Spence overboard in America’s Cup training

Sailor Graeme Spence went overboard when Oracle Team USA’s America’s Cup Class yacht dropped off the foils in training on Wednesday 22 February 2017. Graeme was lucky not to be hit by the daggerboard or rudder. Remember that Franck Cammas of Groupama Team France almost lost his right foot when he was hit by the rudder after going overboard in training in France in November 2015. Read about Franck’s ordeal here, here and here.

By

Where is the AC72 That Won in 2013?

Oracle’s winning AC72 in the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia.

I’m on my way today to Newport News to help plan the “Speed and Innovation in the America’s Cup” exhibit that will open in May. I’ve been asked to be “guest curator” – an honor and a lot of fun, working with a great team.

By

America’s Cup Defender Unveils and Christens Race Boat

Oracle unveiled their America’s Cup Class race boat on Valentine’s day at an evening party for team members and families and a few Bermudian dignitaries. The boat was illuminated in its hangar. The aerodynamic fairings were the only “proprietary” parts on display – no sign of the daggerboards or rudders, and no opportunity to look into the cockpits at control panels.

The next day the team christened the boat and put her in the water for the first time.

Luciana Corral christens Oracle Team USA America's Cup Class race boat on 15Feb'17
Luciana Corral christens Oracle Team USA America’s Cup Class race boat on 15 February 2017

 

America's Cup Class race boat. Note the long winglet on the daggerboard .
America’s Cup Class race boat. Note the long winglet on the daggerboard .