Emirates Team New Zealand

April 12, 2017 By Jack Griffin

Emirates Team New Zealand America’s Cup Class Yacht Arrives in Bermuda

09/4/17- Emirates Team New Zealand load their America's Cup Class race boat into an Emirates Sky Cargo 747 at Auckland International Airport to fly to Bermuda for the 35th America's Cup — ETNZ loading America’s Cup Class yacht into 747 in Auckland to fly to Bermuda for the 35th America’s Cup

Loading the 747

The air freight arrival of the team’s America’s Cup Class foiling catamaran coincided with the start of a three-day practice racing window for the teams involved in the 35th America’s Cup. The Kiwis hope that their boat will be reassembled before the next practice racing session, that runs from April 24-28.

The team’s base in Dockyard was ready for the precious cargo of… two hulls, the crossbeams, the pod and fairings for their America’s Cup Class yacht. Also on board the 747: daggerboards, two wing sails, a chase boat, electronic and hydraulic systems – all told around 42 tons. Loading and unloading took over three hours at each end of the trip.

February 18, 2017 By Jack Griffin

Kiwi Surprises – America’s Cup Class Race Yacht with Bike Grinders and More!

Emirates Team New Zealand took the America’s Cup world by surprise when they launched their race boat on Valentine’s Day with bicycle grinding stations.

ETNZ's America's Cup Class yacht with bicycle grinders - Richard Gladwell — ETNZ’s America’s Cup Class yacht with bicycle grinders. Photo: Hamish Hooper

Why is wing trimmer Glenn Ashby looking at the wing? You can see him doing the same thing in the videos. In 2009, Oracle Racing’s wing designer Scott Ferguson had to convince the sailors to trim by the numbers, not the shape of the wing. He made his point by asking them if they had ever seen a pilot looking out the window to adjust the flaps on an airplane. So what is Glenn looking at?

ETNZ’s design coordinator Dan Bernasconi explains how they developed their design. Video includes a clip showing tests they did between arm and leg grinding.

Back to 1851?

If she is right, then we are all wrong.

All the other teams evaluated using bicycle grinding stations but rejected the idea. The others decided that the improved power output was not worth the problems with crew mobility. It’s harder to get off and on bike grinders during manoeuvres. In 1851, Lord Uxbridge, 1st Marquess of Anglesey and a founding member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, on seeing “America’s” design, remarked, “If she is right, then we are all wrong.” We may be hearing those words again in 2017!

Bicycle grinders have been tried before in the America’s Cup. In 1977, Pelle Petterson’s 12 meter “Sverige” had bicycle grinding stations below deck. They did not work out well, since the crew had a wider range of tasks than today’s America’s Cup Class grinders. And offshore single-handed sailors have used bicycle grinders, especially when shaking out a reef in the mainsail.

America's Cup skipper Franck Cammas using bicycle grinder on offshsore singlehanded multihull. — America’s Cup skipper Franck Cammas using bicycle grinder offshore.

More Surprises

The bicycle grinders are not the only surprise. We’ll have to investigate how Glenn Ashby trims the wing, but there is no winch on the deck.

America's Cup Class yacht - no wing trim winch. — America’s Cup Class yacht – no wing trim winch. Photo: Richard Gladwell

And, this is a pretty extreme shape for the daggerboard wing. Richard Gladwell reported that the Kiwis were foiling smoothly in as little as four knots of wind.

Inverted gull wing board on NZL's America's Cup Class yacht. — Inverted gull wing board on NZL’s America’s Cup Class yacht.

Inverted gull wing — Similar to wing shape on WWII Junkers Ju-87 Stuka diver bomber.

More about aircraft wing shapes and configurations in a good Wikipedia article here.

February 6, 2017 By Jack Griffin

Rumors from Auckland

Emirates Team New Zealand had previously said they would launch their race boat in late January and sail in Auckland during February before shipping the boat to Bermuda. That way their 28 day “blackout period” would be spent disassembling, shipping and re-assembling the boat. We have no news of the boat being launched yet. But we have heard that they were sailing very well in December, in their AC45X test boat. The rumor is that they laid out an AC race course and could sail an entire race without dropping off their foils – tacking upwind as well as downwind. We may get some more news when they launch in Auckland (soon?) and, of course, when they first sail on the Great Sound in late March.

February 6, 2017 By Jack Griffin

AC Birthdays

Ben Ainslie turned 40 yesterday, 5 February. He shares the date with Groupama Team France’s Thomas Le Breton who turned 35. On New Year’s day, ETNZ’s Peter Burling celebrated his 26th birthday. Speaking of birthdays and sailors’ ages…

No Sport for Old Men

Foiling multihulls are no place for old men. Or so the thinking goes. At age 54, Argentine Santiago Lange won the gold medal in the new Nacra 17 mixed multihull event in Rio. Nine months earlier he had a lung removed after being diagnosed with cancer. The Nacra will be upgraded to foil for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Last week at a conference in Sweden, Santi revealed that he will be campaigning for 2020. He’ll be 58 by then…

January 23, 2017 By Jack Griffin

Practice Racing in Bermuda

AC Race Management Regatta Director Iain Murray is running two weeks of practice racing in Bermuda, with teams sailing their AC45X test boats. This is the third time ACRM has run training races in Bermuda. All teams were invited, but neither Groupama Team France nor Emirates Team New Zealand is participating. Not only have the French and the Kiwis not yet arrived in Bermuda, they no longer have test boats – they’ve been disassembled for parts for those teams’ AC Class race yachts.

Our contacts in Bermuda say that Artemis and Team Japan seem to be going especially well, but not to read too much into that.

The umpire is making calls on the water, so there is plenty of shouting, especially in the pre-starts. The LiveLine system requires helicopters and a complete technical team to operate it – a bit impractical for practice races.

This is not just for the sailors – it’s a rehearsal for the shore crews as well. There is some flexibility in the work schedule on training days, but on race day the boat needs to be at the starting area on time. The designers will also be getting feedback on how their daggerboard designs are performing. Control systems ergonomics and hydraulics will also get thoroughly tested in race conditions.