Paul Cayard Inexpensive?
Paul Cayard
The America’s Cup has always been about technology and sailing skill. Recent developments in sailing technology have produced very fast boats… boats that go 30kt+ are very exciting to sail, good too for ocean racing and setting records. But I would say that it was 2007 that featured some of the best match racing seen
in the America’s Cup; the fifth edition of a 10kt, 80ft, 25-ton boat with 16 crew. Sails were hoisted, gybed, dropped, sometimes dropped in the water and around the keel. Positioning and strategy were evident. There was a story and often drama. Following the Cup last summer there were plenty calling for a
move back to ‘traditional’ boats, seemingly meaning heavier, slower boats. Interestingly, back in the early 1900s, while reflecting on the objectives of the America’s Cup, the New York Yacht Club issued the statement, ‘The America’s Cup is a trophy which stands pre- eminently for speed, and should be served for by the fastest and most powerful vessels that can be produced’. So what does ‘traditional’ mean? Some of us may think that slower boats produce a more com-
pelling match race, but the objective above, interpreted in this day and age, will produce something very fast. However, maybe different from 1907, we live in a world where we like our sporting contests to be watched by a large public. Sometimes for sponsorship reasons we need them to be watched by a large public. For the 36th America’s Cup in 2021 one assumes that the
defender Emirates Team New Zealand and the Challenger of Record Luna Rossa analysed all the pros and cons and have elected to run with speed. In determining their own objectives for the next Cup ETNZ put
out this statement shortly after AC35 was completed: ‘Emirates Team New Zealand have been consulting with a number of potential challengers and there is an overall desire to have a spectacular monohull yacht that will be exciting to match race, but also one that the public and sailors can relate to as a sail boat that really challenges a full crew of professional yachtsmen.’ Releasing the concept four months later and speaking of the
designers, ETNZ said, ‘Their goals have been to design a class that will be challenging and demanding to sail, rewarding the top level of skill for the crews. An underlying principle has been to provide affordable and sustainable technology “trickle down” to other sailing classes and yachts.’ I think the boats are going be going over 30kt most of the time.
So why will there be anything but a jib and mainsail up in anything over 10kt of wind? Will that be demanding for the crew? Presumably the boats will be able to stay on their foils continuously and therefore decrease the cost of getting out of phase and maybe make racing more competitive. ETNZ are saying there will be some sort of stored power to manoeuvre the two-ton foils. Can you imagine the structural engineering going into articulating two-ton foils? The America’s Cup has never been inexpensive and this one won’t be the first. My idea of a spectacular monohull that is also demanding for
the crew and would produce decent match racing is the Maxi72s. At 25kt downwind, they are plenty fast and yet use gennakers so the crew has something to do. But maybe I just don’t have enough creative vision. There are rumours of a Delta mast. ETNZ doesn’t want the teams
to pull the rig every night. Fair idea. The Delta concept is that you have two luff grooves on the mast, one located on each side. You hoist two mainsails, one in each groove, and as you rotate the mast you create a wing, therefore increasing the efficiency and power of the sail plan. These boats will be heavy and sticky compared to the cats of
2017 so they will need a lot of power to get out of the water and up on foils. Falling off the foils will be very costly. The entry period for AC36 opened on 1 January and runs until
30 June 2018. The AC36 class rule will be finalised and published by 31 March 2018. We will really get a look at what is coming at
32 SEAHORSE
us once a boat or two are launched in 2019. Until then all this rhetoric in the media and in the yacht club bars is just speculation. On another note, I just competed in the fifth Star Sailors League
Final in Nassau. This event keeps getting better and the competition tougher. There were 12 Star World Champions in the fleet of 25 and only four made it to the top 10! The non-Star sailors are coming more prepared with top crews
and showing that the biggest gains are to be made downwind, espe- cially with the downwind finishes used for the regatta. Rule 42 is eliminated for this event and unrestricted pumping makes the sailing physically demanding. There were as many as four 50-minute races in a day for the five-day event… To say that we slept well each night is an understatement. The SSL concept is to bring together the best sailors from right
across the sport, and in so doing create a Champion of Champions. All 25 skippers and most of the crews were world champions or Olympic medallists. We had Laser, Finn, Nacra, Star, offshore, America’s Cup and Volvo winners in the competition. The Star is the best boat to do this in. A true one-design, for two
CARLO BORLENGHI/SSL
VAN DER BORCH
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