Cup Experience

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Another 2013 Youth AC Sailor Moves Up: Oracle’s Cooper Dressler

In 2013 Cooper Dressler raced with the local San Francisco team “Youth American Sailing Force” in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. He then got a low level job with Oracle Team USA’s shore crew. His work ethic got noticed and he was asked to join the sailing team. Thanks to CNN for this video.

Low Budget Gym for San Francisco Youth AC Team in 2013
The Oracle gym in Bermuda is a bit different from the youth team’s gym in San Francisco… At 2:00 into the video we see their capsize training – also a bit different. Cooper and his teammates share their training routine in this video.

(Very popular with female readers…)

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Building the AC Class Race Yachts for 2017

Boatbuilding crews are hard at work building the AC Class race boats (often called AC50). The hulls are built in three pieces. The lower section has most of the structure, including the cockpit floor and the reinforcement for the daggerboard cage. The upper section has cutouts for the crew cockpits. The 2.7 meter long bow section unbolts so the hull can fit in a 40 foot container. The skin of that bow section is the only part of the yacht required to be built in the country of the yacht club it represents. Oracle and Team Japan are having their boats built at Core Builders in New Zealand. Team New Zealand is also building their boat in New Zealand, at Cooksons. Artemis Racing, Land Rover BAR and Groupama Team France are all building their boats in their home countries, using tooling furnished by Core Builders.

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Upper half of an AC Class hull – the “deck.” It will be joined with the lower hull section and the bow section will bolt on. Thanks to Richard Gladwell of Sail-World for the photograph. Richard has many more photos and lots of detail in two articles, here and here.

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3 Bermuda-based Teams Race Their Test Boats

Thanks to Pamela for sharing in the Cup Experience Facebook Group the news about Oracle Team USA, Artemis Racing and SoftBank Team Japan racing their experimental boats in Bermuda. She reports that Oracle won six of seven races over two days. A Bermudian sailor I know was on the water watching on Friday. His comments: The race area looks SMALL! Artemis raced both their boats; Boat 1 had the old modified AC45 wing. Artemis’s Boat 2, Oracle and Team Japan all had AC Class wings. The boats with newer wings were noticeably faster.

Oracle pulled off a foiling tack in about 9-12 knots of breeze. In about 9 knots in the first race Oracle and Team Japan were both foiling upwind; neither Artemis boat was. When the breeze was up all four boats were foiling upwind.

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Four AC45x experimental boats raced on the Great Sound last week – two Artemis boats and one each from Oracle and Team Japan. Dockyard, home of the 2017 America’s Cup Village, is in the distance.

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“Foil Fest” in Bermuda with AC45X Racing

Oracle Team USA, SoftBank Team Japan and Artemis Racing lined up for three straightline speed runs at ACBDA’s Foil Fest on Saturday.

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Look at the trailing edge of each wing. Japan and Oracle have their AC Class wings but Artemis used an AC45 wing that was modified for their test boat. The trailing edge of the AC Class wings has a smooth, rounded shape.unnamed11

Look closer and you can see the angle in the trailing edge where the lowest segment of the flap meets the middle segment. Look closely at the hull and you see only one grinding pedestal. This is Artemis’s “Turbo 1” boat. A little bit of cat and mouse? Or maybe boat 2 is undergoing modifications?unnamed21

MC Glenn Jones and Premier Michael Dunkley helped the enthusiastic crowd enjoy the show.unnamed31

Visitors got a look inside the team bases. Oracle has test systems in their wing shed so they can test and calibrate the wing controls for camber and twist. Look closely at the wing – you can see more camber between the leading element and the flap at the far end of the shed, and almost no camber at the top of the wing, letting us see the twist.Thanks to BERNEWS for the video and photos. Many more photos here.

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Kiwi Surprise: New aC45X Test Boat Launched

Emirates Team New Zealand launched their AC45X experimental test boat in Auckland last week. The New Zealanders have been very quiet, with little news of any substance coming out of their camp. In the last campaign some members of the team leadership felt they tipped their hand too early, showing off foiling in their AC72. They kept this boat a secret until the launch, and even then, they kept some secrets. Look closely at the photos. What’s missing?

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Team New Zealand launched their AC45X test boat with a new graphic design.

The wing is an AC Class wing. You can tell by the smooth curve of the trailing edge.

Did you notice that there are no daggerboards fitted? I guess they want to keep those hidden a while longer.

Like Land Rover BAR, ETNZ has hung the rudders off an extension. The hulls of the experimental boats are 45 feet long, five feet less than the AC Class race boats. The extensions make the distance between the daggerboards and the rudders closer to the geometry of the AC Class yachts.

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Land Rover BAR rudder mounts ETNZ rudder mounts