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The Next America's Cup in Multihulls

Discussion in 'General Sailing Discussion' started by brian eiland, Jun 19, 2009.

  1. brian eiland

    brian eiland Senior Member

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    ENGINE NOW ADDED TO CUP CHALLENGER
    (October 13, 2009) - Following three weeks of modifications, America's Cup challenger BMW Oracle Racing trimaran BOR 90 emerged today from the boatbuilding tent at the team base in San Diego. The latest iteration of the giant trimaran the team will use to challenge for the 33rd America's Cup boasts new features which will be worked up on shore, before the boat hits the water for more testing near the end of the month.

    Most significantly, and in response to the new rules issued earlier this year for the 33rd America's Cup by the Defender, SNG/Alinghi, the team has modified the BOR 90 cockpit to accommodate an engine. For the first time in the history of the America's Cup, the Defender has altered the racing rules to allow using an engine to replace human power on board the race boats. Since the Cup's inception in 1851, and in almost all other yacht racing, only manual (human) power may be used to trim sails and do other work.

    On BOR 90, the engine will primarily be used to drive hydraulics for trimming the enormous sails - the mainsail alone measures nearly 7,000 square feet - that propel the boat. Alinghi's insistence on the use of engines has resulted in the team having not only to add an engine and related gear, but to redesign the boat's cockpit on the center hull. With the engine, there is no longer a requirement for the grinding pedestals and sailors ('grinders') who until now provided the human power for the boat, so the cockpit has been reconfigured.
  2. brian eiland

    brian eiland Senior Member

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    Hydrophilic Hull Coatings via Nono-particles

    HULL COATINGS
    By Stu Johnstone
    I read with some degree of amusement the article in Scuttlebutt #2948 - WILL THE RIBLETS RETURN? In particular, because the ISAF RRS-53 has allegedly been dismissed for America's Cup #33? Riblets from 3M were one thing. "Hydrophilic coatings" are quite another -- e.g. the mythical "artificial dolphin skin".

    There's a lot more to the story on coatings and intrigue in the America's Cup
    than just the "riblets".

    In 2002, I was working with friends at a major Midwestern university on the use of nano-particle technologies in batteries, capacitors, fuel cells and combinations thereof. One of the most remarkable "chance" meetings took place when after contacting George David via "Tomac" (Tom McLaughlin at North Sails), I was put in touch with United Technologies then Chief of R&D --UTC was researching how to make better "inorganic" fuel cell membranes.

    What came out of the discussion with our team and the UTC R&D guys was the fact that our nanoparticle coatings (consisting of 8-10 nanometer size particles made in my basement lab) were extremely "hydrophilic"-- e.g. the opposite of hydrophobic (like beads of water on wax). We then tested a hypothesis that our coatings might make water flow faster and perhaps also produce a thin coating on a boat that would act like the mythical "dolphin skin"- the ultimate sailboat coating. Here's what happened and why it got mixed up in the America's Cup 2003 challenge in Auckland, New Zealand.

    Read more: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8414
  3. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    and we still have that little issue with the location chosen by alinghi... the DOG is pretty clear about racing in the Northern hemisphere in winter without even getting into the security issues in RAK. Next court hearing in 2 weeks...
  4. Kevin

    Kevin YF Moderator

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    Not that I had any respect for them at the start of this fiasco, but if I did, they would have lost every last shred of it with that demand. :rolleyes:
  5. 84far

    84far Senior Member

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    hi all, i was just reading a bit on the americas cup... i think it was in 'Yachting' magazine, anyway theres talk of it going to one of the middle eastern countries? it also had some good stats on both boats. BOR 90, like reaching 26kts in just 9kts of wind, it will also be a better boat tacking. also when the boat tacks they have a thing called (i think) 'self helm'? so basically the boat tacks by its self so the skipper and tacktician can run across. they also had a pic on it leaning right over, and the skipper is on a open platform strapped in... 6 stories above the sea... thats impressive! alinghi, theres talk of her going to hard foiled sails, and that she will out last the tri in a tacking dual due to the motor, (that gets up to 100t of pressure in the winches), but if BOR 90 gets the motors, as u guys say, she may have the upper hand. its all getting very interesting

    cant wait for the first port and starboard crossing :D

    far
  6. 84far

    84far Senior Member

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    to bad the America's Cup has become a fast, the boats are unreal!

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  7. 84far

    84far Senior Member

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    hi all, ive found more news on the RAK regatta, and Alinghi will appeal this.

    A New York judge has ruled that Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, cannot host the America's Cup based on the 19th-century document that governs sailing's marquee regatta.

    The ruling by Justice Shirley Kornreich of the New York State Supreme Court is a blow to two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland. The Swiss picked the Persian Gulf for their February showdown against American challenger BMW Oracle Racing.

    Kornreich said her decision was based on the stipulation in the Deed of Gift that the America's Cup cannot be sailed in the Northern Hemisphere between Nov. 1 and May 1, not on concerns by the Americans that RAK was unsafe due to its proximity to Iran


    far
  8. Garry Hartshorn

    Garry Hartshorn Senior Member

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    A friend just sent me these photo's so I thought I would share

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  9. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Glad you did. Not something you see everyday... a heli lifting a hull. Or two!
  10. Garry Hartshorn

    Garry Hartshorn Senior Member

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    And a few more

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  11. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    There exists an ultimate irony in these pics, but it's not coming to me. New meaning to flying a cat?
  12. 84far

    84far Senior Member

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    isnt it odd that the rig just happen to fall down the other day... and now there have replace it with the wing fast.... something's fishie ;).

    also does anyone know anything more about the ACC coming to QLD AUS?

    far

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  13. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    I think that Valencia has been proposed as a race venue and the GGYC have until Friday to say ya or na.
  14. Kevin

    Kevin YF Moderator

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    Exactly K1W1, that's what's on the table as of right now.

    Alinghi's plan to use Ras Al Khaimah, UAE was flat out rejected by the New York Supreme Court. They subseuently went back to the original plan of racing in Valencia in February (which is contrary to the Deed Of Gift) and proposed two alternative Southern Hemisphere venues: Proserpine/Airlie Beach and Townsville in Australia should GGYC and BMW Oracle want that. The deadline for making the decision is this Friday.
  15. brian eiland

    brian eiland Senior Member

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    Wingmast/Wingsails

    * Steve Clark gives an expert view on BOR90's America's Cup wingmast

    Steve Clark is widely acknowledged as one of the most astute and most experienced inshore multihull technologists and sailors on the planet. Sail-World asked Steve Clark for his analysis of the largest wing mast ever built.

    Steve Clark:' The rig on BOR90 is a two element single slotted wing. This is a 'cleaner' configuration instead of a 'more powerful' configuration. You will not get the high lift coefficients without the #2 element ( the flap in the slot that directs the flow through the slot.) This is probably not a big deal because they have the ability to set head sails for down wind work.

    'It may or may not have twist capabilities. For one thing, the use of head sails makes this less necessary. For another, the majority of the wind gradient is in the first 30' off the deck, so given the scale of this wing, it may not be as big a deal as it is for the smaller C Class wings.

    'The control system seems to be the tried and true Patient Lady (the predecessor to Cogito) system, which is self tacking and very well worked out.

    'The ability of the wing to operate at low angles of attack will be a big step forward for these boats which operate with so much apparent wind. I think it's going to help. If it blows hard enough for them to fly the main hull without the a jib being set, they will be faster upwind without the jib. This was true of Stars and Stripes 88 and should be true here given that this is a very clean wing. Stated another way, this rig will be able to sail longer without being backwinded by the jib. If that becomes a problem, the boat will be faster without the jib...

    The entire interview by Richard Gladwell in Sail-World.com:

    www.sail-world.com


    ...then have a look at the size of this crewman up in the rigging....WOW!

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  16. brian eiland

    brian eiland Senior Member

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    America's Cup: Steve Clark on Bows, Stress and Weight

    Here are some other good observations:
    http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Americas-Cup:-Steve-Clark-on-Bows,-Stress-and-Weight/58754

    ...and note this endorsment :rolleyes: :D




    Despite having his skipper and lead designer, Duncan MacLane, from the Cogito project, consulting to Alinghi, Clark can only guess at the development process the America's Cup Defenders have worked through with the multihull now known as Alinghi 5.

    'I'm pretty sure that a bunch of the sailing Le Black did over the last year, was loaded to the gills with strain gauges as Dirk Kramers refined their understanding of how the various components of the struts and strings are loaded', Clark surmises.

    'I also suspect they tried several different configurations of trussing to determine if there was a better plan. I have a great deal of admiration for Dirk and would hang my ass out a 10th story window on a piece he said was strong enough! So I would probably believe the platform is not going to see the kind of failures Team Phillips and others have seen.'
  17. brian eiland

    brian eiland Senior Member

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  18. 84far

    84far Senior Member

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    thanks K1W1!

    to have it in australia i think would not be a bright idea, the acc has been away from our shores for to long. i think back in spain would have to be the right one. enjoy another pic... its just... WOW!

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  19. 84far

    84far Senior Member

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    also... have BMW changed there centre boards on the outer hulls? they were curved, and now look straight.... comments

    far
  20. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Having spent a couple of years in Townsville working around the waterfront scene I can't imagine a less prepared place for this type of traveling circus.