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The game of the 35th America’s Cup continues to evolve. Fresh from the team’s big win at the AC World Series in Portsmouth, BAR’s chief technical officer Andy Claughton highlights some of the most recent ‘amendments’


We are less than a year away from the 35th America’s Cup, and here at Land Rover BAR the beat of preparation is increasing in tempo. We have two test boats to keep on the water, key elements in our quest to find optimum race configura- tions. We had a great ACWS regatta in Portsmouth and now lead the race (by 1pt…) to capture the important bonus points for the America’s Cup itself. We are also still digesting the results from June’s trial races held on Bermuda’s


50 SEAHORSE


Great Sound. These were run by Iain Murray, the AC Regatta Director, primar- ily to give his race management team a chance to practise at the match venue. The three teams who have bases there, Oracle Team USA, Softbank Team Japan and Artemis Racing, gave him use of their chase boats and manpower to lay courses and run races. The teams who do not have a permanent presence in Bermuda were invited to send observers, and Oracle were open enough to also invite them to morn- ing briefings at their base. We took full advantage of this opportunity to observe our opponents and get a first look at what racing in Bermuda would really look like. It’s a brave new world of race manage- ment. Iain first plots his desired mark loca- tions and boundary positions in his navi- gation software. He then exports these as an XML file and emails the file to the mark boats who head to the designated position and set the marks. By the end of the first week it was a slick operation, he was even able to adjust the leg lengths mid- race. Bear in mind that the courses are pretty complex, needing nine marks to set a startline, mark 1, windward and leeward gates, and the finish line positioned for the


floating grandstands near the dockyard. The three teams each had one boat to race so a rolling schedule of pairings and entry side was set up, and it proved poss - ible to run four or five 20-minute races in an afternoon. Doesn’t sound like much but the crews are pretty much out on their feet afterwards.


What have we seen, what have we learnt? Most importantly, it is perfectly possible to set a fair racecourse in the Great Sound, in fact it’s a perfect place for these boats, a landlocked bay inside a coral reef – the water doesn’t get much flatter than this. With a reaching start and mark 1 only 500-700m from the startline, hitting the line at full speed and absolutely on time is key. But there is still the oppor- tunity for some traditional pre-start match racing, although it does take steady nerves when both boats enter at 30kt. This increased opportunity for carnage has meant that the pre-start entry arrange- ments have been changed. With the start- line now set parallel to the wind direction for a reaching start, a third mark is added to create a crosswind entry line between it and the windward end of the startline. Traditionally the monohulls would


INGRID ABERY


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