Technology


Balancing act


As the foiling AC40 flying monohull flies smoothly across the surface of the water the real magic is happening out of sight below the surface of the water and within the boat itself


Leaving barely any wake and with just a plume of spray streaming off the leeward foil like an airliner’s vapour trail, the impressive straight- line speed of the new breed of foiling America’s Cupmonohulls seems effortless. Yet, aside fromthe hardware that you can see, the technology that you can’t see is frequently whatmakes this all possible. And in this department hydraulics experts Cariboni are at the heart of the new foiling generation. Among themost recent Cup


launches, the AC40 is every bit as impressive as the full blown 75ft Cup boats especially given that the 40’s smaller size and skittish behaviour suggests that effortless flight would be even harder to achieve. The reality is that this impressive


60 SEAHORSE


outward performance relies on some very smart trimming to keep the baby-beast on the boil. Trimming both the sails and the foils is tricky enough, but to keep the adjustments in harmony requires the crew to deliver a delicate balancing act on another level. This in turn has led to some of


the most advanced control systems in the high-performance sailing world which has inevitably required equipment manufacturers to push further into new territory. Among them and at the epicentre


of this new-found performance are complex hydraulic systems which, according to Cariboni’s founder Gianni Cariboni, have resulted in some of the most sophisticated systems ever fitted to a raceboat.


Above: for the canting foil arms Cariboni supplied a double acting, all titanium cylinder with a pull load pressure of 312bar and a push load pressure of 450bar


‘The number of cylinders alone is


a good example as to how much the technology has moved on,’ he says. ‘On an AC40 there are no less than 13 hydraulic cylinders. There is a pair of cylinders each for the canting system, the flap operation and the mainsheet traveller. Then there is a ram for the mainsheet, the jib clew, the jib sheet, the jib cunningham and the jib outhaul. On top of this there are cylinders for the mast rotation and the rudder rake. ‘Clearly, the biggest ram is for the


part of the boat with the highest load, the canting foil arm. This is a double acting, all titanium cylinder with bronze spheres that has a pull load pressure of 312bar and a push load pressure of 450bar. ‘The smallest cylinder is for the


MCONAGHY


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