2021 America's Cup

[PickleB]

Not long before the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race...HomePage.


Meanwhile a basic protocol for the 36th America's Cup has been released (link):

• 75 foot, high performance monohull, boats governed by the AC75 Class Rule
• Races are expected to be around 40 mins, longer races than Bermuda, including a longer pre-start and up-wind start
• When racing, at least 20% or 3 sailors of the total crew (which ever is higher) must be true nationals. The remainder of the crew need to comply with the residency rules:

• True Nationals, ie a citizen of the country of the competing yacht club
• Resident of the Country: The sailor must be physically present in the country of the yacht club for a minimum of 380 days in the 2 year period between the 1st September 2018 and 31st August 2020
• Which equates to just over 6 months of each year
• It still provides plenty of opportunities for internationals to sail for other teams, it just means they need to commit to living in the country of the yacht club their team represents

2020

• 3 x America’s Cup World Series preliminary events
• 10-20 Dec - America’s Cup Christmas Race

2021

• Jan & Feb - The PRADA Cup Challenger Selection series
• March - The America’s Cup Match

You may have seen this guy before:

[PickleB]

Did you notice the accent on the lizard video?





Now we have this:

[thieuster]

Nice, great concept. But sadly not for modest 'wallets' anymore. My son's trainer sails a Moth (5th at the World Championship) and he has stored his boat together with the boys' Lasers. I am always intrigued by the intricate concept of the this oh so flimsy looking boat. I guess that the AC racers are more or less the same...

About the Moth: 'The most expensive boat per kilo!' And Moth sailors reply with: 'The highest speed for your money!' Those Moths are eyewatering expensive. On the other hand, here comes the Waszp! The Moth's cheaper brother and the first step into foiling. Word is (I haven't found a conformation yet) that the Waszp's layout can hold an Optimist spar and sail! And that kids in Norway step onto a Waszp with their oppi-gear!




(As a sidestep: my son's trainer was one of the crew members on this famous pic of a 49'er in a thunderstorm -note the sail# as well...)

[PickleB]

While we wait for 2021, there will be the 2018 Golden Globe Race (wikiLink) starting fifty years after the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race:

To celebrate Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s historic 1968/9 world first solo non-stop circumnavigation in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Yacht Race, a new Golden Globe Race will be staged to mark the 50th Anniversary of that epic, starting from Falmouth on June 14th, 2018.

Like the original Sunday Times event, the 2018 Golden Globe Race is very simple. Depart Les Sables-d’Olonne, France on July 1st, 2018 and sail solo, non-stop around the world, via the five Great Capes and return to Les Sables-d’Olonne.

Entrants are limited to sailing similar yachts and equipment to what was available to Sir Robin in that first race. That means sailing without modern technology or benefit of satellite based navigation aids. Competitors must sail in production boats between 32ft and 36ft overall (9.75 – 10.97m) designed prior to 1988 that have a full-length keel with rudder attached to their trailing edge. These yachts are heavily built, strong and sturdy, similar in concept to Sir Robin’s 32ft vessel Suhaili.

[PickleB]

No cyborgs allowed:

There’s a curious clause in the new class rule for the AC75 boat to be sailed in the next America’s Cup. It reads: “There shall be eleven crew members, unless reduced by accident, who shall all be human beings."

[thieuster]

Boston Dynamics had a trick up their sleeves? A waterproof humanoid perhaps?

The tendency adopt foiling for all sorts of sailing nearly caused mutiny among ranks last week!

Over the winter, more and more snippets of information trickled down to the national sailing associations: World Sailing (like the FIFA is for soccer) mentioned the plan to skip a lot of the 'normal' dinghies and replace them for a more interesting... way of sailing: foiling. All for the spectators.

But, foiling is very, very expensive. Olympic Sailing in its current form is expensive as it is. Introducing foiling would turn this into a situation where 'syndicates' take over. Think about the way racing horses and jumping horses are owned: by companies and wealthy people etc. The current Nacra 17 (and the junior catamaran Nacra 15) are on the edge of 'bizarre' - price-wise.

Nacra was a Californian (Santa Ana) company and had gone belly-up. Two Dutch entrepreneurs bought the brand, the name and the tools. They started a new line. As a marketing tool, they lobby'ed to get the Nacra 17 an Olympic status. Which, to their surprise... succeeded. Then they came up with the junior version: the 15.

When you go out and buy a Nacra, prices aren't too bad. Only the 15 and 17 are 3x the price of the other Nacra family members... But these have no OLympic status.

Last weekend, London hosted the World Sailing meeting. Votes were cast and under pressure of current dinghy owners and a campaign on change.org, a lot of those dinghies will stay on the program until 2024

https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2...s-2024-events/

[33mgb]

Looks like Ineos are having a few problems with the practice races. It's going to be interesting to see how they actually compare on the 17th. The videos I've seen so far the Ineos boat just looks 'heavier' design-wise, and doesn't give the same impression of speed that the other boats give. So difficult to compare until they actually start racing.....I'm hoping it's just an optical illusion with Ineos.

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[PickleB]

Looks like Ineos are having a few problems with the practice races. It's going to be interesting to see how they actually compare on the 17th. The videos I've seen so far the Ineos boat just looks 'heavier' design-wise, and doesn't give the same impression of speed that the other boats give. So difficult to compare until they actually start racing.....I'm hoping it's just an optical illusion with Ineos.

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According to one video I've watched Ineos are having problems getting up onto the foil in light winds (under 8 kn) when compared to the other boats.

[Montello]

Thing is there is no hiding now and with all the practice and technology available spectators can pretty easily assess the relative performance of the various teams.

Sadly looks like Sir Ben won't be breaking that losing streak ... which is a real shame as there can be no complaints this time around about the level of funding the GBR team has received.

It's no great surprise that TNZ and Prada are top of the tree as they have been in the game for decades with multiple cycles under their belts whereas SBA and his guys are on their second cycle so a long way behind the expertise of the others ... there is a huge raft of IP in the top teams that takes time to accumulate.

Hopefully Ineos will be up for another go ...

[Saint-Just]

Don't make excuses. Sir Lipton tried many times and failed. France tried many times and failed. Switzerland succeeded the first time (I think) they tried (Alinghi, 2003)
And in this challenge all teams started from scratch as this is the first time AC75s will be used

[Montello]

Don't make excuses.

Who is making excuses?

[Saint-Just]

...whereas SBA and his guys are on their second cycle so a long way behind the expertise of the others ... there is a huge raft of IP in the top teams that takes time to accumulate.

Hence my examples of the Swiss challenge in 2003.

[Montello]

Hence my examples of the Swiss challenge in 2003.

I was comparing Ineos to their current competition.

I was in NZ for the cycle you reference and the level of innovation with the ACC boats was nowhere near what is currently happening with the new foiling classes that have completely new types of craft each cycle. That established class was not the tech arms race we are currently seeing and so the barrier to entry for a new challenge was very low compared with the foiling generations.

Also note that the nationality rule was dropped for the Alinghi challenge so money bought Coutts, Butterworth and Simmer so even though they were a first time challenger they were not first time team leaders.

[Saint-Just]

I thought the foils were identical but I may be mistaken.
And yes for the Swiss challenge. But it was their first challenge, even if they ‘helvetised’ some Kiwis.

[Montello]

I thought the foils were identical but I may be mistaken.

You are, only the foil arms are supplied.

Foils, flaps and control systems are not common/supplied.

[PickleB]

I thought the foils were identical but I may be mistaken.
And yes for the Swiss challenge. But it was their first challenge, even if they ‘helvetised’ some Kiwis.

The arms for the foils are supplied parts, but the foils themselves are not.

[Montello]

The arms for the foils are supplied parts, but the foils themselves are not.

Correct. The foil package is the key design area.

[PickleB]

The arms for the foils are supplied parts, but the foils themselves are not.

Correct. The foil package is the key design area.

This includes a section on the development and testing of the arms:

[Montello]

This includes a section on the development and testing of the arms:

The boats are incredible; I just hope they actually give us some good racing to watch.

If there turns out to be a performance pecking order then we won't have much in the way of match race entertainment.

Early on I am sure we will see some spectacular foil dismounts during the races.

[33mgb]

At least the last race between USA and NZ gives some hope of close racing. For INEOS it was a day to forget!

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[PickleB]

See this article link for:

...Speaking after Thursday's sailing, INEOS Team UK skipper Sir Ben Ainslie admitted there was no guarantee his crew would be ready to take their place on the water for day two because of the issue.

"We've probably lost weeks of this campaign on the water dealing with the foil cant system," Ainslie said.

"I can't speak for the other teams, but I imagine they've also lost a number of days. It's a challenge."

The foil cant system, a one-design component provided to all teams which is effectively the hydraulics that control the foil arms on the AC75s, was designed by Team New Zealand so the software is the team's intellectual property.

Ainslie suggested the Kiwi crew had been reluctant to share that software with other teams, but hoped the issues that saw them become mere spectators on the first day of competitive racing in an AC75 would prompt a better working relationship on the issue.

"I'm not saying it's any one team's fault, I just think we need to work together better than we are doing to resolve it, and we need some resolution for a team who loses races through no fault of their own, but through supplied software," Ainslie said...

Edit See also www.ineosteamuk.com news

[Saint-Just]

So Ineos experiences software issues that other teams don't or have resolved, and it's another team's fault. Right.

[PickleB]

So Ineos experiences software issues that other teams don't or have resolved, and it's another team's fault. Right.

Apparently not...link:

...“This is supplied equipment,” said Ainslie of the foil cant system that is found on all the AC75 boats. “It’s certainly not our fault. You can’t go through the amount of time and energy that goes into these campaigns, and then you lose two races.

“It’s not very nice in this event but it would be a lot worse if it happened to someone in the Challenger Series or the Cup, so I do think I’d like to certainly call out to [umpire] Richard Slater and the Rules team. We need to resolve it.

“We tried to race but we didn’t really have control of the boat all day. Unfortunately we got round the first mark, tried to gybe and the boat just wasn’t operating.

“A challenging day.”

Asked about the issue again he said: “It’s been a problem since day one. All of the teams have been working to resolve it.

“We have one unit and we have a back up unit – the unit failed this morning and then we were getting software updates as late as midday for the foil cant system. Ultimately the foil cant system battery failed. It’s pretty complex, it’s definitely not simple.

“It’s propietary Emirates Team New Zealand intellectual property, so at some point that doesn’t all come across.

“We want to make sure all the teams are learning and helping one another.

“A couple of years ago we had the issues with the foil arm and the teams worked really well together to solve that.

“This foil cant system is not resolved. It’s our problem today but it could easily be one of these other teams in the next round or Challenger series or the Cup.

“I think it would be a shame if that ends up deciding the series...

[Saint-Just]

Apparently not...link:

I was teasing a bit.
But while he says other teams have had issues, the fact is that the 3 other boats managed to race. He may be frustrated but it doesn't come out well. More like, winging (pom).

[Ginpopy]

These boats are so fast! Incredible speed




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[Montello]

These boats are so fast! Incredible speed




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They must be epic, the pace downwind in a breeze is incredible

This image is me sailing the Vampyre at perhaps 25 knots, cant imaging almost doubling that.

[PickleB]

Another week and it will be time for the Prada Cup. See PC pairings.

[Montello]

Another week and it will be time for the Prada Cup. See PC pairings.

I hope SBA and the team have pulled the rabbit out of the hat otherwise it’s going to be painful watching.

[PickleB]

I hope SBA and the team have pulled the rabbit out of the hat otherwise it’s going to be painful watching.

You and me both.

[Ginpopy]

Impressive loss of control!

“36th America's Cup Practice Session - Monday 11 January, 2021”

Minute 06:00 in the video: https://youtu.be/flMkrpgqkkI




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[PickleB]

Have you ever heard of Sean Clarkson?

[PickleB]

Does anyone know why the practice racing is referred to as 'Rialto', please?

I hadn't heard that before until I started searching to find out if there are any more sessions due before the Prada Cup. Apparently there are not and the news is not all bad for Ineos Team UK (just don't get too excited before the racing gets serious). Furthermore at the starts and when no boat is outright the faster then the racing is getting to be more like traditional match racing. If the winds stick around then it should be something worth watching.

[PickleB]

ICYMI...the Prada Cup Preview Show on:

[Ginpopy]

What a beauty! Seems to be in great shape. Super fast!

Who is going to wake up in 5 hours?




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[Montello]

What a beauty! Seems to be in great shape. Super fast!

Who is going to wake up in 5 hours?




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Fingers crossed... but I’ll watch the re run.

[PickleB]

Fingers crossed... but I’ll watch the re run.

Quote from Ineos having finished their first race: "Bloody good effort that chaps."

Enjoy the rerun.

[el marinero]

What a great couple of races for Britannia. Whatever was wrong with that boat, it's sorted now.
The American commentators were a bit dumbfounded in the first race.


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[33mgb]

Wow, what a turnaround. Decent wind conditions though so will be interesting to see if INEOS still have issues in lighter breeze. Fingers crossed they don't.

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[Montello]

Well, that was a very unexpected and welcome turnaround. Go SBA.

[PickleB]

The next big question: https://youtu.be/VuYgyQDxYvU?t=429.

[Montello]

The next big question: https://youtu.be/VuYgyQDxYvU?t=429.

Question is what is the watch SBA is wearing on the wrong wrist.

[markc]

After the earlier races that was blooming fantastic - they hardly put a foot wrong and the Americans and Italians must be wondering what just happened.

Well done to Sir Ben and the team - let's hope they can do it in lighter winds as well.

Mark C

[Ginpopy]

What a race. It’s getting more and more interesting. Wow



Congrats to team UK!


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[CatalystGuy]

Interesting to watch, those boats are flying with the hulls raised out of the water.


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[ASW1]

Keeps it interesting. I'm sure they'll be able to effect repairs and get back in the race, thanks to the sponsors.

A great spectacle.

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[Montello]

Keeps it interesting. I'm sure they'll be able to effect repairs and get back in the race, thanks to the sponsors.

A great spectacle.

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Not so sure. The electronics and hydraulic systems will be ruined.

I think we are down to two challengers now. Sadly.

[PickleB]

Keeps it interesting. I'm sure they'll be able to effect repairs and get back in the race, thanks to the sponsors.

A great spectacle.

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There are a great deal of electronics below deck including the foil control system that are restricted (2 only) items supplied as standard to all competitors. Let's hope that their standard of water proofing was sufficiently high.

[PickleB]

Terry Hutchinson comment:

“Dean made the correct decision to tack around the left gate, keep us in the pressure and just try to deliver us down to the finish. We got hit by a reasonably big gust. When you're racing the boat, you're racing the boat.”

[Montello]

Terry Hutchinson comment:

“Dean made the correct decision to tack around the left gate, keep us in the pressure and just try to deliver us down to the finish. We got hit by a reasonably big gust. When you're racing the boat, you're racing the boat.”

He has to back his helm but it was an unnecessary high tariff manoeuvre that has cost them dearly.

Goody highlighted it would be a challenge, and they obviously didn’t spot the new pressure, plus the port back stay was not released ..a catalogue of issues. Should have given away a little and gone for the other bouy and gone with the easier bear away. They had enough lead not to try that in those conditions.

[PickleB]

He has to back his helm but it was an unnecessary high tariff manoeuvre that has cost them dearly.

Goody highlighted it would be a challenge, and they obviously didn’t spot the new pressure, plus the port back stay was not released ..a catalogue of issues. Should have given away a little and gone for the other bouy and gone with the easier bear away. They had enough lead not to try that in those conditions.

As skipper and team leader, of course he must. He's also unlikely to blame the tactician for not spotting the shift in conditions as he doubles up with as a grinder and could well have his eyes inside the boat during the manoeuvre.