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August 6, 2011 By Jack Griffin

AC45 Wingmasts – up close

 

Pull-wing-China-Team-04

Stepping-the-wing-Green-Comm
Stepping the wing Green Comm

The AC45s will stay on their moorings during the Cascais America’s Cup World Series, but I caught these pictures for you before racing began.Green Comm Racing “steps” their AC45 wingmast  in Cascais

The wing sits on this small ball so it can pivot…

Wing-detail-step-GreenComm-2
Wing detail step GreenComm – 2

Mast “step” for AC45. So the wing can pivot…

Pull-wing-China-Team-04-2
Pull wing China Team – 04

That black arm (in the middle of the red and white stripes)  controls “twist” in the top of the wing… (note the wing structure, too)

And here is the control system at the foot of the wing…

Pull-wing-China-Team-07
Pull wing China Team – 07

Foot of the wingmast of AC45

And a closeup…

Pull-wing-China-Team-09
Pull wing China Team – 09

Closeup of AC45 wingmast controls

And sometimes you need to slice out a panel to work on the controls inside the wing… The surgery was a success – Spithill finished first in all 3 races today (but was DSQ in the first race).

Oracle-wing-in-shed-2
Oracle wing in shed – 2

Jimmy Spithill’s wing opened up for minor surgery.

The main controls on the wing are for camber and  twist.  Think of the flaps on an airplane wing – “flaps down” adds camber giving more lift, like for takeoff. (More on camber.) Twist: Imagine holding the ends of a plastic ruler and twisting it. When you twist a wingmast you can reduce the power. Remember that these boats are supposed to race in 3 to 33 knots of wind. Sometimes you need to reduce power…

How do you like this info?  What else would you like to know?  Leave a comment!

 

August 6, 2011 By Jack Griffin

What can you see in Cascais?

 

Cascais-beach-AC45s
Cascais beach & AC45s

What’s happening in Cascais?  Here are a few pics from the day before racing began. The public can get pretty close…  (Click on the pics to see full size)

Greencom-on-hard-rig-out
Greencom on hard rig out
Pull-wing-China-Team-05
Pull wing China Team – 05

And on the water the spectator boats can get close to the action, too.  I’ll post some pictures tomorrow…

 

July 11, 2011 By Jack Griffin

Planning for Cascais: 6-14 August 2011

Are you coming to Cascais?  If you are, let me know and we’ll meet for a drink. Do you need a good price on a hotel?  If you can’t be in Cascais, you’ll be able to follow my reports with the insider view of all the action. And not just the racing… The breeze builds in the afternoon. The teams are allowed to start testing on Tuesday 2 August, so there will be action. I can be entertained just watching the shore crews crane the boats into the water! I’ll try to shoot some videos for you. Any other requests?
The racing schedule and the names of the various components of this event are complicated.  That’s why you need a good guide, like me, to help you figure this stuff out…

First, here’s the port and the race area:

Cascais Cascais

Cascais port and race area

Race Schedule: The news article on the America’s Cup website describes the schedule a bit differently from the the Regatta Notice 2011-27, published by ACRM.  After studying both, here’s my best guess at the schedule:

Racing kicks off Saturday 6 August with three or four fleet races of about 20 minutes each, followed by “time trials” over a 500 meter straightaway. No racing on Monday or Tuesday, but you can bet that the teams will be on the water testing – they need all the time they can get in these boats to learn how to handle them!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday each start with three fleet races.  The top six teams then pair off for match racing – each match is best of three races. At the end of racing Friday, the top two teams go straight through to the semi-finals on Saturday.  The next four teams sail in the quarter-finals on Saturday to determine the other semi-finalists.  Saturday 13 August, we see the quarter finals, semi-finals and finals of the “Cascais AC Match Race Championship.”

Fleet racing on Sunday 14 August: “The AC World Series Championship Cascais”

All teams participate in one fleet race.  The winner will be crowned the fleet racing champion – in other words none of the earlier fleet race results count – a bit like in the “medal race” in Olympic sailing.

<a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/5223607/”>How do you like the event program?</a></p>
<p><span style=”font:9px;”>(<a href=”http://www.polldaddy.com”>polls</a>)</span>

 

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