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A Day on the Water with SoftBank Team Japan…and others

On Team Japan chase boat Fri-22Apr'16

Friday 22 April 2016 All three Bermuda-based teams training off the North Shore
Photo: Jack Griffin

I visited SoftBank Team Japan last Friday and got to spend the afternoon on their chase boat. The team has a real depth of experience from AC34: Dean Barker, Derek Saward, Jero Lomas and Winston MacFarlane were all onboard Team New Zealand’s AC72 in San Francisco. Wing trimmer and sailing manager Chris Draper helmed Luna Rossa. Grinder Simeon Tienpont was grinder and boat captain for Oracle’s AC72. General manager Kasuhiko Sofuku sailed on Nippon Challenge in 2000. The team is developing younger sailors including Japanese team members Yugo Yoshida and Yuki Kasitani and Australian multihull specialist Jason Waterhouse.

Although the team has purchased a design package from Oracle, Nick Holroyd, formerly head of design at Team New Zealand, is making his presence felt, especially with work on board design. Nick was at the cutting edge of the foiling breakthrough during the last campaign.

The team base at Dockyard is growing, with office space and a lounge and kitchen popping up quickly with modular construction.

On the water I saw all three Bermuda based teams out on the water – SoftBank Team Japan, Artemis Racing and, with two boats, Oracle. Looking for long stretches of open water, all four boats headed out of the Great Sound and did several straightline speed runs off Bermuda’s beautiful north shore. No one looked noticeably faster than the others. AC35 will be hard fought and every team is likely to be strong and competitive. SoftBank Team Japan did a few well-executed foiling gybes, but that is to be expected, given that Dean mastered that maneuver long before any of the other helmsmen. Of course, the other teams were also smooth in their maneuvers, but no one should think of SoftBank Team Japan as a “new crew.” A new team, yes, but one with lots of experience and strength.

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ETNZ Roster: 10 Sailors in a Team of 79

Emirates Team New Zealand has a new web page showing the 79 members of their team, including their team principal, Swiss billionaire Matteo de Nora, who has backed the team for years while staying out of the limelight. The team counts 11 nationalities. Ten sailors are listed; half of them are grinders. One of those grinders is Gilberto Nobili who sailed with Oracle in the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco. Three of the sailors were on the winning New Zealand Youth AC team in San Francisco – helmsman Peter Burling, trimmer Blair Tuke and grinder Guy Endean. Those three, together with tactician Ray Davies and team skipper Glenn Ashby have been the crew on the AC45F in the America’s Cup World Series, which they currently lead.

ETNZRoster

We hope to have news soon about when the Kiwis will launch their AC45X experimental boat. They and the French are the only teams not to have an experimental boat with grinding pedestals and dimensions close to the AC Class yachts that will race in 2017. For testing, the team has been using a modified AC45 on loan from Luna Rossa.

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Video: One Bold Tactic from 2013 Racing that Teams Must Master for 2017

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Teams will need confident, precise boathandling to pull off maneuvers like this one from Race 13 of the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco. At the leeward (downwind) gate, Oracle Team USA waited until the last possible moment to decide which mark to round. After seeing  which mark Team New Zealand wanted, they executed a perfect gybe, right in front of the Kiwis, leaving the New Zealanders two bad choices: either follow Oracle around the left hand mark or gybe a second time to split to the other side of the course.

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Rather than continuing straight to the right hand mark Oracle has gybed in front of New Zealand to take the left hand mark.

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The LiveLine augmented reality graphics show white dots marking Oracle’s single gybe and  the red dots of the Kiwis’ track through two gybes. The clock shows Oracle rounded the mark 12 seconds earlier. The Kiwis are sailing slow and have yet to reach the right hand mark.

In this video, you can hear Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill suddenly call, “Gybing – right turn, right turn, right turn!” when he sees the opportunity to gybe in front of New Zealand.

In Bermuda in 2017, the smaller race courses and shiftier conditions will make it even more important to execute last second maneuvers at the gates. The trailing boat usually wants to split away from the leader, but both teams will want the favored side of the course. The ability to make a quick maneuver or to react to one from your competitor will be essential to winning in Bermuda.

Images courtesy of  ACTV.

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Lots of Action in Bermuda – Don’t Wait for 2017

Thanks to Oracle sailor Ky Hurst for this video of four AC45x experimental catamarans testing on the Great Sound. There will be plenty of action on the Great Sound in 2016 and it will heat up even more in early 2017 when all six teams are training with their AC Class race boats.

In this short clip you can see Artemis Racing with the clear wing sailing right to left. The two Oracle Team USA  boats move left to right, followed by SoftBank Team Japan.

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For Geeks: Cavitation Bulbs on Rudders

When boatspeed approaches 40 knots, very low pressure areas form on the daggerboards and rudders, causing the water literally to boil and form cavitation bubbles. This causes severe vibration and increased drag. Almost halfway through the America’s Cup Match in 2013, Oracle’s Paul Bieker devised fillets and torpedo shapes for the rudder wings.

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We can see similar shapes on the rudders of the one design AC45F cats racing in the America’s Cup World Series, and on the experimental boats that the teams use for testing

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Artemis skipper Nathan Outteridge with an AC45F rudder. Notice the bulb where the vertical section and the wing meet.

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Oracle’s capsize on March 2 gave us a good look at the rudder wing and anticavitation shapes.

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Beast Mode – How to Trim the Wing

AC34 Race 14 Spithill using buttons to control board rake. Leg 3 upwind. Right hand hidden.

All four AC72’s that raced in San Francisco in 2013 used a mechanical linkage from the grinding pedestals to the wing winch. The grinding pedestals can be switched between pumping hydraulic oil and mechanically driving a winch. The mechanical linkage is more efficient than hydraulics for driving a winch. On upwind legs, three of the four pedestals on Oracle’s boat were dedicated to powering the wing winch, allowing trimmer Kyle Langford to trim the wing constantly, enabling stable upwind foiling. But this was a lot of work for the grinders, who called it “Beast Mode.” Here’s a video that shows how it was done.

Recently, a poorly informed journalist wondered in print if this constant trimming was legal. It was. The umpires in San Francisco were well aware of it. Oracle’s opponent, Emirates Team New Zealand did not protest. And, the umpires for the 2017 America’s Cup have issued a ruling to clarify that Beast Mode is legal. You can download that ruling here. Did you watch SoftBank Team Japan’s video in last week’s Cup Experience Monday News? You could see them training in Beast Mode on their experimental boat in Bermuda. As I mentioned in my article, you could see all four grinders turning the handles while wing trimmer Chris Draper constantly trimmed the wing.

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Near Collision Artemis – Oracle in Bermuda

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An amusing but apocryphal story claims that in 1895 there were only two cars in the US state of Ohio, and that they collided. Well, on Bermuda’s Great Sound Artemis Racing and Oracle Team USA played out their own version of that story last week, nearly crashing their experimental boats. Watch:

Splashdown – Quick reflexes required

Here’s how Oracle described the incident:

“Artemis Racing, closing in at speed from the left, is on starboard and has rights, so the original call was for ORACLE TEAM USA to heat up – to turn to port (left) – and pass behind Artemis Racing. But then, the Swedish boat came off the foils, nearly stopping. Andrew Campbell, (offside helmsman during the gybe), had to make the call to turn to starboard (right) instead, bringing his boat off the foils in a spectacular splashdown.

Tom Slingsby, the regular helmsman, had just run across the boat and had his hands on the wheel as well. By the time both boats had come to a near stop in the water, just a yard or two apart, Slingsby was on the wheel, and Campbell was on his feet, heading the wing to push it to leeward by hand to help get the boat moving again.”

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Preparations Continue in Bermuda

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The infill work continues in the South Basin at Dockyard. Our Bermuda friend who took this photo reports that work is scheduled to be complete by end of June.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of action on the Great Sound. Loïck Peyron of Artemis Racing posted this photo of four AC45x experimental boats – two from Oracle and one each from Artemis and Team Japan.

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Artemis has also been two boat testing on the Great Sound. If you look closely, you can see that their newer boat, Turbo 2, is further from the camera. Turbo 1 has only one grinding pedestal per hull; Turbo 2 has two. Photo courtesy Artemis Racing.

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The M32 catamarans were back in Bermuda in March, as we see below, with the two Oracle experimental boats. Photo courtesy of M32 World.

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SoftBank Team Japan 360° Onboard Video

Here is Oracle’s first test boat, which they sold to SoftBank Team Japan. The team has set up their base right next door to Oracle in Bermuda.

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Here is an onboard video from Team Japan. To use the 3D controls, watch it using the Chrome or Firefox browser. Pay attention to the grinders – you will see all four working hard when wing trimmer Chris Draper eases and trims the wing. Turn up the sound – at about 11 seconds in, you will hear the whine of the electric pump for the hydraulics. You’ll hear it again at 55 seconds into the video. At 1:09 you can hear Dean Barker count down for a gybe and you’ll see the port daggerboard going down and hear the electric pump running. Then you’ll see the starboard daggerboard rise, again with the pump running. At 1:30 you’ll see all four grinders working while Draper constantly adjusts wing trim. This almost certainly means they were sailing the boat with the grinding pedestals mechanically coupled to the wing winch, and were only using electrical power for the hydraulic pumps.

Remember that in these test boats there is no restriction on using electric power or other stored energy. But when they start racing in their AC Class yacht in 2017, all power must be manually generated by the grinders.

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Oracle’s New Wing

Oracle Team USA has been testing a wing built to the America’s Cup Class Rule. Remember that this rule defines the boats that will race in Bermuda in 2017. Up to now, Oracle had been sailing with wings that appeared to be modified AC45 wings.

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Boat 3 with the AC Class wing, on the left. Notice that the trailing edge is curved while the trailing edge of the AC45x wing in Boat 2 has straighter segments.   Photographer unknown.

15/02/16 - Hamilton (BDA) - 35th America's Cup Bermuda 2017 - ORACLE TEAM USA - AC45T training
Sailing with the AC Class wing. Notice that they had not yet covered with tape the gaps between the segments of the flap element.     Image: OTUSA Sam Greenfield

Some details

Below is Oracle’s AC45x wing before they added the panel of readouts below the wing.

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And below is the same wing with the readouts added. Notice the gap between the wing and the readouts, where the camber control arm can be seen.

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The next photo shows the new “AC Class” wing. Notice that the camber control arm setup is different, and there is no gap between the bottom of the wing and the readouts.

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When I call this an “AC Class” wing, I mean its shape appears to comply with the AC Class Rule. Once the AC Class boats are launched, beginning 27 December 2016, the teams can only use two wings in them. Although there is this two-wing-limit for the race boats, the richer teams can build as many wings as they want for their test boats. Realistically, they will probably only build two.

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External daggerboard rams

Both Oracle and Land Rover BAR added external rams to their test boats after initial testing. Some people have speculated that they found they needed more leverage, given the loads on the daggerboard bearings. Artemis Racing has built two test boats and both of them manage daggerboard rake without an external ram – clearly a better solution for windage.

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Land Rover BAR “T2” on launch day – daggerboard cant ram is inside the hull.

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Land Rover BAR “T2” when it relaunched in December. Notice the external ram.

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Artemis Racing’s second “Turbo” boat in Bermuda. The daggerboard rake ram is inside the hull.

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Oracle’s Test Boat Evolution

Oracle Team USA launched their first test boat over a year ago in San Francisco. The first test boat had only one pedestal per hull since it was designed when the AC62 Class Rule was still in effect. Remember that the AC62 was to have had eight crew with three pedestals per hull.

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When Oracle arrived in Bermuda in May 2015, the test boat still had only one pedestal. The wing trimmer was in a separate cockpit and the pushbutton control panels were on the inboard side of the cockpits, as shown in the photo below. Remember that these test boats will never race, do not need to meet any measurement rule and have no restrictions on batteries or other stored energy to operate the hydraulic pumps.

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By late Fall 2015, Oracle had launched their second test boat and modified the first one. They added a second pedestal and reconfigured the cockpits. They also moved the pushbutton controls to the outboard edge of the cockpit. Two other details to note are the new wing winch design by Harken and a hydraulic ram for daggerboard cant, external to the hull. More on this below.

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Oracle Capsizes Test Boat in Bermuda

No injuries, minor damage, quick recovery
Look at these photos, then watch the video at the end of this article – the photos will help you better understand the capsize and recovery.

15/02/16 - Hamilton (BDA) - 35th America's Cup Bermuda 2017 - ORACLE TEAM USA - AC45S training

Wednesday 2 March 2016 – I was in Bermuda and had just sat down with Grant Simmer at the Oracle base for an interview. We had barely exchanged pleasnatries when Grant’s phone rang. He answered, stood and walked away. End of interview. Oracle’s test boat had just capsized south of Morgan’s Point, in view of the Artemis Racing base. They had just changed crew and Tom Slingsby took over from Jimmy Spithill. Part way through a full foiling gybe, as Slingsby was crossing to take the wheel from Rome Kirby, the boat blew over sideways, slowly. This was not a more violent pitchpole.

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Rome Kirby had climbed to the high side of the hull from the aft cockpit. “TJ” – wing trimmer Tom Johnson ducked down in his cockpit and held on. In the photo below, you can see TJ’s helmet just forward of the wheel, and Rome’s helmet just aft.

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To right their capsized AC45 in Gothenburg, Artemis Racing used a technique suggested by Loïck Peyron, and Oracle used the same technique here. Instead of pulling the boat up sideways, the chase boat tows it forward on its side. the crew trims the wing down, towards the hull that is in the water. The wing then flies the boat upright, just like an airplane taking off. In the photo below notice the wake behind the boat and the wing in a “flaps down” position, like an airplane ready for takeoff.

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Now watch the video and listen to Tom Slingsby explain what happened and how he reacted.

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Groupama Team France denies Oracle the win

28/02/16 - Muscat (OMN) - 35th America's Cup Bermuda 2017 - Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Oman - Racing Day 2 - Racing Day 2

Watch the video of incidents between Oracle and Team France at the windward gate in Races 4 and 6 in Oman. In each case they lost one place.

Oracle Team USA finished two points behind Land Rover BAR. Did this incident at the windward mark in Race 4 cost them the regatta? If they had come in fourth instead of fifth in Race 4, they would have had equal points to BAR and would have won on the count back.

In Race 6 Team France passed Oracle to take the lead at Gate 3. France went on to win – their first race win in the ACWS.

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Land Rover BAR Wins in Oman

28/02/16 - Muscat (OMN) - 35th America's Cup Bermuda 2017 - Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Oman - Racing Day 2 - Racing Day 2

Ben Ainslie and his team showed grit and tenacity to win the Oman stop on the America’s Cup World Series. After getting a third and two firsts in Saturday’s races, they had poor starts in all three double points races on Sunday, including two OCS* penalties. On Sunday they were in last place at the first mark in each race but clawed their way back to finish those races 2-4-3 to win the regatta. With this win they become the first team to win two ACWS events.

*OCS = on course side, meaning they crossed the starting line before the starting signal. The penalty is to drop two boat lengths behind all the boats that started correctly.

AC World Series Oman

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Land Rover BAR wins America’s Cup World Series Oman

Groupama Team France Denies Oracle the Win

BAR at America's Cup World Series Oman
Land Rover BAR at America’s Cup World Series Oman

Ben Ainslie and his team showed grit and tenacity to win the Oman stop on the America’s Cup World Series. After getting a third and two firsts in Saturday’s races, they had poor starts in all three double points races on Sunday, including two OCS* penalties. On Sunday they were in last place at the first mark in each race but clawed their way back to finish those races 2-4-3 to win the regatta.

*OCS = on course side, meaning they crossed the starting line before the starting signal. The penalty is to drop two boat lengths behind all the boats that started correctly.

Groupama Team France Denies Oracle the Win

Watch the video of incidents between Oracle and Team France at the windward gate in Races 4 and 6 in Oman. In each case Oracle lost one place. Since the Sunday races score double points, finishing one place higher either in race would have given Oracle two more points, equal to BAR.

Oracle Team USA finished two points behind Land Rover BAR. Did this incident at the windward mark in Race 4 cost them the regatta? If they had come in fourth instead of fifth in Race 4, they would have had equal points to BAR and would have won on the count back.

In Race 6 France passed Oracle at the last gate, and Artemis snagged the anchor line on a mark, dropping them to last place in the race and in the regatta. Watch the action in this video.


Oracle finished only two points behind Land Rover BAR. If they had finished fourth instead of fifth in the first race on Sunday, or if they had hung on to the lead in the last race, they would have won the regatta.

America's Cup World Series Oman results
America’s Cup World Series Oman results

Emirates Team New Zealand still leads the overall America’s Cup World Series

Uncharacteristically last in one race and next to last in another, ETNZ still managed to be on the podium for the event and to maintain their overall lead in the America’s Cup World Series. Winning the first race of each day pushed them into third place in Oman. They maintain a six point lead over Oracle in the series.

America's Cup World Series Leaderboard after Oman
America’s Cup World Series Leaderboard after Oman

 

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Artemis Racing, Oracle and SoftBank Team Japan all training on the Great Sound

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Saturday 20 February 2016 – Three AC45X (experimental) boats training in Bermuda. Oracle sold their first test boat, launched a year ago, to SoftBank Team Japan at the end of 2015. Oracle is sailing their second and third test boats. The rules do not allow them to build any more, but they can modify their existing boats as much as they want. Artemis also launched their first test boat a year ago and they now have a second boat. Bermudians and visitors will have plenty of entertainment in 2016 with five AC45X catamarans to watch.  Photo: Sam Greenfield, Oracle Team USA.

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