Softbank Team Japan

March 28, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Interview with Nick Holroyd, Head of Design Softbank Team Japan

Nick Holroyd leads the design effort for SoftBank Team Japan. With his expertise in computational fluid dynamics and appendage design, he’ll lead much of the experimental development process that will enable the boats to foil more efficiently and with more control.

“First, there’s a lot of work to assess the package we’ve got”, explained Nick. “Fortunately, the design space is narrowed down – appendages, control systems, wing control, ergonomics, how to deal with the shortage of power on the boat in terms of hydraulic power from the boys grinding – those are all areas teams know they really need to focus on at this point.”

Specifically, dagger board foil design will take the priority seat in the development phase as the team narrows down which shapes will go into production for their future America’s Cup Class yacht.

“The way the protocol works is you’re only ever allowed to fit 4 boards [2 sets] into the America’s Cup Class yacht. Depending on how you want to design those – for wind range, sea state, stability, etc. – then the first set you launch the boat with will be one of your racing sets. You’re focusing on both the refinement and revolution game at this point so the pressure is on.”

Add to this the fact that contractors have specific build windows in which to construct these underwater carbon fiber wings and it becomes clear that every practice session on the water is precious.

“The decision date looms pretty fast when you consider typical build time for new daggerboards is 3 months. The clock is very much ticking.”

Watch the interview. Look carefully at about 40 seconds into the video – you’ll see the anti cavitation bulb on the rudder of their AC45F.

The Team: Nick Holroyd

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 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 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 1, 2016 By Jack Griffin

Land Rover BAR Wins in Oman

Ben Ainslie and his team showed grit and tenacity to win the Oman stop on the America’s Cup World Series. After getting a third and two firsts in Saturday’s races, they had poor starts in all three double points races on Sunday, including two OCS* penalties. On Sunday they were in last place at the first mark in each race but clawed their way back to finish those races 2-4-3 to win the regatta. With this win they become the first team to win two ACWS events.

*OCS = on course side, meaning they crossed the starting line before the starting signal. The penalty is to drop two boat lengths behind all the boats that started correctly.