New America's Cup Wing-Masted Catamarans

South Korea Confirms Challenge For Ac34

(April 6, 2011) - For the first time in its 160-year history, a challenge has been made by a South Korean Yacht Club for the America's Cup, the oldest trophy in international sports. The Sail Korea Yacht Club, represented by Team Korea, has been officially accepted as a challenger for the 34th America's Cup.

Team Korea will be known as the 'White Tiger Challenge'. The White Tiger, or
'Baekho' in Korean, is one of the revered ancient guardian gods in Korean
mythology, ferocious and potent, a fitting image for a team from one of the
world's major industrial nations with long term America's Cup ambitions.

Founder of Team Korea is Dong Young-Kim, an accomplished sailor and the
organizer of one of the biggest prize money sailing events in the world, The
Korea Match Cup. In launching Team Korea, he intends to boost public
interest and knowledge of the America's Cup and hopes to attract new people
to take up sailing as their support for the team grows.

"As a new team we do not have the experience and legacy of others involved,
and so we are realistic about building together a group of people for this
challenge, and setting ourselves sensible targets with our first competitive
challenge. We see this America's Cup campaign as a learning experience which
we can build on for the future, while improving through the regatta series
this year. We have discussions ongoing presently which we hope will provide
the necessary resources, sponsorships and long-lasting commitments we
desire, and aim to make more announcements shortly in what is proving to be
a very exciting time in the ongoing evolution of the America's Cup.''

Read on: http://tinyurl.com/3fchobg

pitch-pole

Good link there Kevin

I had aeen another clip of this incident from another angle that was not so dramatic

California pair aim to revolutionize TV graphics

The appointment last week of Stan Honey as Director of Technology for the America’s Cup Event Authority puts in place a man who’s combining his avocation of yacht racing with his vocation of technological expertise.

Honey, together with long-time business partner Ken Milnes, is heading a new graphics overlay project that ACEA expects will make the racing easier to understand and comprehend for the mainstream viewer. It will also revolutionize the way the game is umpired.

Milnes and Honey aim to project their affinity for innovative sports broadcast enhancements to America’s Cup viewers through live video graphics rendered on the water from a helicopter.

“I’ve had two careers up until now, one as an electrical engineer developing navigation, tracking, and TV special effects, and the other as a navigator in professional offshore sailing,” said Honey. “Working for ACEA combines my two careers as I will be using both my sailing and technology backgrounds.”

In the 1980s Honey developed the first in-car navigation unit. In the 1990s he founded the company Sportvision that has produced innovations such as the “yellow line” first-down marker for the NFL and an illustrative strike zone for MLB.

Milnes joined Sportvision and invented a precise car-tracking system for NASCAR to track and highlight the many cars during the racing events. All of the innovations were honored with Emmy Awards for technical achievements in the field of television broadcasting.

Sportvision still thrives, and Milnes and Honey have worked on the America’s Cup new technology in partnership with their old firm. Honey was a winning navigator in the Volvo Ocean Race (ABN Amro One, 2005-’06) and also the record-setting navigator aboard Groupama 3, current holder of the Jules Verne Trophy for fastest, crewed, non-stop circumnavigation of the globe, 48 days. For that effort he was named the 2011 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in the U.S.

Luckily for the yachting community, Milnes and Honey’s decades-long friendship has landed the two of them on the frontline of revamping the broadcast enhancements of an America’s Cup race.

If they are successful, no longer will a broadcast producer or director have to cut away from a live picture to illustrate the closeness of the yachts with animation. No longer will viewers watch a close-quarters situation in animation. All of the illustrative techniques that made animation so informative will be laid over the live broadcast. They have to cut away from a close port-starboard crossing to illustrate just how close it is with animation.

Now the director will be able to cue the graphics into the live picture.

“This project rivals what we’ve produced for the major sports leagues in terms of its potential to revolutionize the way a race is viewed,” said Milnes.

The next step will be evident during a dress rehearsal test in Auckland next month as the America's Cup Event Authority try the system out on the AC45 and race committee boats

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index.cfm?SEID=2&Nid=82320&SRCID=0&ntid=118&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

Oracle Team capsizes

...even the Oracle team can capsize

Oracle Racing who capsized their AC45 on the first day of the America's Cup Regatta Management Trials have released a new video of the 'event', along with crew reactions to the free-fall.

Video.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ddZNDavV4Y4#at=28

Countdown To First America’s Cup World Series Event

In just two months’ time, the inaugural America’s Cup World Series (AC World Series) will get under way in the port city of Cascais, Portugal, a location world-famous for its spectacular sailing conditions. The event will be held the 6th to the 14th of August and will showcase the AC45 wing-sailed catamaran in the first-ever competition for this exciting new class.

Cascais is the perfect town to host the thousands of AC World Series spectators anticipated to watch the first racing of the America’s Cup World Series. The event will feature both fleet and match racing, with courses designed to test the athletes’ physical and mental prowess.

August 6 - 7, fleet racing
August 10 - 12, both fleet and match racing
August 13, match racing finals
August 14, fleet racing finals

In addition to the on-the-water action, the AC World Series also brings the America’s Cup experience to fans on land. Events and activities associated with the AC World Series will be announced later this summer.

Richard Worth, Chairman of the America’s Cup Event Authority said: “The America’s Cup World Series will expose hundreds of thousands of more people to the sport of sailing in its most exciting form - right in front of their eyes. We are excited to begin our global journey in Cascais, where both the racing and the experience will be first-rate.”

http://www.americascup.com/

GOOD photos from San Fran sailing of new design cats

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index.cfm?SEID=2&Nid=84609&SRCID=0&ntid=118&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index.cfm?SEID=2&Nid=84610&SRCID=0&ntid=118&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0


....example

Media Day on San Fran bay

ORACLE Racing’s media day on San Francisco Bay converted all who were watching that wingsail catamarans are the proper future for the America’s Cup.

After this morning’s press conference members of the media were taken sailing on the two boats to get a first-hand account of the action. In winds blowing 20 to 23 knots, the media were taken sailing for short blasts on the Bay. Everyone stepped off exhilarated, shaking their heads at the once in a lifetime experience. The action impressed Captain Cynthia Stowe of the U.S. Coast Guard, whose West Command includes the Bay Area.

“I’ve never had a ride like this. It was tremendous out there, it was so fast,” Stowe said. “We were right on the water, it was something else. We went 25 knots out there with two extra people on board. It must be a young man’s sport. They’re jumping around on the boats going as fast as they are, it’s pretty intense.”
******************************************************
....some videos and a spectacular end over:

That is the CEO of Oracle Racing diving through the wing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1MOsI1BfbM

http://www.oracleracing.com/section.php?sec=blog&prv=1&id=test_714
and sail world

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Americas-Cup:-Coutts-capsizes-in-San-Francisco-on-Media-Day-+-Video/84704

Fisher's View: San Francisco is perfect for the America’s Cup

Swap the AC-45s for AC-72s with their wings twice as high and their loadings more than five times as high, and the 34th America’s Cup will be everything that Russell Coutts has promised. Somewhat prophetically he declared: 'The closer you design to the edge, the faster you will go, but please not over the edge.'

And with every crewman ‘miked’ for sound to provide an additional dimension,

Coutts admitted: 'I’m going to have to learn a whole new language.' And that was before he capsized!



Full report: http://tinyurl.com/43x4rdb

Kites verses Wingsails

MASTERS OF SPEED
(June 23, 2011) - Oracle Racing's AC45 catamarans, blasting up and down San
Francisco Bay, have inspired a torrent of breathless prose. But are they
fast? Really?

AC45 #4, skippered by Jimmy Spithill, and #5, skippered by Russell Coutts,
have generally used the Golden Gate Bridge as a windward boundary for their
race training, which places their turning point right off Crissy Field, one
of the world's great sites for windsurfing and kiting. And the kite guys,
especially, have been keen to take on the cats. After all, the 500-meter
speed sailing record presently belongs to American Rob Douglas at 55.65
knots. With a kite.

Top gun kiter Johnny Heineken, off today for Silt, Germany and the
Kiteboard Course Racing Worlds - a kiting discipline developed on San
Francisco Bay, by people who sail on San Francisco Bay - checked in with
this:

You got to go sailing on one of the cats. Jealous! I've been close,
though. On two days we lined up with them on kites. Pretty amazing. The
first day, they were racing, so I didn’t want to get too close, but I
jumped in on a downwind leg and paced them for a while.

Later, Joey Pasquali (who will be joining John Craig ((AC34 PRO)) as a
mark-set boat driver), Bryan Lake and I followed them around for an hour or
so on our courseboards. I would say that on upwind angles we were even, but
they had a tiny speed advantage with that not-slowing-down-over-chop thing
they've got going. We get bounced on our 6-foot boards. Their leeward hulls
just drive through it. But it was pretty amazing to sail half a boatlength
away from one of those things, just to leeward, off their bow, and hang
with them.

Downwind we were close, but I can't honestly say I was faster. Once again,
their advantage..hmm...doubling their sail area downwind. If only I could
magically turn my 9-meter kite into a 15-meter kite when I round the top
mark.
Kimball Livingston, read on: http://blueplanettimes.com/?p=7283

Single New America's Cup Website

A new look America's Cup website has opened as of 1 July 2011 for the 34th America's Cup and supporting events.

Under the terms of the current Protocol all teams are required to be hosted on a single America's Cup website, or really a web-portal, to aggregate traffic and make simpler fan and media navigation.

The new site can be seen at www.americascup.com

All teams have their own web-presence on the site. Some have already connected their existing URL's to the new site and fans will access it directly.

Stadium Concept Sailing

As the country celebrated Independence Day, American Terry Hutchinson on board Artemis Racing went in to the final race with an 8 point lead after heading the leaderboard for most of the past 5 days - but lost in the final leg of the final race of the final day. An enthralled US non-sailing public turned out in spades to watch up close what was probably one of the biggest ever on-site American audiences for a sailing event, estimated at 55,000 over the five days. The Stadium concept developed for the Extreme Sailing Series certainly engaged a largely non-sailing audience in Boston

http://tinyurl.com/ESS-070411

HERE IT COMES...first of the weekly programs

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index.cfm?SEID=2&Nid=86594&SRCID=0&ntid=118&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0



...new TV graphics
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index.cfm?SEID=2&Nid=86613&SRCID=0&ntid=118&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

Full Video Replay

.....its about time that we don't have to depend upon having to watch real time only....

Full video replay...of race day 6

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Americas-Cup-World-Series:-Full-replay-of-Race-Day-6-now-available/87251

Paul Cayard Reports On Cascais

(August 15, 2011) - The first racing of the new America's Cup is now in the
record books. In yesterday's only and final race, there were three lead
changes, the top boat speed was 24 knots, the course had 6 legs, and the
race took 40 minutes and was within .5 miles of the shore. Everything that
had been promised was delivered. Cascais delivered perfect conditions all
week with wind between 8 and 18 knots.

For those who thought catamaran racing would be dull and boring, this past
week has been a wake up call. The final of the match racing yesterday
between Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE Racing Spithill was classic
match racing with the competitors even tacking on each other at upwind
speeds of 15 knots.

There is much to learn in racing these boats. New strategies for starting,
course management, sail trim and boat handling. These boats are extremely
physical for the crew. I was looking at the heart rate data of one of our
crew for a race the other day and his average heart rate for the 25 minute
race was 91% of his maximum. His minimum heart rate was 82% and he hit

100% three times! Athletics has finally hit sailing!

It was fantastic to see this new sailing "product" rolled out in such a
convincing way. The live internet coverage of the racing was very well done
with graphics that show the course boundaries like a basketball court. Other
graphics for the "zone" around the marks. The replays of critical moments
along with commentary were cool. Sure, all this can be improved still and
will, but it is such a huge leap forward from past coverage of sailing. --
Full story:
http://www.cayardsailing.com/cs_Reports.cfm?evtID=143&csRpt=1038

Preparing for Plymouth

Some good pics here, and a good video of the speed of these boats....and a capsize with minimal damage

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index.cfm?SEID=2&Nid=88147&SRCID=0&ntid=118&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

*expect The Thrill Meter To Rise*

Following the inaugural event of the America's Cup World Series in Caiscais
(Portugal), teams have moved their AC45s to Plymouth (England) in order to
prepare for the second leg of the AC World Series (Sept. 10-18), which is
due to start on Saturday. And expectations are for the thrill meter to
rise.

In order to prepare for the second leg of the AC World Series, which is due to start on Saturday in Plymouth (England), Loïck Peyron and the crew of Energy Team have been training since last Thursday in Plymouth Sound, which is famous for hosting the start of the transatlantic race. The French challenger has been through five busy days of training in conditions that have often been quite rough. In fact, yesterday, the crew was forced to remain ashore. Time for us to look at how the preparation is going with five days to go to the start of the contest with some strong winds forecast.

- What differnce is there between Plymouth and Cascais?
Loïck Peyron: In Plymouth, the sea is bound to rather choppier. This is particularly true when the wind is from the south in spite of the breakwater, because that doesn’t hold back the sea completely, so we’re looking at conditions that are rather more like the open sea. But this is a great place to race, and offers a good view to spectators from the famous Hoe with its green lawns. This is the place where the legendary transatlantic races begin (Ostar). The sailing area is rather tricky with currents and extremely unstable winds. For the moment, we’ve been training in windy conditions in general. There have been quite strong winds to the extent that yesterday we weren’t able to go out sailing.

- How does the AC45 behave in such winds?
LP: The boat is designed for that, so that’s not a problem. Occasionally, it means taking it to the edge and the precise limits are not that easy to find. When there are windy conditions, the only tricky manoeuvre is bearing away. Everything else is easy enough to deal with sailing downwind and indeed upwind, especially in courses set up in the direction of the wind. But bearing away at the windward buoy requires you to find the right moment, the crew has to be in the right place, and you have to know whether it is risky or not to bear away and not accelerate too fast, which means that it becomes fairly complicated… As soon as there is too much wind, you reach a critical point. You have to be really careful, as the slightest mistake is hardly ever excused. We saw that on Monday with the Spaniards capsizing…

...more here

Full interview: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-090711

Plymouth schedule: http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-Plymouth-2011

*BROADCAST: *
Viewers can tune in to the America's Cup YouTube channel.
Featuring a multi-screen player, viewers can choose from live onboard
footage, a graphical overview or an eagle's eye view, as well as from
expert sailing or standard sports commentary as part of the daily
livestreaming. The racing is also available on demand at
http://www.youtube.com/americascup