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AC72 USA 17 has 4 pedestals in cockpits in each hull.
USA 17 of Oracle Team USA has tiller steering (replaced later by wheel) and 4 grinding stations in each hull.
Grinding pedestals are in cockpits, to reduce windage. The cockpits turned out to be a very safe place to be when USA 17 capsized on October 16, 2012. It was only the eighth day she had sailed. AC72 design includes layout of crew positions for grinding and wing and sail trimming.
Artemis has a central station for grinders and trimmers.
Artemis has 2 grinding pedestals on each hull and 2 in their central station for a total of 6. USA 17, New Zealand and Luna Rossa each has 4 grinding pedastals on each hull for a total of 8. Crew choreography will be fundamentally different on Artemis.
See more about ergonomics in AC72 designs here.
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Alinghi 5 vs USA 17 First race, 33rd America’s Cup Match, Valencia 2010 In spite of what many people say, this was a traditional America’s Cup Match – two willful tycoons built the biggest, fastest boats possible, for racing over a 40 nautical mile course according the to 1877 Deed of Gift. Larry Ellison represented the Golden Gate Yacht Club with USA 17, a trimaran with a 69 meter high wing sail. USA 17 defeated Alinghi 5, Ernesto Bertarelli’s giant catamaran representing the Société Nautique de Genève, 2-0, off the coast of Valencia Spain.
USA 17 was the only America’s Cup yacht with a mast taller than 1903 Defender Reliance, whose topmast was 62 meters above the water.
As Defender, Golden Gate YC agreed with the original Challenger of Record, Club Nautica di Roma (who subsequently withdrew their challenge and were replace by the Royal Swedish Yacht Club) that the 34th America’s Cup Match would be sailed in 72 foot long wing sailed catamarans on San Francisco Bay in 2013.
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Bits of wrecked USA 17 have been built into a seaplane for Red Bull Flugtag In his book Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzalez talks about the need to keep a sense of humor in serious situations, where your life (or your Defense of the America’s Cup) depends on your ability to survive.
No shortage of this attribute at Oracle Team USA, where Shannon Falcone seems to be leading the effort to build a flying machine from what’s left of USA 17’s wing after their catastrophic capsize and failed righting efforts last month.
Check out the 45 second video and come to McCovey Cove in San Francisco tomorrow for some good fun.
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Why not build a full scale model out of cheap materials and try things like this? Photo: Oracle Team USA
I have to wonder if any of the teams knows how to right an AC72 after a capsize. Here’s what Jimmy Spithill had to say about it, after experiencing Oracle Team USA’s attempts to save their America’s Cup catamaran:
“I’m not sure you’d be able to right one of these boats when they’re on their side.
It doesn’t matter how much horsepower you’ve got, it just seems really tough to try and get the grip to pull them over. All you’re trying to do is actually just get the boat to a safe haven.
And in that case we probably would’ve been best to just try and – whatever it took – just hook up as many chase boats and then just get it straight over to Sausalito and deal with it there.”
Listen, at 27:54 into this video interview: http://tinyurl.com/d5dgn6y
Has anyone thought of building a full scale model out of cheap materials, not to sail, but just to knock it over and try different techniques to right it? Maybe it’s time to give that a go…