So... whose watching the america's cup races?

[JS]

Match racing AC72s is different from historical classes because of the very "forward" apparent wind angles.

In the old days, you could stay on top of your competition upwind, matching tack for tack, constantly leaving your competition in disturbed air. But not with AC72s. Your competition can be positioned directly downwind from you, and still be sailing in relatively clean air (not turbulent, but still possibly slightly "bent").

Similar dynamic on the downwind legs. Those boats reach downwind at approximately twice the true wind speed, so during a quick, well executed gybe, I suspect the boat can "breathe" undisturbed air from ahead, even if the competition is making a mess of the air right behind.

Footnote:
Though those big-budget AC72s can be considered a compromise compared to other (historic) match racing classes, there are still plenty of those classes available for sailors and spectators who seek a more "authentic" experience. The difference is that those classes aren't a big spectator and media sensation. Unfortunately, it's hard to have it both ways. Though I've been an avid sailor for most of my life, I wouldn't have bothered paying much attention to the America's Cup races if it weren't for those amazing, wildly stresses, high-tech boats.

Cheers,
James

[Bille]

Here's the way I see it :

We purchased some of the Best mercenaries on the planet , and
along with our (1) home-boy , they did a Good job of racing against
some of the Classiest & formidable foes on earth.

In the end, i could-a cared Less who Won , because it was simply Spectacular !!!

Bille

[Rabidric]

Say what you will about the pros and cons of slow monohull match racing , but in my eyes you have to keep going forward. Material, structural and aerodynamic science is pushing the envelope forward in a way that is capturing the imagination of a wider audience. This deserves to be built upon.

Costs definitely need to be constrained though, and I would also like to see boats that are more seaworthy and not mollycoddled by lame wind limits and sheltered inshore waters.

Foiling 50 ft multihulls might be a good compromise but I don't know if that would diminish the spectacle after the AC72s.

In many of these 34thAC races the boat that did the least tacks or gybes was the one that made the most ground on a given leg, even though it meant a less favourable position on the course in some cases. The time penalty involved in the slow re-acceleration back up to a good mode made it tough on the trailing boat that is forced to maneuver more in an effort to find an advantage.

As familiarity grows with high apparent wind racing, I expect designs and control/stability might improve to allow more reliable maneuvering and ride height, thus mitigating some of the price of a poor maneuver here or there and allowing free-er tactical play.

On the other hand, the forward apparent wind angles did also allow some amazing gaps to be opened up and closed just on favourable gusts and lifts. So perhaps that counterbalances the maneuvering penalties the class has anyway.

Either way, to go back to monohulls after this would be total ludditism. Might as well dig up some viking longboats.

[Tiago1973]

is there any small boat sailing class able to foil?

i understand those who love, but personnaly always found sailing boring as f***. but these AC72 are nothing like that

so, is there somewhere a mini-mini-mini-AC72s?

[Minnow]

Mini AC72... Friend here in Ireland built one of these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZU_SqMW_5Y

[longwhitecloud]

8 Kiwis with Oracle Team USA and 7 Australians, boat was built in New Zealand, Kiwis made the Mods that helped increase the speed in final races (a device that balances the hull automatically with a twist of a dial).

RIP Andrew Simpson.

[Peter_Frank]

is there any small boat sailing class able to foil?

i understand those who love, but personnaly always found sailing boring as f***. but these AC72 are nothing like that

so, is there somewhere a mini-mini-mini-AC72s?

Yes, has been for many years, since 2001, the Moth Class got hydrofoils :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moth_(dinghy)
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_hydrofoil



Peter

[Tiago1973]

thanks. i wouldn´t sail those Moth for aesthetics reasons alone. those buggers are ugly

this is + what i was looking for

windrider rave.jpg (2.18 KiB) Viewed 1314 times

think it´s not a sailing class per se but it appears is around for ages (the name of the thing is windrider rave)

surfed a bit in the windrider forum and some people claimed it can hit 40 knts. maybe there is a bit of a fisherman soul on those claims , but even if it is only 30 knts it´s fast as hell. as a matter of fact people over there don´t call it ´sailing´ but "flying it"

for procrastination sake
http://www.windriderforum.com/smf/index.php?board=4.0

[SupaEZ]

Was fascinated about the races and building to scale models at age 13 with my friend

I built the Intrepid and he built the Gretel II....our hulls were 55 cm long

Built our own sails,mast,boom,rigging,lead keel,plaster mold to create the fiberglass hull

Had even some spinnakers

We raced each other following and turning our sailboats using rowboats

The races in 1970 Newport Rhode Island was it for me then

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssF7py0fRLg

We also at the time built model catamarans C class with "wing sail"

Those were very fast and more difficult to keep up with rowboats

They would fly one hull sometime....with toy action figure on the trapeze

[pecmajor]

Can any local SF kiters tell us if the races were held near/ off crissy field. The videos of the races are amazing and make me want to go to SF to kite crissy and see the town.