Catamaran Racing, News & Design: April 2011

Apr 30, 2011

Eurocat 2011: Day 2, Raid photos by Pierrick Contin

Photo: Pierrick Contin www.pierrickcontin.fr

All photos courtesy of master photographer, Pierrick Contin. Contact him for your Eurocat pics at www.pierrickcontin.fr

Not full info and results released yet, but it seems that William Sunnucks won on their M20, left fighting with Herbert Dercksen's Marstrom.

Above: Cirrus R crew racing H16 style with windward rudder up, I remember when doing that at every gybe while racing the Hobie! quite a technique.

From the F18 Class Facebook page: "Moana Vaireaux and Romain Petit to win Round the Isle of Houat long distance race after François Morvan and Matthieu Vandame, having the lead, to loose their mast due to rigging rupture..."
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For more info check the organizer club website: Yacht Club Carnac http://www.yccarnac.com/

Apr 29, 2011

Eurocat 2011: Day 1 Photos by Pierrick Contin

Photo: Pierrick Contin www.pierrickcontin.fr

Photo: Pierrick Contin www.pierrickcontin.fr
All Photos courtesy of one of the main contributors to this blog since the beggining, Pierrick Contin www.pierrickcontin.fr

Video: Match Racing on AC45s, Prestart sequence

We will definitely see the best Americas Cup Ever.-

Although right now those AC45s behave like an A-Class with F18 rig!
Maybe the helm is to blame but...

Eurocat 2011: Day 1 pics, The Phantom racing

Photo: Alex Udin -The 2010 Champs , Olivier Backes and Arnaud Jarlegan domintaing with any design

Photo: Alex Udin - Mischa Heemsker/Bastian Tentij on the Cirrus R

Photo: Alex Udin

Photo: Alex Udin . Darren Bundock/Jeroen Van Leeuwen on their C2

Photo: Alex Udin

Photo: Alex Udin
Excellent photos of the new Phantom, showing the added volume , trademark of the F18s, although some other classes still need to figure out that key feature on overpowered racing cats like the F18 for themselves.
Right now the Phantom is literally and conceptually The Ultimate F18,
Oliver Backes and Arnaud Jarlegan are showing why they are the 2010 F18 World Champs.
All Photos courtesy of Alex Udin/Sail Innovation

Eurocat 2011: Day 1 Results

Photo: Franck Gicquiaud http://www.littoral-ouest-photos.com
Tight racing with the top teams performing.
The current World Champs, Olivier Backes and Arnaud Jarlegan with a temporary lead as Bundock, Heemskerk and Larsen all with BFD. Nevertheless, the french team is testing onsite their new machine and regularity was the key for their big success at Erquy, more to come.

Full Results at http://www.yccarnac.com/uploads/pdf/Eurocat/Resultats/RESULTAT%20EUROCAT%20-%20F18%20-%2029_04_11.pdf

Eurocat: The Phantom

Photo: Dutch F18 sailor, Tony Mels
Definitely a version of "The Final Merge".
A Wildcat 'on steroids', the Phantom was conceived to participate on the Olympic trials for 2016 with the 'Flying' version.
Alex , when coming to BA bring one that I'll make the review onsite....

Apr 27, 2011

Eurocat 2011: April 29

Above, dutch F18 fanatic sailors Bas Paumen&Mark de Ruiter & their Wildcat on their way to Carnac, 970km to go...
Update on preview made on March 29:
- Heemskerk&Tentij on Cirrus R -
- Sail Innovation Team on their own Phantom F18
- Macca on a Wildcat, he left the Nacra ship for Hobie, and that is like going from Madrid to Barca, BMW to Audi, and here like going from River to Boca.

AClass, Vele di Pasqua 2011 final results

Teo di Battista with his Bimare VR1 (photo left) crowned champ at Cesenatico. Vele di Pasqua is the first major regatta of the year fot the A-class , similar to the Euocat for the F18. Last year this championship saw the birth of the DNA, and now the Vision from Catamaranparts, and the updated Bimare, the VR1 had excellent debuts.
Showing that the class has several alternatives like the F18.

Although the conditions were poor, the brand new Vision show its potential, and Teo put Bimare on the spotlight.
- VR1 by Bimare
- Vision by Catamaran Parts Vision

Regarding comments on the previous post: Take it easy, nice performance for both projects. Congrats on the hard work. Get me some good pics, check the exposure the dna had last year right here in CSN, photos and reports are key.
The 2011 Worlds at Denmark will be quite interesting...
Full results at www.congregavelisti.it

No	Numero	Nome	Punti	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	ITA 4	Di Battista Teo, CV Cesenatico	12,0	1	1	6	3	(10)	1
2	NED 3	Hoekstra Sjoerd, Omaho	15,0	3	(dns)	2	2	1	7
3	GER 56	Reutter Georg, TSVH	17,0	6	(9)	3	1	2	5
4	ITA 1181	Marcolini Francesco, YCI	21,0	4	(13)	1	5	9	2
5	GER 14	Baier Bob, SCFF	21,0	2	5	5	6	3	(10)
6	GER 3	Dietz Matthias, PSG	24,0	7	6	4	4	(8)	3
7	ITA 78	Sorrentino Vincenzo, CC Napoli	33,0	(ocs)	3	7	8	4	11
8	AUT 89	Salzmann Nicole, Female, YCRhd	49,0	8	(27)	8	7	17	9
9	GER 76	Stumhofer Helmut, SCC	50,0	11	8	17	9	5	(dns)
10	NED 28	Dwarhuis Pieterjan, WVFlevo	61,0	15	4	21	10	11	(31)

Apr 26, 2011

AC45 Test Racing

Photo: Gilles Martin Raget

Photo: Gilles Martin Raget

Not much to say, just enjoy the Show. Watch the video and the mark rounding of Artemis, assuming Lange is at the helm, you can see what I'm talking about in past posts. Nevertheless seeing these machines racing is a blast! Excellent idea having the 45s to test and gather experience for better AC72s.

Apr 24, 2011

F18, Talk with the Boss: Olivier Bovyn Interview.

Photo Copyright: Eric Bellande - www.direct-image.fr - F18 Worlds at Erquy
Currently the Formula 18 is the Flag Ship of Catamaran Racing world wide, while other classes needed to cancel Worlds events in the past two years due to globlal crisis, the F18 gathered 180 boats for its own Championship, and that's an excellent parameter on how successful the class is.
I don´t know which other sailing class beyond Laser or optis?, mono or multihull, can gather that number for a Worlds Championship.

Olivier Bovyn is the current IF18CA President, and also one of the founders of the class along with Pierre Charles Barraud. Beyond his dedicated work on the F18, Olivier is member of the French Sailing Federation and also plays a significant role at the ISAF defending multihull interests.

Olivier is also a classic car racing fanatic, machines driven when races were defined by driver's ability not technology, just like the F18, beyond every new design launched each year. (Note aside: The number one pilot of that pure bare handling, no computer assisted era is the Argie and 5 time World Champ, Juan Manuel Fangio. Of new era for sure Ayrton Senna, and Schummy on titles)

When I contacted Olivier and Don Findlay in 2005 with an F18 hull cad drawing, they were more than supportive and they both encouraged us to go full forward with the project that now is also a great reality here in Argentina.

Below an interview with Olivier on the Class, Olympics and multis future.
All pics by 1st class professional Photographer Eric Bellande www.direct-image.fr , from F18 World Championship at Erquy, organized by Olivier's Club CVBE
More info on the class at www.f18-international.org
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- CSN:Being head since its foundation, how do feel now, after ten years of the F18?
Olivier Bovyn:Formula 18 is aged 18 actually !... Having said that, you may imagine how nice a feeling it is to see what was originally only a concept in your mind to keep on spreading all over the world, attracting more and more sailors, including top multihull racers coming from the most prestigious classes or disciplines, ie. Olympic Tornado, ORMA 60, or even America's Cup contenders...

Photo Copyright: Eric Bellande - www.direct-image.fr
- Remind us how the class was conceived-created.
OB: In fact, Formula 18 concept was born after a long path, when both Pierre-Charles Barraud and myself were in charge of the FFV's Multihull section we built up from 1985 and beyond. By those days, catamaran racing was mostly reserved to Hobie 16 and Dart 18 Manufacturer Classes, and the need for handicap racing created endless disputes on the way to allocate correcting numbers...

For this reason, we started to work on PMA numbers, issued using IOMR formulas, and we created then the SCHRS, which is now under the umbrella of ISAF, in order to be able to compute ratings based on measured data, the second step being to create 4 racing groups, C1 to C4, encouraging boats with close rating numbers to compete together.

The big step forward has been made in 1988-1989 when Gérard d'Aboville (the man who crossed Atlantic in a small rowing boat) created with some success "exotic" long distance races in China Sea, attracting some famous skippers, such as Peyron Brothers, Fred Le Peutrec, Eric Bruneel or Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant (who is now member of the Banque Populaire Team on the Maxi 40m Trimaran...).
After Gérard went to FFV, asking for technical advise, it was decided to use the 1.07 rating (spinnaker being not included) to equalize all competing boats issued from different yards or makes, and it appeared 18 foot was "the right length" to ship boats into... 40 foot containers.

China Sea Raids success lead Yves Anrys, a Belgian sailor, to manage a series, called "Cataworld Cup", using the regulations issued by Yves Loday, under 18ICCA spelling. Unfortunately, these regulations, largely open, allowing for example Epoxy resin building, quickly lead to a dead end due to the production of expensive "one off's" boats, not affordable to anyone...

Feeling the urgent need for elapsed time racing to develop sport catamaran activity, we then started thinking, together with Pierre Charles Barraud, about a Formula fixing all speed parameters (length, weight, width, sail area,...), using in addition the SCHRS system to equalize crew weights. The aim was the following :

* to provide fair racing for crews of various weights, from 115 to over 150 kg, through the use of two different sail sizes of jibs and spinnakers, linked to the use of limited corrector weights;
* to maintain competition between the manufacturers in order to keep the costs at the lowest level;
* to allow mixed or female crews to compete on an equal basis in large male fleets;
* to protect the interests of the club sailors through an actual measurement procedure.

So the Formula 18 rules were established in 1993, under the umbrella of FFV... even the first important event to be sailed using it being a long distance race near La Rochelle, following the first ISAF Worlds 1994.

You may read the related article on IF18CA web site www.f18-international.org, "How Formula 18 did come on earth..."

Photo Copyright: Eric Bellande - www.direct-image.fr
- In your opinion which are the keys of the great success of the class?
OB: First, I would stress that F18 did actually match sailors expectations : to push forward the concept of fair racing on elapsed time, assuming everyone was given equal chances to win whatever crew size, weight or shape, including mixed teams...immediately attracted numerous competitors all over Europe.

Second, we showed somehow the path to the builders : the market was there, any make not offering to their customers a design to enter the F18 game was out... a good example being Hobie Cat, clearly "on the brakes" at the beginning, still pushing forward their heavy and rather slow Hobie 20 and Hobie 21, until they realise the urgent need for them to offer a possible F18 choice for the members of the Hobie Family... then asking Jean Valer, father of numerous f18 designs, to help them to create the Tiger... with some success !

Third, and this is a matter of fact, we did created a win-win game both customers and builders were interested to play, and, as expected, competition between manufacturers forced them to provide the best cost/performance ratio, for the best interest of club sailors. This has been clearly shown when, due to very disadvantaging currency rates, the Dart Hawk was overpriced, and pushed out of the market accordingly.

- You can´t aim to race in the F1 car racing, even if you have the money to buy one, you can´t race the X40 or AC45 circuit , but you can buy any F18 and race a World Championship against Bundock, Heemskerk, Ashby and the rest of the best catsailors in the World. Which is the relation the class have with Pro sailors?
OB: I would say we have no particular relation with Pro sailors, apart from free and very open talks on the parkings of the main cat events, such as EuroCat or F18 Worlds, and I personally have a really friendly contact with Bundy, Glenn, Mischa, and many others, and I have been really proud and happy to welcome James Spithill into the family during the last Worlds I managed in Erquy. Actually, the Pro connection is mostly done through the builders and the technical Committee, every manufacturer forming a proper "Win squad", aiming to recruiting the best teams...

Photo Copyright: Eric Bellande - www.direct-image.fr
The class has a perfect framework to develop new fleets and promote catsailing, Argentina is the best example, as we started racing on a local made F18 thanks to quite reasonable class rules. Now a new design is launched every year and new fleets are forming worldwide.
- With all the new technical developments in modern cats, how do you forsee the class in ten years?
OB: Hard to say unless to be a soothsayer... What I am certain, is that we have to stick on the basic principles of the F18 concept :

- To make sure anyone is given fair chances to compete, and is provided with the very same equipment compared to "manufacturers squads"
- To allow any club sailor to use the very same platform for a minimum of 4 years not fearing to be totally outdated (and it was really reassuring to see the pretty good performance of many Tigers during the last Worlds)
- To maintain the cost as low as possible (so the reason for us to think about board length limitations...)
- To keep the game really open between the different builders (under that aspect, it was fantastic to see that in Erquy we had to wait for the very last race (n°14) to know who would be granted World Champion, and that we got three different designs on the podium ! (Gold for the Wildcat, Silver for the AHPC C2, and Bronze for the Nacra Infusion...)

Photo: Eric Bellande - www.direct-image.fr - James Spithill-Glenn Ashby at F18 Worlds 2010
-Olympics-
The IF18CA does not support any of its designs to become Olympic. But clearly wants Multis back. - Which is the current status? you are also attending next key meeting in May right?
OB: Yes, I will join St Petersburg shortly, subject to get my Visa to Russia ;-) ...
Answering your first question, we clearly don't want for F18 as such, (and this would definitely be the "kiss of death"), neither any of our current designs to be selected as Olympic equipment, and we duly put a submission on ISAF table last November. Having said that, I have no power to stop Hobie Cat C°, Nacra or AHPC to apply for selection during the scheduled evaluation trials...

But we certainly wish more than strongly a Multihull discipline (or even 2..., according to the 5/5 concept) to be back at the Olympics, for the best interest of the whole ISAF family, as not to retain Multihull again would be more than a fault, when most of the biggest sailing events are multihull driven ! Have a look on the Round the World Record breakers, the Hydroptère project, the Extreme 40 series,... and now the America's Cup.

Furthermore, in terms of development, we need to provide our young sailors with modern heroes, in line with the equipment we offer them to sail.

- Mandatory Mixed crews is not the best option, Open should be the choice, but this is better than nothing, please describe the background on this Mixed proposal. OB: Looking at the numerous submissions proposing alternate slates for the 10 disciplines selected last November in Athens, it seems we are quite certain to get at least a mixed Multihull discipline, and this is really encouraging, even a little bit "tricky" towards IOC. It is probably the price to pay for Multihulls to be back at Olympics, opening the door for a possible 2 Multihull disciplines, men and women, for 2020...

Mixed racing is probably not the best option, but I would say I prefer this to Open, as Open always means "men"... From that perspective, catamaran sailing is probably the family where mixed sailing is not that unusual, some popular classes, Dart 18 or Hobie 16, counting actually many mixed teams amongst their members.

To conclude, I would had one more positive point : to retain a mixed Multihull discipline would probably lead to develop or promote some modern 16/17 foot manufacturer classes, and then to offer those attractive boats to the 16-25 year old young teams under 140kg as an intermediate towards F18 and possible 20 foot Olympic cat !

-AC-
Multihulls are having the greatest exposure ever with the Extreme Series and the AC, every traditional monohull sailor that is discovering this 'new' way of sailing is asking himself "what I've doing the past 20 years" as many Artemis Team sailors told Santi Lange after a few rides on the X40s at Florida training sessions.
- In which way the rest of the 'beachcat' classes must make good use of this new Era?
OB: Once more, I would refer to the idea of a patch from the very grass roots towards Elite sailing, and to the need for offering perspectives to youngsters and rookies. There is a clear link from sport catamaran sailing towards maxi multihulls or AC racers. How many former Tornado sailors are now crewing 60 footers ? For which reason did James Spithill enter the 2010 F18 Worlds ? Look at Franck Cammas swapping from Groupama 60 ft trimaran to F18 Worlds (getting a Silver medal !), or Jeremie Lagarrigue, talented young FFV National Champion, being now in charge of the Hydroptère project...

All "Beachcat" sailors definitely are belonging to the same family, applying the same basic principles, the first being "Keep one hull flying !"

There is a clear need for talented crew members on all these big multis, so clear perspectives for "Beachcat" classes to provide them...

-Youth-
- France is the main promoter for Youth catsailing and racing. please describe to foreigners which are the organizations that are managing and promoting youth sailing in France. OB: First, you have to know FFV is given full authority on the sport of sailing from the French Ministery of Sports. So FFV did actually build complete and parallel programs from 12 years old to 18/19 years old youngsters, covering all the sailing families (single handed, double handed, windsurf, and catamaran), using incentives, sponsors and public funding to help sailing clubs to finance and supply the needed equipment.

Clubs are the key part of the system. They are assembled into provincial bodies, relaying FFV's action, and looking for local funding, in conjunction with tourism and education purposes, one of the goals being to make sailing as usual as soccer towards teachers and local governing bodies.

Success for those programs is linked to shared costs concept : when you succeed in financing and redeeming equipment purchase through tourism for example, by renting boats and delivering training, then it is possible for you to make sailing cheaper for the youngsters, from primary schools to University ...

In addition, FFV and provincial bodies do train coaches, to help them to deliver the best possible coaching to the youngsters.

- Multihull-
- The F18 is mainly sailed by grown ups, in part due to costs that are getting higher (for inflation, usd exchange or whichever reason).
OB: We need more youths in the class, now a specific program of the IF18CA is aiming to get more youngters being able to participate in local fleets.

- In your opinion, why we don´t have more youths racing on F18s? OB: Cost is the core issue, even weight, shape and strength are playing a role into F18 youth development. We plan to offer reserved World slots and free training for teams under 23, and, fortunately enough, competition between builders gives opportunities for some talented young teams to be provided with free equipment in order to broaden the manufacturer squads and, accordingly, the chances to win.

It is then to notice that F18 is now officially recognised by FFV for youngsters to qualify for elite training programs. I wish every MNA were to do so !

2010 Worlds at Erquy - Photo by Eric Bellande check more at www.direct-image.fr
- Future-
I have a clear view of what is the future of sailing: a dramatic change towards performance saling will take place and 4knots monohulls will be used as cruising and pleasure rides, but I´m sure that in the futre we will have an Olympic distribution like this: Moth, Windsurf, Kite, Multihulls double handed, Multis single handed and a Skiff like the 49er. - Is this scenario possible for you?
OB: I would share your point, but the problem is that most, for not saying quite all ISAF members are mainly dinghy oriented, and that the weight of dinghy classes into the decision making process is just enormous, when the multihull world is still weak in terms of representation... (so the 2007 decision made in Estoril to reject the Tornado !)

The only chance for this scenario to become possible would be for IOC to harden its position related to media coverage and, accordingly, to course formats and selected equipment... Who knows ?
OB: Whatever the case, one thing is certain : Life is too short to sail slow !
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All pics by 1st class professional Photographer Eric Bellande www.direct-image.fr , from F18 World Championship at Erquy

A-Class: Vele di Pasqua 2011

Not much info or pics. After 5 races, Sjoerd Hoesktra on a(edit) brand new Catamaran Parts Vision (edit: 'dna?')
Teo Di Battista on a Bimare VR1(?) showing how the class has several competitive boats.
Don´t know which boat Baier is riding. No report available, only results at www.congregavelisti.it
---
Someone send me a report and I'll publish it here...

No	Numero	Nome	Punti	1	2	3	4	5
1	NED 3	Hoekstra Sjoerd, Omaho	8,0	3	(dns)	2	2	1
2	ITA 4	Di Battista Teo, CV Cesenatico	11,0	1	1	6	3	(11)
3	GER 56	Reutter Georg, TSVH	12,0	6	(9)	3	1	2
4	GER 14	Baier Bob, SCFF	15,0	2	5	5	(6)	3
5	ITA 1181	Marcolini Francesco, YCI	20,0	4	(13)	1	5	10
6	GER 3	Dietz Matthias, PSG	21,0	7	6	4	4	(9)
7	ITA 78	Sorrentino Vincenzo, CC Napoli	22,0	(ocs)	3	7	8	4
8	GER 76	Stumhofer Helmut, SCC	33,0	11	8	(17)	9	5
9	NED 28	Dwarhuis Pieterjan, WVFlevo	41,0	15	4	(21)	10	12
10	AUT 89	Salzmann Nicole, Female, YCRhd	41,0	8	(27)	8	7	18
11	ITA 16	Petrucci Michele, CV Cesenatico	56,0	10	19	(dns)	11	16
12	ITA 3	Penco Paolo, AN Sebina	61,0	19	2	18	(ocs)	22
13	ITA 20	Beretta Alessandro, UV Maccagno	61,0	13	11	23	14	(28)
14	SUI 221	Niggeler Franco, SCSTM	62,0	20	16	13	(25)	13
15	ITA 12	Casadei Roberto, CV Cesenatico	63,0	9	23	(32)	16	15

Apr 21, 2011

Wave Piercing and Volume Distribution explained

Merged 'V' shape with a Wave Piercer F18, click images for a better view.

Both diff sections clearly seen, click to enlarge.

This is no VPLP website, but the profiles diagram was quite easy to understand, and besides the wave piercing concept is already explained here many times, here is my take again as we have a 'little' more readers checking the blog.

The inverted or raked bow profile is the common identifier on Wave Piercers, but that is almost pure fancy, the critical change that this concept has provided is found in its Cross Section volume distribution, pictured left.

Traditional "V" shape hulls have more volume on deck as a 'reserve' volume when pitching or digging waves, the idea is to force the hull to stop submerging and to come up again
In catamarans this feature is quite important as they have a tendency to submerge and sometimes pitch pole.

The performance problem with this "V" shape, is producing an undesired excesive bounce or pitching effect.
Below: Wave Piercer hull bottom left, "V" shape bottom right, volume distribution on the cross section axis 'crystal clear'

Wave Piercers basically aim to reduce that pitching movement changing volume distribution upside-down. In this way when the bow submerges, instead of finding more volume on its way down as in the "V" shape hulls, this WP shape provides the contrary, offering less resistance and in theory reducing the bouncing effect.

The problem with initial WP was that they lacked overall volume, and they had a great tendency of submerging without return... clearly offering a good point for reserve volume traditional cross sections.

Another view of both shapes.

But now a days, the WP evolution reached a point where added volume could be merged with its main design concept having in one solution the best of both worlds.

Beyond reducing pitching movement, with the major volume near the waterline, the WP have a tendency to plane, generating lift and reducing wetted surface, this sensation is clearly felt in latest F18s like the Cap, Inf, Wildcat, C2 etc. and is not something you can experience in a Tiger for ie.

Above two F18 Wave Piercers, left the Infusion 'fatboy', by Pete Melvin and left the original F18 WP, the AHPC Capricorn designed by Martin Fischer, with a super thin concave cross section on the bow. Picture speaks for itself on volume differences.
Both designs fly, the Infusion is an evolution of the concept started by the Cap, and it has more margin downwind. Upwind on waves the Cap simply excells.
Key comparison feature here? both have almost the same profile height but total diff volume applied.

Profile shape affects the overall volume and is critical taking account wave height, but you can have a short freeboard with a 'fat' cross section, compensating against other 'taller' bows. This is the case of the AC45.
Although in my amateur view, it lacks overall volume to manage the Wing power in high winds, and many accidents will follow, hopefully no one will get hurt.
Check links below on different WP freeboard heights according final use, racing or cruising.
Maybe ballast to compensate what crews can do on beachcats, as a reader pointed, is the solution, the thruth is something to be resolved by the design gurus, this is just a blog.
The fact that the X40 and the AC45 are overpowered in +20knots remains unchanged, although experienced crews will help to reduce damages.

F18s are nothing like those 40-45 foot machines, my experience ends here and other rules apply on those giants, I'm Martin, but no Fischer!

Inside the F18 class there are many examples on how overall volume affects the performance, and the tendency and evolution is quite clear, the last protoype 18 feet focused on the Olympics, the Phantom, is a good proof of a now well known and proved concept in the class:
"Is better to keep an eye on the race and the course, than being preocupied on a too sensitive platform" this told by the 2010 F18 World Champs -

Again, Control is the key.
----------------------
----------------------
Some links to other views on the blog, like Marstrom's take at WP , Pete Melvin on AC WP, Martin Fischer Interview and some other posts.
- Mastrom on Wave Piercing:
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2010/12/class-marstrom-m5.html
- Pete Melvin on last Cup designs WP
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/pete-melvin-on-ac-wave-piercers.html
- Must read interview with Fischer on wildcat Design
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2010/05/cs-interview-martin-fischer.html
- Pete Melvin own description on Wave Piercers
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/wave-piercing-cruising-f18s-and-ac.html
- Take on WP Cruising cats
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/design-wave-piercing-cruiser-cat.html
- Nice videos of a Navy WP Destoryer
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/wave-piercing-technology-wild-navy.html
- Brett Goodall Interview on the AHPC C2
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-ahpc-brett-goodall-interview.html
- New angular decks trend
http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2010/03/nacra-f20-and-cat-bows-new-trendsetter.html

And many more, just search the archive.-

Apr 20, 2011

AC 34: Technology vs Talent

Frame from Extreme Series video at Qingdao
After the X40s and TNZ capsizes now everyone is having a discussion on design and how to avoid pitch poles, but again, the human factor will become critical with these extreme racing machines.
Being a Box Rule, the A72 will have room for development and we may see some interesting innovations. I'm waiting to see what Juan K will offer for Multis.
But handling will be key if the rule is fair providing similar performance, the tech run will be nothing like AC 33, and is clear we'll see similar boats/concepts racing against each other.

As I tell every single newbie at the cat school and those entering the F18 Class, sailing cats upto 12-15 knots is lots of fun , but above that range the Cat transforms itself in a new Animal quite difficult to control if not trained.
At the Extreme Series all teams are performing and having total control of the X40, beyond 20knots the game gets harsh and some start losing control forcing dangerous situations.

Team New Zeland is "searching for the limits of the AC45" as reported after their capsize today. Well, they already found them, quickly...

San Franciso is no RAS.
AC professional Teams will provide rutinary Americas Cup support and logistics for the sailors and the boats, designers will eat their own brains testing CFD design alternatives, everyone will be focusing on high performance, weight and how to edge some knots....

But this is no ACC Class elephant race, "This Is Cat Racing!"
and as if I were CEO of any of these teams, I would focus first in hiring a experienced leader and helm, only someone from the very heart of Catamaran Racing, a legend capable of providing knowhow and Control, that in the end will be the real key for winning this Cup,
and that catsailor without a doubt, would be Mitch Booth.-

Mitch at the presentation of Team China, holding his Olympic medals, having him involved is only good news for the Cup and multihull fanatics- Photo: www.americascup.com

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