Many America's Cup fans say this is their best source of information.
See the Umpire Replay System and TV video of this mark rounding incident between Spithill and Coutts in Plymouth. Watch the TV, then go into the umpire booth to see their graphic replay display. Built on the Liveline technology.America’s Cup Umpire Replay Display
Let’s not dumb it down!
Tell me how you liked this briefing. Is it approachable for newbies? or only for racing sailors?
This comment below was made about the Volvo Ocean Race but it applies to the America’s Cup as well. AC72 designs need to trade off strength and weight against lightness and speed. China Team fractured their AC45 hull in a tumbling capsize in Plymouth. The AC45s have all been reinforced since then.China Team cracked their hull in a tumbling capsize in Plymouth
* From Butch Dalrymple-Smith: Whenever there is carnage in a racing fleet there is pressure to create scantling rules to ensure the boats get built stronger. This knee-jerk reaction is inappropriate, particularly in the case of the Volvo Race.
Every designer knows the old adage: “To finish first, first you have to finish”, and the next generation of Volvo 70’s will undoubtedly be better engineered than this one. Engineers learn much more from failures than from successes. Remember all those keels that gave trouble last time? This time the keels seem to be working okay. Next time at least the hulls will be strong enough, maybe the rigs too.
There are bound to be occasional failures in grand prix racing boats. There are bound to be failures in any sport where the competitors sometimes have to slow down to avoid breakage and they occasionally get it wrong. But structural failure in racing boats seldom causes injury except to performance.
The worst outcome would be a set of scantling rules which encourage designers to design to the rule instead of designing to the loads. Innovation would be killed. Scantling standards developed by a committee would probably make the boats so bulletproof that they would never have to slow down, but then they would not be going that fast anyway.
Scantling rules for raceboats are only appropriate where there’s a second use for the boats after racing or where the races are short and a fragile boat can gamble on getting calm conditions. When sailing round the world you KNOW you’ll get horrendous weather somewhere along the track. Every year we hear the usual hyperboles “mountainous waves”, “boat breaking conditions”, as if they are exceptional. But they are not, and they concentrate the designer’s minds much more effectively than any set of construction rules.
Do you understand this surprising rule? RRSAC Rule 18 – Mark Room
The ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing – America’s Cup Edition contains this surprise: When the first yacht reaches the zone, if yachts are overlapped or bowsprit overlapped, the outside yacht at that moment shall thereafter give the inside yacht mark-room.
Let me show you the surprising results of that rule.
Course layout diagrams from ACRM, Sailing Instructions.
For the boat diagrams, thanks to Jos Spijkerman, International Judge and International Umpire. Learn more about the rules at his site, Look to Windward.
America’s Cup World Series Leaderboard after Naples
Updated: 2-April-2012. Important detail about the race schedule. Diagrams of ACWS Village in Naples.
The thin blue line shows the “restricted access area.” I’ve highlighted in orange the best place to watch the shore crews assembling the wings and boats. The public areas are marked in red, including the Via Francesco Caracciolo, closed to vehicles. This should be the best place to watch the racing from shore, assuming the wind allows John Craig and Harold Bennett to set the course here.
Naples ACWS Village jjga
Race Schedule & Scoring – ACWS Naples – 11-15 April 2012
It’s not just the race schedule and scoring that change from the ACWS events in Cascais, Plymouth and San Diego – the course layouts have an important change, too – no more windward gate. The windward mark with port roundings will make for interesting tactics, especially in the match races. Match racing usually has starboard roundings. With the “first boat to the zone has rights” rule used in the ACWS it will be interesting to see how the teams deal with these courses.
Notice that the “2” and “3” in the course labels can be interpreted as the number of laps.
From the Sailing Instructions:
Course L2 is: Start, Mid Course Mark to port, Leeward Gate, Windward Mark to port, Leeward Gate,
Windward Mark to port, Leeward Mark to starboard, Finish.
Course L3 is: Start, Mid Course Mark to port, Leeward Gate, Windward Mark to port, Leeward Gate,
Windward Mark to port, Leeward Gate, Windward Mark to port, Leeward Mark to starboard, Finish.
Naples course L2 L3
Course M2 is: Start, Mid Course Mark to port, Leeward Gate, Windward Mark to port, Leeward Gate,
Windward Mark to port, Mid Course Mark to port, Finish.
Course M3 is: Start, Mid Course Mark to port, Leeward Gate, Windward Mark to port, Leeward Gate,
Windward Mark to port, Leeward Gate, Windward Mark to port, Mid Course Mark to port, Finish.
Naples courses M2 M3
Two new AC45s will join the fleet: Luna Rossa “Swordfish” and Luna Rossa “Piranha.”
Luna Rossa AC45 in Auckland
Luna Rossa AC45 in Auckland
Who can explain the distortion below the tail of this F/A-18 doing a low level pass over SF Bay during Fleet Week 2007?
(Click the photo for enlargement.)
I still have a supply of Shosholoza fleece blankets from The African Queen. Best answers win one of these priceless souvenirs. Multiple winners possible.
Add your explanations to the comments below. Enter early and enter often. Contest closes 10 April 2011, noon zulu time.
All photos in this post by Bernard Zee. Prints available here.
And, just for fun, a few more photos of Fleet Week in SF. Be there for the ACWS regatta 4-7 October 2012!
And, finally, not the Blue Angels. The Red Baron perhaps? Coming in to strafe the competition?
Ear protection mandatory for AC45 sailors in October?
It looks like AC45 sailors will need ear protection during the America’s Cup World Series event in San Francisco October 4-7, 2012. Those dates overlap Fleet Week and the Blue Angels will be in town. Low level fly-bys look like they will be on the agenda, judging by this cool photo taken by the Bay Area’s Bernard Zee.
From the calendar you can see that the idea of racing in New York City in August has been dropped. It would have been great (assuming a little wind – not a sure thing in NYC in August). But you won’t have to twist my arm to make two trips to SF in 2012!
Naples, Italy – April 11-15, 2012
Venice, Italy – May 12-20, 2012
Newport, USA – June 23 – July 1, 2012
San Francisco – August 23-26, 2012
San Francisco – October 4.7, 2012 (Fleet Week)
Venice, Italy – April 18-21, 2013
Naples, Italy – May 16-19, 2013
Here is an excellent article about the layoffs at ACEA. Of course that was bad news, especially for those laid off. But the America’s Cup in San Francisco will still be a great event. Excerpt:
America’s Cup & Golden Gate Bridge
This may be a downsize from the original extravaganza, but it will still be an awesome event in the perfect spot. I continue to think that even people who don’t know a spinnaker from an anchor will find these races unexpectedly compelling. It will be a showcase for the city and the bay, and I will be extremely surprised if it isn’t a killer event.
There will be inevitable doomsayers as the expectations are downsized, but other than learning a good lesson about promising too much too soon, I don’t see this as a problem.
Read the full article in SF Chronicle
No one asked me what I would do to help market AC34, and I don’t have a complete set of solutions, but here is one line of action:
1. Focus on my belief that the AC has something like the attributes of “passion brands,” e.g. Apple, Harley Davidson, Ducati, Nikon, Swan…
2. Identify and reach out to the most enthusiastic members of the current “tribe” – especially sailors and yacht clubs and also people in SF who are enthusiastic about the event.
3. Communicate to the tribe via many channels: website, YouTube, newsletters and face to face “briefings.”
4. Let the most engaged members of the tribe self-identify and then provide them with “content” to spread the word. At the same time, thank and encourage them with clothing, flags and special rewards.
5. Build on this strong base to expand the audience and welcome newcomers to the tribe.
That’s off the top of my head. I’ll prepare something a bit more thorough soon. In the meantime, for fun, a couple of pics I use in the seminar I teach on Passion Brands…
You know you have a passion brand if… people have tattoos of your logo,
And if you have a museum…
By the way, we do have a museum, with the America’s Cup Hall of Fame…
In Bristol, RI, near the America’s Cup World Series in Newport in June 2012
herreshoff Marine Museum & America’s Cup Hall of Fame – Bristol, Rhode Island
A passion brand probably has a store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan…
The most engaged members of the tribe can help your brand go viral…
Did you ever wonder why I call this site Cup Experience?
You and I are part of the tribe. What can we be doing to help this event that we enjoy so much? Comments, please!
Harley website
Reliance_Crossing_Finish_Line
I’m a traditionalist. My favorite piece of AC tradition: the 12th America’s Cup defense.
RELIANCE: largest yacht built for America’s Cup competition
Length of Hull: 149′
LWL: 89′ 6″
LOA: 201′ 9″ (from end of bowsprit to end of main boom. BTW, main boom was 115′ long)
Topmast height: 218′ (USA17 wing 223′)
Sail area: 16,160 sq ft
Mainsheet: 800′ tapered 4″ diameter manila rope
Rigging: 3.9 miles (about the length of a leg in AC32)
Bulb keel: 102 tons
Crew: 64 (58 Scandinavian fishermen + 6 afterguard, including N.G. Herreshoff & Charlie Barr, helm
Designed by N.G. Herreshoff, assisted by 4 draftsmen in preparing the drawings.
N.G. Herreshoff carved the model for RELIANCE in two evenings working at home.
Timeline: 6 months to design & build + 4 months racing trials before the Match.
7 Oct 1902: Challenge received from Royal Ulster YC (Sir Thomas Lipton built Shamrock III)
12 Apr 1903: Reliance launched. BTW, Herreshoff helmed her the first time she sailed and buried the leeward rail.
20 Aug 1903: First race of the 12th America’s Cup defense.
A few details, examples of Herreshoff’s technical skill:
– Reliance’s hollow rudder filled with water from a hole in the bottom to reduce lee helm. A foot pump on deck could force air in and the water out to change helm feel.
– Two speed winches below decks, with worm gears, disc clutches and ball bearings, wound wire sheets directly on drums, and were self-releasing.
As for the demands on the crew… how would you like to gybe this monster, with that 115′ long boom? The crew bound their fingers with spun yarn to protect them – sort of the way you would whip the end of a rope.
USA17 9 flap wing
9 flap wing on USA 17 trimaran
From a January 2010 article on the website of software maker CD-adapco:
On February 8th 2010, in the picturesque Spanish port of Valencia, BMW ORACLE Racing’s skipper Russell Coutts will take the helm of one of the most technologically advanced – and hopefully fastest – boats ever built, in a bid to capture the 33rd America’s Cup. The most remarkable feature of the trimaran – named “USA” – is that it will be powered by an enormous wing, rather than a conventional sail.
As Mike Drummond, BMW Oracle’s Racing Design Director explains: “A wing of this scale has never been built for a boat. In terms of size, it dwarfs those on modern aircraft. Towering nearly 190ft (57m) above the deck, it is 80 per cent bigger than a wing on a 747 airplane.”
In an exclusive interview (with CD-adapco’s Anthony Massobrio) BMW Oracle’s CFD Manager Mario Caponnetto explains how STAR-CCM+ was used to optimize the aerodynamic wing design, at the expense of traditional wind tunnel testing.
So how tall was the wing on USA 17? In an
published in January 2010, Mike Drummond, BOR Design Director, said:
“A wing of this scale has never been built for a boat. In terms of size, it dwarfs those on modern aircraft. Towering nearly 190ft (57m) above the deck, it is 80 per cent bigger than a wing on a 747 airplane.”
So, was it 57 m (190 ft), or, as later info said, 68 m (223 ft). I’ll go find out when the top section was added to the wing on USA 17, and I’ll post some photos from the 33rd AC Match in Valencia in February 2010.
Have a look at these pics and give me your answer in a comment!
USA17 8 flap wing
Since we got the first photos of Artemis’s AC72 wing there have been many questions about the wing’s configuration – how many elements? How many slots? (For the basics, see this short video explaining wing stucture and controls here.)
Wing AR 2 slots? jjga
Artemis wingsail: 3 elements. How many slots? Copyright ? Annotations: Jack Griffin 
365 x 260 Artemis Racing
First sail of the Artemis Racing AC72 wing. Valencia, 15 March 2012. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch / Artemis Racing
Let’s compare with the two element wing on USA 17 in race 1 of the 33rd America’s Cup Match against Alinghi 5 in Valencia in February 2010. Look at the dimensions of the leading and trailing elements of Artemis’s wing and USA 17’s. Quite a difference!
USA17 camber-TM jjga
Two element wingsail of USA 17 in race 1, 33rd America’s Cup. Annotations: Jack Griffin
Camber is the angle between the leading and trailing elements. (You knew that, right?) By the way, here’s how camber is controlled on an AC45:
Wing AC45 camber control jjga
AC45 wingsail camber control – Copyright Jack Griffin
It will be interesting to learn about the control systems for Artemis’s wing. Kimball Livingston quoted Artemis CEO Paul Cayard last November as saying the wing would have 38 hydraulic cylinders. True? Or disinformation to throw off the competition?
In the same article, Kimball wrote:
The Artemis approach to efficiency, Cayard says, uses a three-element, two-slot wing. No surprise. Any wing is much more efficient than a mast and soft sail—for many reasons, not the least of which is that mid-leech tension becomes a non-issue—and C Class catamarans long ago demonstrated that three elements, two slots, are faster than two elements, one slot. I expect every AC72 to have a three-element wing.
But that might not be quite right… Here’s a picture of a C Class catamaran’s wing. An aeronautical designer would say it has two elements, one of which has a flap. In aeronautical terminology, the number of elements = number of slots + 1.
595×446-Wing-C-class-detail-3-el-2-slot-jjgb
Wingsail design: C-Class catamaran wing with 2 elements + 1 tab
What are the advantages of two slots?
How will the control systems work on AC72 wings?
Piers 30-32 Renovation Idea
Here’s a diagram showing five team bases on Piers 30-32 for the America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013. These piers would be a much better location for the fans and media than Pier 80 – much closer to the AC Village at Piers 27-29.
Estimated cost? $7-8 million. Much lower than a full restoration of the piers, and a lot better idea than letting them crumble into the Bay!
What do you think of this plan? Members of the media – wouldn’t this make it easier to do interviews? If you know the area, please add your comments – what’s good / bad about this idea?
Under the Protocol for the 34th America’s Cup, the number of sailing days in an AC72 or a surrogate is restricted. But a team can sail as much as they want in yachts that are not catamarans over 40 feet long, unless it is an AC45.
Team New Zealand uses two “SL33” catamarans (less than 40 feet long) and tests wing designs on them.
Artemis has found a more clever (and expensive) solution: they use a 60 feet long trimaran, big enough to test their full-size AC72 wing, which they first installed on 14 March 2012. How much will this help Artemis? Is the sailing performance of the trimaran close enough to a lighter AC72 catamaran? Share your opinion with a comment!
(Annotated photos and more articles on AC72 Design.)
Thanks to Seahorse Magazine for this excerpt from “Clear the Bench” in the April 2012 issue. Get the CupExperience discount for your subscription or renewal.
Let’s talk about … “the boards, or foils, as designers like you and me like to call them. The traditional foils are straight like the ones used in most boats around the world. Lately there has been a big craze for ‘C’-foils. It really started in the singlehanded A-Class cats. Called a C-foil because it is shaped like an elongated C, with a constant curve from top to bottom. C-foils make the water think the boat is lighter than it is by helping lift the leeward hull a little. Bad news is they are not as good at stopping leeway, their true purpose in the first place.
AC72 design includes ideas from Alinghi 5
Alinghi 5 testing S-shaped foils on Lake Geneva
There are lots of other options for boards, the massive Alinghi cat even tried S-foils. With foils it is truly open season. Good news is we don’t have to make a decision now. We can plug in some boards later.
AC72 design – foils – daggerboards – rudders
Here is what they plugged in”on “New Zealand”
Rudders – not too fussed on rudder shapes, I’ve seen all kind of shapes and they all seem to go the same to me. What do you think? After looking at the Volvo boats with twin rudders slanted out 20° I was thinking we should do that, for sure. Find the angle when the windward hull is out of the water at the optimum height and make the leeward rudder vertical for that angle of heel.
I can see your mind ticking over… you’re right! We should do that same thing with the whole hull. Rather than make the hulls vertical we will flare the bottoms out by, say, 6° so that the leeward hull is vertical when we are flying the windward one. Now we are getting somewhere!
I would have thought it was best to set the rudders up so they were perfectly parallel fore and aft. Seems to me the least amount of drag. But this is contrary to current thinking. The experts say it is less drag with them toed in a degree or two. The thinking is you should never be sailing with both in the water at the same time, so no need to be parallel. As the boat makes leeway the least drag when the windward rudder does touch the water is pointed to leeward by about the leeway angle. Maybe one degree is not enough? Make it two.”
Any questions? Any comments? Add them below!
Thanks to Pierre at VSAIL for this photo of the Artemis (non) surrogate yacht (an ORMA 60).
I’ve marked up Pierre’s photo to show that Artemis is testing a wing with six flaps. The very top flap is a “two-element” setup; the lower five flaps are part of a “three-element” setup.
Artemis A72 wing: 6 flaps, 3 elements, but how many slots?
It will be interesting to see what we can learn about the control systems for this wing. More on that in a future article.
JJG
Thanks to Seahorse Magazine for this excerpt from “Clear the Bench” in the April 2012 issue. Get the CupExperience discount for your subscription or renewal.
“How full do we make the bows? In basic terms the finer the front 30 per cent the faster you go. Unfortunately against that is the tendency of fine bows to dig in and submerge, stopping the boat. At that point momentum takes over and you pitchpole. If you have not seen Torvar Mirsky on YouTube executing a perfect end-over-end in China last year, it is worth a look. Let me put it another way. Cycle down a hill at speed. Now lean forward and lock up the front brake. That same free-flight panic as you go over the handlebars is what every cat sailor lives in fear of.
A fine bow looks like the Extreme 40s where a fuller bow is more like the AC45. In terms of fullness, if the X40 is a one and the AC45 is a 10, then where are we going to put our boat? Personally, I am thinking of a seven or eight. The idea of pitchpoling a 72ft cat scares me too much. Besides, you have to finish to win.
By the way, ever wondered why modern catamaran bows look reversed compared to a monohull bow? The longest part is at the bottom and then the stem tapers back as you move up from the water? Wave piercing. That is also why the top is so fine with no ‘deck’ space as such. When it’s well-designed, you lose less energy by going through the wave than by going over it.
Two things good about wave-piercing bows: there is a lot less drag when the bow is under water and the bow does not get pushed up as much after hitting a wave. That means less pitching moment. A-Class boats have used them for years. I am going to incorporate them on our boat. But I should warn you, wavepiercing bows can lead to a water-management problem.
As far as underwater shape goes there seems to be a pretty good consensus here. Modern racing cats tend to be very straight fore and aft with little rocker and flat bottom sections. I am guessing it is about the lower drag at the higher speeds cats sail at. No need to reinvent the wheel on this one, we’ll just copy current thinking when it comes to profile and cross-section shape.
How close did Rodney March (designer of the only cat used in the Olympics) come to getting it right in 1966? The forward sections of the Tornado are close to line-for-line the same as the AC45… but upside down. Strange but true.”
Any questions? Any comments? Add them below!