Opposite: blame him, he started it all with the 2010 Deed of Gift Challenge with Larry Ellison… a younger Russell Coutts (yet to become Sir Russell) sails in after sealing the Finn gold medal at Los Angeles in 1984. But things often go a bit strange in the America’s Cup – when the wheels fell off the 2003 New Zealand defence with near-sinkings, multiple gear failures and a dismasting, most forgot the strange hula (top) on their IACC yacht’s hull that was intended to ‘optimise’ the measurement of waterline length. But now things have got even stranger (above) with the introduction of the spidery AC75 which is quite unlike anything seen before in any area of the sport
AC72s in San Francisco. When you look forward into time a decade or two, crystal ball stuff, can you see how it works out? Some people can, others can’t. The boys at Emirates Team New Zealand are excited. They are
still telling me and the world that it won’t be any more expensive than the last campaign. I’m not buying that story. But we will watch what happens. My undecided read at this point is:
l The boats will be exciting in the Cup and there will be plenty of ‘oh shit’ that the teams and fans will like. l It’s a design race far more than a sailboat race. The America’s Cup has always been that way to an extent, but the pendulum has swung all the way to the design side of the equation. Don’t take that as meaning the sailors are not important. Just take it that their role has changed. More part of the design team than sailors.
l Trimming sails, starting and calling wind shifts are not important and won’t be until a few months before the Cup. Each sailor has to bring something to the table in a design and development sense. Speed! Speed! Speed! Get the picture? l It’s got to be expensive. That fact will limit the number of teams participating. Add to that, something that has never been thought of, let alone done before, and the lolly scramble for the limited number of engineers and designers who can pull off this new concept will surely spook potential teams away. We will look back in 10 years and say this was the start of the
monohull revolution, like the AC72 foiling catamarans were the beginning of the multihull revolution. And it will change yachting ‘as we knew it’ for ever. That is a good thing. Change is always scary before you do it. But what the hell! What could possibly go wrong? Listen with your eyes.
q SEAHORSE 33
JEAN SANS
DANIEL FORSTER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
