New America's Cup Wing-Masted Catamarans

Crew Management, Graphics Presentation

Real interesting video film on America's Cup behind the scenes crew management, and graphics presentation

AmericasCup's Channel - YouTube

Appears as though the American audience is pleased with the new format

Port Cities Challenge Day 2 - AC World Series San Diego - YouTube

*the wing is the thing*

from Scuttlebutt tonight:

*THE WING IS THE THING*

When the BMW Oracle Racing team's USA 17 - aka their Deed of Gift
challenging 90-foot trimaran - relocated from its initial trialing location
in Anacortes, WA to San Diego, CA in October 2008, the team drew high
interest from the local sailing enthusiasts. But when they raised their
enormous wing sail a year later, they captured the interest of the entire
world.

The fascination with wing sail remains strong today. The fleet of AC45
catamarans are in San Diego this week for the third event of the 2011-12
America's Cup World Series (Nov. 12-20), and the wing feature has proven to
be the big attraction for the crowd filtering through the event village this
past weekend.

The wings are large, they're inventive, they're artistic. Five of the boats
are always kept on moorings, and the wings are up day and night. If the
AC45s had soft sails, the teams wouldn't raise them until they got towed to
the course. But with the wing, strolling spectators could see these
aerodynamic foils up close. And everyone who came to see the boats, had to
have their picture taken with the wings in the background.

Teams alternate hauling their boats, and it is a huge production when the
wings are lowered. Orange vests, hard hats, a tall crane delivering the wing
to earth. Fans line the guard rail to watch. What is hard, is interesting,
and the event village leverages this show.

When defender Oracle Racing announced in September 2010 that wing-sailed
boats would be used for the 34th America's Cup, it was seen as a ploy to
maximize their significant advantage with the rig. And maybe it was. But a
year later, it is clear that the winner in this decision is also the sport.--
Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt

(February 1, 2012) - Organizers and race crews are considering the way
America's Cup racing will be conducted in 2013, once teams switch from the
AC45 catamarans currently being raced in the America's Cup World Series to
the enormous AC72 cats that will be screaming around San Francisco Bay in
the summer of 2013.

During the latter stages of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup
Finals, teams could find themselves racing up to three matches a day in
order to win the day's point, adding more races to what is expected to be
an exhilarating, but exhausting schedule.

Regatta Director Iain Murray says the changes are being considered in an
effort to maximise the action on the water and to create a fair series of
racing.

"This is one of the scenarios we're considering in consultation with the
teams," Murray said from San Francisco, after arriving overnight from a
meeting with teams in New Zealand. "It has come out of our learnings from
the America's Cup World Series where we've been able to experiment with
different race courses and event formats.

"The 'three for one' plan we've been discussing would allow for more
starts, more mark roundings, all of the exciting parts of the race, on each
day," he said. "Essentially every day would be a best-of-three to earn the
point. It adds excitement, but also adds an element of fairness, as where
one mistake might put you out of a particular race, you still have a shot
to comeback strong in the other matches to take the point on the day."

In 2013, the challenging teams will race each other in the Louis Vuitton
Cup (July 4th - September 1st) with the winner going on to face the
defender, ORACLE Racing, in the America's Cup Finals (September 7th -
September 22nd).

Currently four teams, including ORACLE Racing, are actively building AC72s
for the 2013 finale. Additional teams may join them, with a summer deadline
for entry on the horizon. -- Read on:
America's Cup | Format and function

CLARIFICATION: Just three challengers - Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna
Rossa and Artemis - have paid the initial entry fee for the 2013 event.
While these teams are clearly proceeding, the remaining five challengers
have until June 1st to "put up or shut up". That is the date of the final
entry fee deadline, but it is also a practical point when teams should have
begun construction of their AC72.

If there is in fact a reduced field, one can't help but wonder what the
financial impact will be. The host bid put forth by San Francisco was based
on how the event would benefit the city, and a key variable was the number
of teams that would be competing. While the dates of the Louis Vuitton
challenger series are not expected to change, fewer teams should still mean
less money coming into the City. -- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt

Yes I think I am going to have to look up some 'old friends' in San Fran for that event

America's Cup Course revealed

This should be great for the spectator.

America's Cup | America's Cup race course revealed

Proving to be intimidating

If you have seen the America's Cup teams race the AC45s in the AC World
Series, you have gotten a glimpse of what the 34th America's Cup will look
like. But after speaking with Artemis skipper Terry Hutchinson (USA), the
reality remains hard to imagine.

It's one thing to sit on your couch with a video game controller; sailing
the AC72s will be like living the game. Artemis Racing is getting an early
tease by mounting their AC72 wing on to their ORMA 60-foot trimaran. With
sail area nearly three times that of the AC45, it's proving to be
intimidating...

* What's it like having a wing that size?

TH: We have the AC72 wing (131-feet tall) on our trimaran and it's
unbelievably impressive from start from finish. From watching the shore
team execute getting the wing in the boat to getting the boat off the
mooring to going out sailing. The whole thing is on a magnitude of
something I don't think anybody really thought all the way through when the
thing was being written. It's going to be exciting times ahead of us. All
the teams are in for an eye opening experience. It's been awesome to be out
sailing with an element of the AC72 and to be the first ones doing it.

* Does it really feel that intimidating?

TH: Yes it does, without question. We sea trialed our trimaran about ten
days ago in about 20 knots of breeze and had the thing in the high 30s boat
speed wise with just soft sails. We went out on the first day with the wing
in relatively calm conditions and it gives you - for the lack of better
words - it gives you the sh#ts. But when you look at the thing, it's like,
"Oh man!" But that's the challenge of it, and I think, therein lays the
opportunity for Artemis. For sure we have a lot of challenges ahead of us
and that's one we all have to face.

* You've launched the wing earlier than you can launch the boat - is that
indication that Artemis feels the wing is where the advantage will lay?

TH: There are certain limitations within the rules we have to adhere to.
We're just getting as much out of it as we possibly can. We have to
overcome that we are a new team and operationally it's a big challenge to
get 100 people operating and functioning and doing all the things that you
need to do to be an efficient team when the boat goes out on the water.

What the wing presented to us was not only the opportunity to do something
full-scale but it was an opportunity to start working on the process of
developing the team. Those two points alone will be worth a lot down the
road when we get it to the 72. It also shows us where we're exposed in
areas - on the shore team, on the sailing team - certain aspects of the
team.

Read on:
SailBlast: No Wingin' It With An AC72 Wing

.....courtesy of Scuttlebutt

First 72 footer Launched

Welcome to Sail-World.com's first America's Cup Newsletter for the 34th America's Cup, being sent to 155,000 subscribers world-wide.

Sail World - Powerboat-world: Sail and sailing, cruising, boating news

...just short excerpt
"The sailing world has never before seen a 72ft long, 46ft wide, inshore racing catamaran complete with a 132ft tall wingsail, probably going to run on L-boards.

Viewed from afar, the AC72 doesn't appear to be that imposing, but up close that feeling fades fast and turns to terror. The mind turns quickly to the speed potential - which is now commonly talked of as being 20kts upwind and 40kts downwind - probably more on longer tracks in the right conditions.

Numbers that roll easily impressively off the tongue, but for most are best viewed from the chase boat. If you like car racing, you'll love these boats."

...but 55 days of racing

From Scuttlebutt

MODIFIED ACWS FORMAT REWARDS CONSISTENCY

San Francisco, CA (July 26, 2012) - After a variety of formulae were tried
out in the first season of the America's Cup World Series, the format of the
events has been modified for the next season beginning August 21-26 in San
Francisco confirms Iain Murray, Race Director. First, unlike last year, the
format will stay the same at every leg: five days of racing finishing with
the big final on Super Sunday. Second, the races raced before the big final
will have a higher weighting in the overall rankings. "In short, the impact
of each race in the fleet racing and match racing has been increased in the
season's overall rankings", explained Murray.

At each leg, racing will begin on Wednesday afternoon with the match racing.
Over the following three days up until Saturday, two fleet races will be run
with points counting towards qualification for the match race semi-finals.
On the closing day, Super Sunday, the top four teams in the match racing
overall rankings will meet in the semi-finals and the winners will face each
other in the final big duel.

Finally, all the teams will compete in the final race in the Fleet Race
championship. Just one small adjustment has been made to this schedule,
which will reward consistency: for the first event in San Francisco, the
semi-final and the final of the match racing (which will usually take place
on the Sunday) will be raced on Saturday afternoon, in order to make the
most of the best weather conditions, as if racing began too early on Sunday,
there would be the risk that the match racing would take place in light and
variable conditions, before the sea breezes had time to develop.

Racing will be shown on TV from Friday through Sunday, with the highlights
of Thursday's racing also being shown. -- Full story:
http://tinyurl.com/bpl9726


America's Cup | 2013 America?s Cup program includes 55 days of racing, Defender Trials

Speed of new AC 72 Cats !!! WOW

Check out this sailing video of the new 72 wing-masted catamaran

ETNZ AC72- Day 5: Media Day - YouTube

Renowned yachting commentators Martin Tasker and Peter Lester are given a prime view of the Emirates Team New Zealand AC72 in full action.
Very rarely are they lost for words... today they were, but they liked what they saw, and in Peter's case he enjoyed the ride!

The latest issue of Sail World has photos of them sailing (flying) in 20 knots of wind....unbelievable

Sail-World.com : America's Cup: Emirates Team NZ AC72 flies on Day 5 + Video

Too bad I couldn't include at least one photo, but they are copyrighted.

There is a pretty thorough conversation going on over HERE