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