Image credit: Marc Bow.
normally] - it's just too vast so you need a communications system on board." As tactician Davies is not excused from grinding duties which all the crew except Barker have to get involved in to maintain hydraulic power to the AC72s sail and foil control systems. "Normally I am tucked in behind Dean and then in maneuvers I nip in front and get involved with the crew work - a bit of grinding and holding on to sheets now and then, plus a little bit of driving during some of the maneuvers. This time round everyone is multitasking and everyone apart from Dean and Glen [Ashby, trimmer] are grinding at some point or other during the race. Davies said the use of headsets had become a mission critical system on board the boat - vital to the crew coordination required to pull off any of the high speed maneuvers. "The headsets are normal ones but we have an earpiece inside our ear which is moulded to suit with a covering outside of that. When it's windy and you have got 50 or 60 knots of apparent wind coming past - and I'm sure there will be plenty of helicopter noise come the races," Davies told me. Communication is critical on these boats to execute quick maneuvers and it's definitely an area that all the teams have invested in heavily to try and keep an easy communication channel throughout the boat. It's a very tough environment to be able to communicate well bearing in mind the separation of crew members and we have spent a lot of time trying to develop that technique on board."
July 2013
Image credit: Chris Cameron/ETNZ
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