Americas Cup

[Saturation]

I have not seen a thread on this yet, so here goes.
The racing has started this weekend in the Prada Cup to find out the challenger for the Americas Cup against NZ in March.
Team UK was written off before Christmas in the regatta that was held then.
So far this weekend they have had 5 races and have won 4 of them, so they are leading on points with 4 and the next team is on 1 point and the third team has yet to win a race and has no points.

 

[Saturation]

Last race of the day, US V Italy.
US has just had a spectacular crash and tipped arse over kite.

 

[Grownup_Rafbrat]

And true to form, Italy are protesting about a hole in Team Ineos' sail, which is helping the British beat the Italians.

 

[bobthebuilder]

Massive turnaround from the World Series when Ben Ainslie frequently struggled to get the boat on to its foils. As one commentator said, they’ve done more than paint the foils white!

I think there’s a very good chance for Ineos Team UK, probably the best opportunity to bring the cup home ever. Ainslie has deep technical reach back that the other teams can only dream about. Don’t get me wrong; they all spend millions and have huge technical resources. But, thanks to Ineos, Ainslie is reaching back into the Mercedes F1 team. It’s not just technical reach; their foils are made in the Merc factory at Brackley.

For more, here’s an interview with Toto Wolff and Ben Ainslie.

Exclusive interview, Ben Ainslie meets Toto Wolff: ‘They say America’s Cup is like F1 on the water — they’re right’

 

[bobthebuilder]

And true to form, Italy are protesting about a hole in Team Ineos' sail, which is helping the British beat the Italians.

Only means they’ve got to change the design. It’s a minor infringement. I’m sure Ineos would (and will) protest technicalities.

 

[Grownup_Rafbrat]

Massive turnaround from the World Series when Ben Ainslie frequently struggled to get the boat on to its foils. As one commentator said, they’ve done more than paint the foils white!

I think there’s a very good chance for Ineos Team UK, probably the best opportunity to bring the cup home ever. Ainslie has deep technical reach back that the other teams can only dream about. Don’t get me wrong; they all spend millions and have huge technical resources. But, thanks to Ineos, Ainslie is reaching back into the Mercedes F1 team. It’s not just technical reach; their foils are made in the Merc factory at Brackley.

For more, here’s an interview with Toto Wolff and Ben Ainslie.

Exclusive interview, Ben Ainslie meets Toto Wolff: ‘They say America’s Cup is like F1 on the water — they’re right’

Don't forget that Dan Bernasconi, the Brit who designed the NZ boats, also started out in F1.

It will be a close call.

 

[Saturation]

Excellent responses so far to this thread.
If you can try and watch USA tipping over.
Apparently, the boat is currently sinking.

 

[Grownup_Rafbrat]

Acrobatic boat

 

[bobthebuilder]

Don't forget that Dan Bernasconi, the Brit who designed the NZ boats, also started out in F1.

It will be a close call.

It’s not so much the individual is knowledge and experience of F1; it’s the reach back into everything the Mercedes F1 team have and do at Brackley and Brixworth. The teams all have substantial engineering capabilities, but nothing like Merc F1.

It’s going to be very close. But I really think that the involvement of Mercedes is a game changer.

 

[sniper_bob]

The aftermath of Patriot's massive capsize

The PRADA Cup so far has been enthralling and day 3 saw the drama ratchet up to 11 when a vicious squall hit Patriot as she went for a tack then bear away at the final mark, had an issue with the port runner, went for a leap, then crashed down hard.

www.yachtsandyachting.com

They'll need a bit more than T-Cut to get to the start line on Friday. On the plus side looks like an INEOS/PRADA final - best of 5 to meet NZL in the Cup Series.

 

[Didosdadsdogsdead]

Rounding that mark at 40+knots was a big gamble, Airbus is a very apt sponsor, it looked like it was about to take off for a few seconds, great that nobody was injured and duty rumour is it'll be up and foiling for Friday.

 

[Saturation]

The aftermath of Patriot's massive capsize

The PRADA Cup so far has been enthralling and day 3 saw the drama ratchet up to 11 when a vicious squall hit Patriot as she went for a tack then bear away at the final mark, had an issue with the port runner, went for a leap, then crashed down hard.

www.yachtsandyachting.com

They'll need a bit more than T-Cut to get to the start line on Friday. On the plus side looks like an INEOS/PRADA final - best of 5 to meet NZL in the Cup Series.

It's got an ole in it.

 

[bobthebuilder]

Patriot came very close to capsizing during the World Series before Christmas, when they were slow getting the new leeward foil down. It just shows how close to the edge these crews are sailing; these things are more like F1 cars than yachts.

Not sure; do they still have a spare boat like they used to?

 

[Saturation]

Patriot came very close to capsizing during the World Series before Christmas, when they were slow getting the new leeward foil down. It just shows how close to the edge these crews are sailing; these things are more like F1 cars than yachts.

Not sure; do they still have a spare boat like they used to?

No, they were only allowed by the rules of this regatta to build two boats, and by all accounts, the first boats of each team have been cannibalised to add parts for their second and racing boat.

 

[bobthebuilder]

No, they were only allowed by the rules of this regatta to build two boats, and by all accounts, the first boats of each team have been cannibalised to add parts for their second and racing boat.

Before the World Series was introduced, they used to build two boats because that was how they trained. They didn’t race against the other teams until the round robin, so they had to tune up against their own reserve boat.

A lot dated now, but Warwick Collins novels Challenge and New World give a great feel for match racing rules. The rules haven’t changed much since he wrote the books 30 years ago, just that the boats go 4x faster so decision making must be crazy!

 

[Saturation]

Before the World Series was introduced, they used to build two boats because that was how they trained. They didn’t race against the other teams until the round robin, so they had to tune up against their own reserve boat.

A lot dated now, but Warwick Collins novels Challenge and New World give a great feel for match racing rules. The rules haven’t changed much since he wrote the books 30 years ago, just that the boats go 4x faster so decision making must be crazy!

With this one, the two boat rule was an attempt to keep the costs down.
Let's face it, it costs 10s of millions if not hundreds of millions to play this game, and Team NZ after they won the last event did just not have that amount of money to throw around.

 

[bobthebuilder]

The American Magic capsize was caused by the leeward running back stay not being released in the tack. TBH that’s either a schoolboy error or a serious gear failing.

By way of explanation, back stays support the mast going forward and run from the masthead down to the stern. There are basically two types (hence the Luna Rosa comment below); fixed and running.

A lot of race boats simplify the rig by having a single, fixed back stay that comes down to the centre of the stern beyond the end of the boom. It can be tensioned, but is always in place.

Top end boat have runners coming down to the two sides of the boat at the stern. The boom cannot swing past them, so the leeward one is to be loose. When you tack or gybe, the old leeward stay has to be tensioned, while the old windward one has to be released. All this has to be co-ordinated through the evolution. Get it wrong and disaster awaits; fail to get the new windward back stay loaded and you drop the rig. Fail to release the old windward one and you broach out.

Also, the back stays control mast bend and, therefore, sail shape. The loads are massive; we grind 4-5 tons in on the TP52. I wonder what loads they’re running on the back stays; it will be huge.

Here’s a video of the capsize. America's Cup on LinkedIn: The American Magic Capsize | 14 comments

 

[tutankhamun]

The American Magic capsize was caused by the leeward running back stay not being released in the tack. TBH that’s either a schoolboy error or a serious gear failing.

By way of explanation, back stays support the mast going forward and run from the masthead down to the stern. There are basically two types (hence the Luna Rosa comment below); fixed and running.

A lot of race boats simplify the rig by having a single, fixed back stay that comes down to the centre of the stern beyond the end of the boom. It can be tensioned, but is always in place.

Top end boat have runners coming down to the two sides of the boat at the stern. The boom cannot swing past them, so the leeward one is to be loose. When you tack or gybe, the old leeward stay has to be tensioned, while the old windward one has to be released. All this has to be co-ordinated through the evolution. Get it wrong and disaster awaits; fail to get the new windward back stay loaded and you drop the rig. Fail to release the old windward one and you broach out.

Also, the back stays control mast bend and, therefore, sail shape. The loads are massive; we grind 4-5 tons in on the TP52. I wonder what loads they’re running on the back stays; it will be huge.

Here’s a video of the capsize. America's Cup on LinkedIn: The American Magic Capsize | 14 comments

Different worlds. The last boat I sailed fitted with with runners was a dragon

 

[06FA56Paderborn]

Interesting the damage caused, a roughly square hole just fed of the foil/mast what caused it to fail like that in a regular fashion, or did they hit something?

 

[sniper_bob]

Interesting the damage caused, a roughly square hole just fed of the foil/mast what caused it to fail like that in a regular fashion, or did they hit something?

Not sure if true but heard it was part of the foil hydraulic system that detached and fell through.