Jack Griffin – Page 82

November 27, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Iain Murray to Lead Team Australia in 35th America’s Cup

Iain Murray, who has competed in the America’s Cup three times during his decorated sailing career, has been named the Chief Executive Officer of Team Australia, the Hamilton Island Yacht Club (HIYC) challenge for the 35th America’s Cup.

Bob Oatley, who filed the challenge on behalf of HIYC to become Challenger of Record shortly after ORACLE TEAM USA won the 34th America’s Cup in September, said Murray was the only man for the job.

“Iain knows what it takes to win an America’s Cup, having competed in three Cup’s over the years including Australia’s victorious 1983 win. We’ve had the great pleasure of being able to work closely with him over the last three decades, and have found him to be a consummate professional and also now a dear friend. I have a huge amount of respect for him, and we’re overjoyed to be able to officially announce his appointment as leader of our great challenge.”

“I have long been an avid supporter and ally of Bob Oatley,” Murray said. “When I received the invitation to lead Australia back into the America’s Cup for the first time since 2000 on behalf of their Hamilton Island Yacht Club, there was only ever going to be one answer.”

Murray held the role of Regatta Director for the 34th America’s Cup. Now, he is responsible for building a top Australian team and, as Challenger of Record, for working on the rules of the next event with the defender.

“This is good news for the Australian challenge,” said Russell Coutts, the CEO of Oracle Team USA, the current defender of the America’s Cup. “In hiring Iain Murray, the Oatleys have a man of great ability and character to lead their team. We look forward to working with Iain and the Oatleys in developing the rules and format for the 35th America’s Cup.”

With over forty-five years of sailing experience, Murray has competed in three America’s Cups (1983, 1987, 1992). He is a champion 18ft Skiff skipper with a record six consecutive world titles under his belt from 1977 to 1982 and has represented Australia in the Olympic Games. He has also been a regular on the Oatley’s Wild Oats for the famed Sydney-Hobart race, racking up six line honors wins as well as the race record.

November 26, 2013 By Jack Griffin

35th America’s Cup in San Francisco? in 2017?

Latest information about the next America’s Cup

I’ll be updating this article as news develops.

Teams

Defender: Golden Gate YC / Oracle Team USA: has re-signed strategist Tom Slingsby.
Challenger of Record: Hamilton Island YC (Australia) has not yet identified a team to represent them.
Team New Zealand: has received government support to retain key team members.
Artemis Racing – Iain Percy is Team Manager. Owner Torbjorn Tornqvist wants to dominate the America’s Cup.
Luna Rossa – is setting up their base in Sardinia
Ben Ainslie Racing Team – Ben Ainslie has been looking for wealthy underwriters and commercial sponsors.

November 25, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Video of Oracle Team USA tacking the AC72 faster

Faster tacks were key to Oracle Team USA’s comeback in the 2013 America’s Cup

Watch this video to see how Team USA improved their tacking to come back from 1-8 down and beat Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup 9-8.

November 25, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Foil control system on Oracle’s AC72

AC72 foil control secrets

Some people have questioned whether Oracle Team USA had a secret (and illegal) foil control system in their AC72 that helped them defend the America’s Cup.

OTUSA has released drawings and photos of their system, which used a simple “mechanical feedback” loop to allow precise control of the daggerboard rake. Helmsman Jimmy Spithill had buttons on the wheel to rake the daggerboard fore and aft in precise increments of 0.5° giving him better control over lift for hydrofoiling.

OTUSA designers Dimitri Despierres (mechanical systems) and Eduardo Aldaz Carroll (electronic systems) began work in late June 2013 to help the team gybe better. The goal was to reduce distance lost in a gybe from 150 meters to 30 meters. To do this the engineers needed to deal with the problem that board movement varied depending on hydraulic pressure, making it impossible to control lift. What they needed was a way to move the board a fixed amount independent of the pressure and drag load on the board. Within a month, mechanical engineer Alex Davis developed a test bench with a servo control, hydraulic valve and hydraulic ram to simulate movement of the daggerboard box (see photo below).

Once the test bed system worked, the system was tested on board. Accuracy was fine, but it reacted too slowly. Mechanical engineer Neil Wilkinson and hydraulics specialist Rolf Engelberts improved the system to improve response speed and make everything more reliable and robust.

AC72 daggerboard controls on OTUSA Boat 1

The hydraulic ram for rake is not visible in the photo below, but you can see the rams for board cant, as well as the daggerboard cage and daggerboard box. The box moves within the cage, which is fixed in the hull.

Rendering of AC72 daggerboard cage below. The cage is fixed in the hull. The daggerboard box moves fore / aft (rake) within the daggerboard cage. The daggerboard cage moves inboard / outboard (cant) within the hull.

Controversy and protest by Team New Zealand

OTUSA wanted to make sure their system complied with the AC72 Class Rule. They filed a “Public Inquiry” to the Measurement Committee and got approval on 8 August 2013 – only a month before the America’s Cup Match was to begin. Team New Zealand then tried to have OTUSA’s system ruled illegal but the Measurement Committee stood by their initial decision and the International Jury ruled that New Zealand’s protest was made too late, but would not have succeeded even if it had been filed on time. The marked up schematic below was part of Team New Zealand’s submission. OTUSA eliminated the spring labeled “Component X” making the TNZ protest moot.

November 25, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Oracle Team USA’s daggerboard control system

In July, OTUSA was not able to do foiling gybes as consistently as Team New Zealand. They were losing about 150 meters on their “good” gybes, and they felt they needed to get that down to about 30 meters. By early August, their engineers had developed a new foil control system that allowed them to gybe smoothly.

Using a “mechanical feedback loop” helmsman Jimmy Spithill was able to change the angle of the daggerboards in increments of 0.5° giving dramatically more stable foiling.

Lots more details and marked up photos and diagrams here.

Mounting the hydraulic valve on the movable daggerboard box, and the servo that controlled it on the fixed part of the boat allowed the helmsman to adjust the boards very precisely. More info here.

Each press on the buttons changed the daggerboard rake by 0.5° – precise control for stable hydrofoiling.