Luna Rossa – Page 7

July 2, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Opening Ceremony / first races: July 4, 5, 7 schedule

Here is an overview of the schedule, with links to more detail on the AC website.

July 4: Opening Ceremony at AC Park – Pier 27-29

12:00 Ribbon cutting – AC Park

15:00 Opening Ceremony in AC Pavilion

The Park and exhibits are free. Admission to the Opening Ceremony is $10 with $9 going to the Healthy Ocean Project – a good cause!

The “Flying on Water” exhibit in the AC Park sounds like it should be interesting:

Features include a wind tunnel and an eight-foot section of an AC72 wing sail. A fan activates when you place your hand in the wind tunnel, and you’re able to trim the wing with your hand.

At the projection wall, fans can interact via a track ball with a 14-foot three-dimensional model of an AC72. Rotate the model by rotating the track ball and zoom in on certain sections of the model and factoids pop up.

A hydrofoiling experiment allows fans to press down on a mini daggerboard, which activates a projection of an AC72. The catamaran starts to gybe when you push on the daggerboard; lift it up and the boat starts to fly.

See the full 34th America’s Cup Opening Day program.

July 5: Boat Parade and AC72 Speed Trials

11:00 Boat Parade passes AC Park at Pier 27-29

The AC7s will be towed by their tenders in the boat parade.

12:15 AC72 Speed Trials, off Marina Green.

Watch the trial on big screens at Marina Green and in AC Park.

13:15 end of Speed Trials, AC72’s return to moorings at AC Park

14:00 Dock in show with sailors, at AC Park

See the AC website article about the events on July 5.

July 7: First race of the Louis Vuitton Cup round robin

Emirates Team New Zealand is scheduled to race Luna Rossa on Sunday 7 July, at 12:15.
That race may not happen, though, since Luna Rossa has said they do not want to race before the International Jury decides on the protest about changes to the design rule for the AC72. See the article below for details.

May 17, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Luna Rossa’s AC72 in California

While the safety Review Committee does its work, teams continue with their preparations for racing, scheduled to begin July 5. Luna Rossa has done load testing on their AC72 at their temporary base in Alameda.

In the photo above, we see that they have modified the stern, changed the size and location of the scuppers (drain holes) and lowered the grinding pedestals. I noted in an earlier article that Emirates Team New Zealand also lowered the grinding pedestals in their boat. Luna Rossa also has a new look – the lower half of the hull is now black. Assuming their dramatic silver finish is some kind of glue on foil, this could be a weight saving move. We saw the fairing on the rear crossbeam in photos from Auckland, but now they have integrated the pod for LiveLine electronics and the guest racer.

In the photo above, we see an S-shaped foil in the starboard hull and a slightly curved foil on the port side.

The “before” photo

Luna Rossa foiling in Auckland, before the modifications. On this day they had a straight board in the starboard hull. You can see the original location of the scuppers, the old stern shape and the rear crossbeam before the fairing was added. That all silver finish was very stylish, too!

April 29, 2013 By Jack Griffin

Big crash, confusing penalties in Naples

The final AC World Series event in Naples saw Francesco Bruni and Luna Rossa crash into Emirates Team New Zealand in their match race. Racing sailors would find the penalties confusing – the boat on starboard tack (ETNZ) was penalized and it took them most of the next leg to pay off their penalty. By that time they were 75m behind with only 300m to the final turning mark.

What happened? The Racing Rules of Sailing, America’s Cup Edition, have a very different rule about mark roundings. I explain this in the Video Briefing Room on the website – look at the video “Who can cut inside?” If you’re a rules geek like me, you can download the RRS AC Edition in the AC Guide section of the website.

What should have happened:

(Thanks to Jos Spijkerman for the diagram. Learn more about the rules at his website.)

What did happen:

ETNZ was penalized – a “boat on boat” penalty in a match race. Their penalty was to let Luna Rossa get two boat lengths ahead – precisely measured by the LiveLine system. But they compounded their penalty by gybing, which resulted in an additional two boat length penalty. See a complete sequence of images and more details here.

April 17, 2013 By Jack Griffin

AC72 design – ergonomics – grinding stations

Is ergonomics the sleeper issue in AC72 design?

Three AC72 designs. Three ergonomic approaches for layout and crew choreography. The 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco may be decided by crew work – the short, tight courses will mean a lot of maneuvers. We will look at crew choreography in another article; here we’ll just show the boat layouts.

Oracle Team USA

Consistent with their attention to aerodynamics, OTUSA has their grinders face fore and aft, standing in cockpits, to reduce windage. There are four grinding pedestals on each hull. One of the grinding stations is aft of the helm. Advantage: less aero drag. Disadvantage: harder for the crew to get in and out of the cockpits.

Artemis Racing

Unlike the other three teams, Artemis does not have four grinding pedestals on each hull – only two. Their boat has a central cockpit with two more pedestals and six winches. Advantage: saves the weight of two pedestals on the boat. Disadvantage: reduces righting moment when the crew are not on the windward hull.

Update: Artemis removed their center cockpit. Photos and story here.

Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand

Luna Rossa bought their design from ETNZ (yes, this is legal under the rules), so both AC72 designs have the same layout, with four grinding pedestals on each hull, facing side to side in a very open layout with no cockpits. All four pedestals are forward of the helmsman. Advantages: The open layout makes it easy for the crew to move from one hull to the other during maneuvers. Disadvantage: more aero drag from crew standing sideways.

Luna Rossa will not build a second AC72 but will continue to develop their boat. ETNZ has evolved their AC72 design and built second boat, which includes changes to reduce aero drag.

Notice how they have lowered the grinding pedestals in boat two. Advantage: less aero drag when the grinders kneel. Disadvantage: less efficient grinding position.

April 16, 2012 By Jack Griffin

First ACWS races with wing extension

Wing extensions used in a race for the first time in Sunday’s Naples fleet race.

AC45-fleet-wing-ext-Naples — AC45 fleet wing ext Naples

AC45 fleet with wing extension – Naples, 15 April 2012

The extensions add four meters of height and 8.7 square meters of “sail” area – up high where it can provide the most power. The teams have sailed in up to 20 knots of wind with the extensions, with no problems. Expect to see the extensions used in Venice and Newport, where light air is likely.

http://youtu.be/PgLDoS9zqVI?hd=1&t=22m45s

AC45 spec sheet

AC45 catamaran data sheet – with wing extension

The wing extension weighs 30 kg and attaches with eight bolts in about 30 minutes, once the wing is on its trolleys, in the shop.