Artemis Racing – Page 12

March 28, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Near Collision Artemis – Oracle in Bermuda

An amusing but apocryphal story claims that in 1895 there were only two cars in the US state of Ohio, and that they collided. Well, on Bermuda’s Great Sound Artemis Racing and Oracle Team USA played out their own version of that story last week, nearly crashing their experimental boats. Watch:

Splashdown – Quick reflexes required

Here’s how Oracle described the incident:

“Artemis Racing, closing in at speed from the left, is on starboard and has rights, so the original call was for ORACLE TEAM USA to heat up – to turn to port (left) – and pass behind Artemis Racing. But then, the Swedish boat came off the foils, nearly stopping. Andrew Campbell, (offside helmsman during the gybe), had to make the call to turn to starboard (right) instead, bringing his boat off the foils in a spectacular splashdown.

Tom Slingsby, the regular helmsman, had just run across the boat and had his hands on the wheel as well. By the time both boats had come to a near stop in the water, just a yard or two apart, Slingsby was on the wheel, and Campbell was on his feet, heading the wing to push it to leeward by hand to help get the boat moving again.”

March 21, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Preparations Continue in Bermuda

The infill work continues in the South Basin at Dockyard. Our Bermuda friend who took this photo reports that work is scheduled to be complete by end of June.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of action on the Great Sound. Loïck Peyron of Artemis Racing posted this photo of four AC45x experimental boats – two from Oracle and one each from Artemis and Team Japan.

Artemis has also been two boat testing on the Great Sound. If you look closely, you can see that their newer boat, Turbo 2, is further from the camera. Turbo 1 has only one grinding pedestal per hull; Turbo 2 has two. Photo courtesy Artemis Racing.

The M32 catamarans were back in Bermuda in March, as we see below, with the two Oracle experimental boats. Photo courtesy of M32 World.

March 14, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Spy vs Spy

Although teams have agreed to keep “a respectable distance” away when taking reconnaissance photos, the rules do not limit how close the teams can approach each other. Still, no one likes to have other teams’ photographers around. In the photo below, SoftBank Team Japan points their telephoto lens at Artemis’s Turbo 2 at the Artemis base.

Land Rover BAR photos courtesy of the team.
Artemis Racing images from CNN’s Mainsail program. See Shirley Robertson’s interview of Iain Percy here.

March 14, 2016 By Jack Griffin

External daggerboard rams

Both Oracle and Land Rover BAR added external rams to their test boats after initial testing. Some people have speculated that they found they needed more leverage, given the loads on the daggerboard bearings. Artemis Racing has built two test boats and both of them manage daggerboard rake without an external ram – clearly a better solution for windage.

Land Rover BAR “T2” on launch day – daggerboard cant ram is inside the hull.

Land Rover BAR “T2” when it relaunched in December. Notice the external ram.

Artemis Racing’s second “Turbo” boat in Bermuda. The daggerboard rake ram is inside the hull.

March 7, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Oracle Capsizes Test Boat in Bermuda

No injuries, minor damage, quick recovery
Look at these photos, then watch the video at the end of this article – the photos will help you better understand the capsize and recovery.

Wednesday 2 March 2016 – I was in Bermuda and had just sat down with Grant Simmer at the Oracle base for an interview. We had barely exchanged pleasnatries when Grant’s phone rang. He answered, stood and walked away. End of interview. Oracle’s test boat had just capsized south of Morgan’s Point, in view of the Artemis Racing base. They had just changed crew and Tom Slingsby took over from Jimmy Spithill. Part way through a full foiling gybe, as Slingsby was crossing to take the wheel from Rome Kirby, the boat blew over sideways, slowly. This was not a more violent pitchpole.

Rome Kirby had climbed to the high side of the hull from the aft cockpit. “TJ” – wing trimmer Tom Johnson ducked down in his cockpit and held on. In the photo below, you can see TJ’s helmet just forward of the wheel, and Rome’s helmet just aft.

To right their capsized AC45 in Gothenburg, Artemis Racing used a technique suggested by Loïck Peyron, and Oracle used the same technique here. Instead of pulling the boat up sideways, the chase boat tows it forward on its side. the crew trims the wing down, towards the hull that is in the water. The wing then flies the boat upright, just like an airplane taking off. In the photo below notice the wake behind the boat and the wing in a “flaps down” position, like an airplane ready for takeoff.

Now watch the video and listen to Tom Slingsby explain what happened and how he reacted.