Look closely and you can pick out one of Jim Clark’s little racers next to his three-masted schooner Athena in Porto Cervo. You do need big toys to play in this pond, though Richard Branson does very well thank you on his kiteboard (Branson is a lobbyist for Olympic kiteboarding). If everybody were the same there’d be no assorted biscuits; presumably it applies to billionaires too?
Francisco Bay. Under the watchful eye of coach James Lyne they left no stone unturned and it showed. On the Stigwe rounded six of the eight first top marks in the top five, yet our best finish was a third! But for me there was something other than Samba’s dominance on the water that stood out at the presentation. John’s son Liam, who is the same age as my son Aden (12), finished the event third. Liam is a neat kid and is lucky to have the support of his dad. Some may read this and think that just means the financial backing… hardly. John gave an emotional speech that was from the heart about what it was like to watch his son succeed. Having worked for John and come to know him as a friend it was pretty nice to see. Even at this writing I can hear his words about what it meant to him that the sailing community had embraced Liam as a competitor and how that meant more than the win. As I watched two friends have success I could not help but feel happy for them… But it was painful to lose.
Standing by on a glamorous October day
OIL SUPPLY – Jack Griffin
Hydraulic specialists will join the sailors and coaches to develop the playbook for manoeuvres on the America’s Cup Class yachts that will launch around the end of 2016. The four men on the pedestals need to generate all the oil pressure in the hydraulic controls for wing camber and twist, for daggerboard rake and cant, and for raising and lowering the daggerboards. The class rule permits three manually pressurised accumulators – two for raising and lowering the boards and one for rake adjustment. Wing camber and twist adjustment require the grinders to turn the handles – the accumulators are only for daggerboard adjustment. As we develop our playbook we need to budget a limited resource: oil pressure. We have the pressure in the accumulators plus the pressure the four grinders can generate. One of the top priorities in our budget is having enough pressure to let the helmsman change the board angles to generate more or less lift and keep the boat flying stably.
In the spring of 2013 Oracle came close to capsizing their AC72 a second time in training one day when Jimmy Spithill pushed the
button to adjust the daggerboards and nothing happened. The wing trimmer had just made an adjustment to the wing profile and bled off all the pressure in the system, leaving nothing for board rake. After that incident they prioritised having enough pressure to adjust the boards. Emirates Team New Zealand famously had a near capsize in Race 8 of the America’s Cup Match when the hydraulic ram that tacked the wing didn’t have enough pressure and we heard Dean Barker yelling ‘hydro, hydro, hydro’ as the grinders kept pumping the handles. It will be interesting to see if ETNZ adopts a self-tacking wing as on Oracle’s AC72 or if they stay with hydraulic controls to tack their wing. Oracle’s two test boats both have self-tacking wings.
Once we set the safety-related priorities we can start working on the budget for manoeuvres. How much oil pressure do we need for a roll-tack? The leeward board needs to be raked to increase lift and fly the bow as we start the turn. The old windward board needs to be lowered, using pressure from the accumulator to start dropping
Sir
I was very pleased to read your October editorial on the America’s Cup, in particular: ‘There are many frankly stupid parallels drawn between the America’s Cup and motor racing. The worst-informed reference Formula One…’ Ever since the AC marketers grasped at this comparison to F1 a few years ago, it seems increasingly silly and irrelevant. In addition to the points you mention, the attempted association falls on barren soil for the simple reason that, while billions drive cars and can relate to F1, very few of us sail. Those who do, find the comparison stupid; the non-sailors either don’t see it or could not care less.
The AC folks would be better off just promoting the AC as what it is: a great sailing competition at the pinnacle of the sport. And stop trying to borrow tags and recognition from other sports. ‘World Series’, of course, is taken from baseball, which almost guarantees that many baseball fans find its use for the AC ridiculous. John Kalish, Brussels
SEAHORSE 9
INGRID ABERY
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