Blog Page – Page 104

March 28, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Not the usual suspects in Naples for America’s Cup World Series

The start list for the America’s Cup World Series in Naples includes some new lineups:

HS Racing: Hagara (Roman) and Steinacher (Hans Peter) are the Austrian double Olympic gold medalists in the Tornado catamaran. They will sail under a US flag in partnership with Oracle Team USA. I expect to see Red Bull branding on their boat because… they sailed on the Extreme Sailing Series as the Red Bull Sailing Team and because they ran the selection series for independent youth teams for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. Their crew includes trimmer Hervé Cunningham of France, bowman Graeme Spence of Australia and floater David Swete of New Zealand. Graeme sailed with Roman and Hans Peter in the ESS and Hervé has also sailed in the ESS. Dave Swete was “Rookie Sailor of the Race” in the last Volvo Ocean Race.

Artemis Racing will be helmed by Charlie Ekborg, skipper of the Swedish entry in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. Another of Charlie’s youth teammates, Niclas During will be backup. Most of the Artemis regulars will remain in California to get their AC72s ready for the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Mitch Booth will be back helming China Team for the first time since the first ACWS regatta in Cascais in August 2011. Mitch has been one of the most popular TV commentators for the ACWS racing. According to my information, the rest of the crew will be Chinese nationals, probably including Cheng Ying (“Kit”) who has been with the team since the start of the ACWS.

Australian Tom Slingsby will helm Oracle Team USA’s only entry in the Naples regatta, while Jimmy Spithill remains in San Francisco preparing AC72 racing. Tom has won six world championships (five of them in the Laser) and the 2012 gold medal in the Laser.

The rest of the field:

Emirates Team New Zealand brings their “A team” with Dean Barker on the helm and seven other sailors sharing crew duties: Glenn Ashby, Ray Davies, James Dagg, Derek Saward, Adam Beashel, Winston Macfarlane and Jeremy Lomas.
Luna Rossa will have two boats – sure to please the Italian crowds. Chris Draper won the Naples fleet racing last year and returns helming Luna Rossa “Piranha.” Francesco Bruni will helm Luna Rossa “Swordfish.”
Yann Guichard will be at the helm of Energy Team with the usual team around him: Christophe André (Bowman), Devan Le Bihan (foredeck) and the two Arnauds: Psarofaghis as wing trimmer and Jarlegan taking care of the headsails.
Ben Ainslie will helm BAR, sponsored by J.P. Morgan. Ben’s crew of Simon Daubney, Matt Mitchell, Kyle Langford and Simeon Tienpont are all members of Oracle Team USA – Ben sails with OTUSA on the AC72 and will be sparring partner for Jimmy Spithill in preparation for the America’s Cup Match in September.

Download the complete racing schedule.

March 21, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Counting daggerboards

The Protocol for the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013 allows each team a maximum of 10 daggerboards. (Paragraph 29.7) By using a different shape in each hull, a team can test more shapes than if they build daggerboards in matched pairs. You can see the wide range of shapes being tested here.

Making lemonade

On their first day of sailing, Oracle Team USA broke the starboard side daggerboard. (See the video, above.)

To get back on the water quickly, they converted a daggerboard from their 90 foot trimaran that won the America’s Cup in 2010. The good news: they can change the shape of the winglet (light gray in the photo below) without needing to count the change as a new board – the Protocol allows up to 30% of the mass of a board to be changed.

Daggerboard repair for Oracle’s AC72. Image OTUSA video

How many does that make?

As of 21 March 2013, Oracle Team USA has 4 daggerboards (see them here) and can build 6 more:

Original port board – straight with winglet
Original starboard board – straight with winglet (broken)
Replacement starboard board “scavenged” from 2010 trimaran, now on its second winglet shape
Curved port board with winglet

March 20, 2013 By Jack Griffin

AC72 design – control systems on Oracle Team USA

Lots to control, very few crew

Trim the jib. Adjust the wing camber and twist. Trim the wing in and out. Raise and lower the daggerboards and adjust their angle of attack. To win the America’s Cup will require clever control systems. Everyone in the crew multitasks – tactician John Kostecki and Ben Ainslie are also grinders.

AC72-design-OTUSA-buttons00 — OTUSA AC72 – What do those buttons on the wheel control?

AC72 development process

When Oracle Team USA re-launched “USA 17” after the capsize, they changed from tiller to wheel steering. At first the wheel was only for steering (look here) but now they have added control buttons. At first just taped on, now they have become permanent. What do they control? Who controls the daggerboard angle of attack?

AC72-design-OTUSA-buttons01 — Control buttons for the helmsman and wrist computers for wing trimmer and tactician on AC72

Crew positions

To reduce aerodynamic drag, OTUSA’s AC 72 design team built four cockpits for the crew, each with a grinding pedestal. Cockpit four also has place for the helmsman and the wing trimmer.

AC72-design-details-OTUSA-controls — Jib trimmer on the trampoline on Oracle Team USA AC72.

Grinders multitask, too

Grinders have controls to shift gears on the pedestals and to change what is being powered by the pedestal they are on – trimming the jib, hoisting the gennaker, raising or lowering the daggerboards. The next photo is a little blurry but it looks like they also have some pushbutton controls…

AC72-design-OTUSA-cockpit-controls01 — Pushbutton controls at AC72 grinder station

We’ve seen this before

America’s Cup 2010 Defender Alinghi 5

For the America’s Cup in 2010, the Alinghi 5 catamaran had pushbutton controls in the cockpits. But there were no grinders – power for the hydraulics came from a modified snowmobile engine!

Alinghi5-cockpit-controlsClose — A gasoline engine powered the hydraulics for Alinghi 5 in the 2010 America’s Cup defense.

March 19, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Foils and foiling – lots of photos!

Oracle Team USA’s AC72 is now foiling fast!

I’ve just added a major new section to the AC72 Design pages of the site. Foiling is such a hot topic and the AC72 design teams may win or lose the America’s Cup with their foil shapes and control systems. Whether you want a quick overview or a deep dive, there is plenty to look at on these new pages – foil shapes, foil control systems and foil design evolution.

By the way, I predict that ergonomics is the sleeper AC72 design factor. Foiling is fast. AC72 foil design is tricky, but there is so much work and so few crew that the America’s Cup will be won or lost on crew choreography and execution, which depend on the ergonomics of the boat. More on that in the future…

March 12, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Spithill interview from Sail-World part 1

Oracle Team USA on San Francisco Bay in AC72 catamaran preparing for America’s Cup 2013. Photo Guislain Grenier

Great interview with Jimmy Spithill – talking about changes to Oracle Team USA boat 1 and why he says Emirates Team New Zealand must do more than sail a lot of testing days. Read part 1 here.