Cup Experience

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Artemis Wins in Toulon, Oracle Struggles

(c)Ricardo PintolAll rights reserved

The Côte d’Azur lived up to its name with warm sunshine for the racing just off Toulon’s beaches.

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All teams had their Olympians back for the America’s Cup World Series in Toulon. 2016 Finn gold medalist Giles Scott, tactician on Land Rover BAR, got a podium finish after coming last in the first two races. Rio 49er gold medalist Peter Burling was back on the helm at Emirates Team New Zealand but finished the event next to last, their worst finish in the series. The Kiwis were outdone by Oracle, who finished dead last, with Tom Slingsby on the helm, replacing injured Jimmy Spithill. Not exactly the result Slingsby, the London 2012 Laser gold medalist, was hoping for. London gold and Rio silver 49er medalist Nathan Outteridge came out on top in Toulon, winning the light air regatta, thanks in large part to tactician Iain Percy finding pressure up and down the flukey course on both days. Percy has two Olympic golds and a silver in the Finn and Star. The fates were not kind to the home team. Franck Cammas and Groupama Team France were in second place for the regatta at the end of the first day and at the beginning of the final downwind leg of the regatta. The patchy conditions did them in as the Kiwis slipped past and bumped the French off the podium.

(c)Ricardo PintolAll rights reserved

Bowmen? On an AC45?? Team Japan’s tactician Chris Draper, standing on the bowsprit in the light conditions, looked like the bowman on a big monohull. Artemis Racing’s Iain Percy spent most of the regatta straddling the bowsprit and looking for patches of pressure in the light conditions.

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Less Stability Means More Speed

Ian “Fresh” Burns of Oracle Team USA explains in this Sail Racing Magazine interview how the team trades off stability for speed with their foil design.

Foils with less drag are less stable. Improvements in the control systems can partially overcome this. As the sailors learn how best to handle the boat, they are happy to make the tradeoff to get more speed.

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“A big challenge is how to project/predict where your sailing crew’s abilities are going to be by the Cup. You have to be saying to yourself, well our guys can control this level of stability now, but in a year’s time they will probably be better and able to handle a less stable boat. So you have to be working on a final foil design that is something that, if we built it right now, the guys probably wouldn’t be able to sail.”

Read the full interview here.

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Team Lineups for Toulon – Spithill not Racing

It looks like my report two weeks ago about Jimmy Spithill re-injuring his recently operated elbow was correct – he is not in the lineup; Tom Slingsby will be on the helm. Olympic sailors have rejoined their teams and will be in Toulon. Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge will be back helming Team New Zealand and Artemis, respectively. Giles Scott is in the team list for Land Rover BAR. Teams are allowed to name 11 sailors and shore crew for each AC World Series. Here are the lists for Toulon. For Artemis we can assume that the last five names are the sailing crew; all the other teams list their sailors first.

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Video: Oracle’s Foiling Tack

One day after Team Japan released their foiling tack video, Oracle followed suit, saying that they, too, had done a foiling tack in April, a few days after Team Japan. They claim that they have now done foiling tacks in “full manual mode” – with their electric pumps switched off. Click the image or here to watch Oracle’s video.

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Video: Foiling Tacks by SoftBank Team Japan

Back in April, SoftBank Team Japan pulled off their first foiling tack in their AC45X test boat. Last week they released a video and a news article. A day later, Oracle Team USA reported that they, too have done foiling tacks, including in complete “manual mode” meaning without electric motors pumping hydraulic oil to operate the daggerboards. Here are the videos and a detailed look at Team Japan’s choreography. To describe the action, we’ll number the crew positions 1 to 6, starting in the bow.

At 12 seconds into the video, we hear helmsman Dean Barker call, “Standing by” to start the manoeuvre. Wing trimmer Chris Draper hands Barker the wing trim line and crosses to the port hull to set up the wing trim line on that side and to steer while Barker crosses over later. The number 1 man crosses with Draper.

At 19 seconds into the video, the number 3 man leaves his cockpit to tack the wing using an inverter line. He then crosses to the port hull. Remember that in 2013, Team New Zealand almost capsized their AC72 in Race 8 when their hydraulically controlled wing did not tack. Oracle had an inverter line to tack their AC72 wing manually, and their AC Class design, used by Team Japan, also has a manual inverter line for the wing.

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As they complete the tack, Barker crosses over after the number 4 man. While Barker crosses, Draper is steering from the wing trimmer position, and trimming the wing. At the end of the manoeuvre, the number 2 man is still in his cockpit in the starboard hull.

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When you play the video, listen to the high pitched whine of the electric pumps for the hydraulics.The louder, groaning sound is the wing trim line as the trimmer lets it slip on the winch drum. The AC Class boats that will race next year must only use manual power – no electric pumps permitted.

Click here or any of the photos to watch the Team Japan video.