Oracle Team USA – Page 17

March 21, 2016 By Jack Griffin

SoftBank Team Japan 360° Onboard Video

Here is Oracle’s first test boat, which they sold to SoftBank Team Japan. The team has set up their base right next door to Oracle in Bermuda.

Here is an onboard video from Team Japan. To use the 3D controls, watch it using the Chrome or Firefox browser. Pay attention to the grinders – you will see all four working hard when wing trimmer Chris Draper eases and trims the wing. Turn up the sound – at about 11 seconds in, you will hear the whine of the electric pump for the hydraulics. You’ll hear it again at 55 seconds into the video. At 1:09 you can hear Dean Barker count down for a gybe and you’ll see the port daggerboard going down and hear the electric pump running. Then you’ll see the starboard daggerboard rise, again with the pump running. At 1:30 you’ll see all four grinders working while Draper constantly adjusts wing trim. This almost certainly means they were sailing the boat with the grinding pedestals mechanically coupled to the wing winch, and were only using electrical power for the hydraulic pumps.

Remember that in these test boats there is no restriction on using electric power or other stored energy. But when they start racing in their AC Class yacht in 2017, all power must be manually generated by the grinders.

March 21, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Oracle’s New Wing

Oracle Team USA has been testing a wing built to the America’s Cup Class Rule. Remember that this rule defines the boats that will race in Bermuda in 2017. Up to now, Oracle had been sailing with wings that appeared to be modified AC45 wings.

Boat 3 with the AC Class wing, on the left. Notice that the trailing edge is curved while the trailing edge of the AC45x wing in Boat 2 has straighter segments. Photographer unknown.

15/02/16 - Hamilton (BDA) - 35th America's Cup Bermuda 2017 - ORACLE TEAM USA - AC45T training — Sailing with the AC Class wing. Notice that they had not yet covered with tape the gaps between the segments of the flap element. Image: OTUSA Sam Greenfield

Some details

Below is Oracle’s AC45x wing before they added the panel of readouts below the wing.

And below is the same wing with the readouts added. Notice the gap between the wing and the readouts, where the camber control arm can be seen.

The next photo shows the new “AC Class” wing. Notice that the camber control arm setup is different, and there is no gap between the bottom of the wing and the readouts.

When I call this an “AC Class” wing, I mean its shape appears to comply with the AC Class Rule. Once the AC Class boats are launched, beginning 27 December 2016, the teams can only use two wings in them. Although there is this two-wing-limit for the race boats, the richer teams can build as many wings as they want for their test boats. Realistically, they will probably only build two.

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 14, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Oracle’s Test Boat Evolution

Oracle Team USA launched their first test boat over a year ago in San Francisco. The first test boat had only one pedestal per hull since it was designed when the AC62 Class Rule was still in effect. Remember that the AC62 was to have had eight crew with three pedestals per hull.

When Oracle arrived in Bermuda in May 2015, the test boat still had only one pedestal. The wing trimmer was in a separate cockpit and the pushbutton control panels were on the inboard side of the cockpits, as shown in the photo below. Remember that these test boats will never race, do not need to meet any measurement rule and have no restrictions on batteries or other stored energy to operate the hydraulic pumps.

By late Fall 2015, Oracle had launched their second test boat and modified the first one. They added a second pedestal and reconfigured the cockpits. They also moved the pushbutton controls to the outboard edge of the cockpit. Two other details to note are the new wing winch design by Harken and a hydraulic ram for daggerboard cant, external to the hull. More on this below.

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.