ROBERT DEAVES
Update
Issue 509 and designer Dave Hollom signed off his article about modern 5.5 Metre design with the hope that his own first attempt at the class – Jean Genie – would be able to maintain her promising early season form. Soon after, the Cowes-built Jean Genie won the Scandinavian Gold Cup, following it up with victory at the 5.5 Metre Worlds in Hanko, Norway. Sadly owner Peter Morton was being held hostage in a hospital ward for unexpected surgery (he’s on the mend) so passed the helm to Laser champ Elliot Hanson, who with Andrew Palfrey and Sam Haines took the title by 2pt. In a class where refinement rather than innovation is considered the best path to success, Hollom (inevitably) chose innovation; Genie is the first new boat to win the title since not long after the end of WW2
AC40S EVERYWHERE – Jack Griffin The AC40 will be raced in its one-design class-compliant configu- ration in two ‘preliminary regattas’ for the defender and challengers and in the women’s and youth events. Teams will also use their AC40s as test platforms, although the yachts must be brought back into class rule compliance for racing. The AC Technical Regulations limit the number of components teams may test on their AC40: four foil wings, four flaps, 10 jibs, four mainsails (eight mainsail skins), and one custom mast tube. Team New Zealand will receive the first AC40 by August and will
test it during the Southern Hemisphere summer. Ineos Britannia will get the second boat. Alinghi Red Bull Racing staked their claim on the third boat when they formalised their challenge last December. Luna Rossa and American Magic are last in line among the current
challengers and will receive their AC40s after Alinghi. A sixth AC40 might go to the rumoured French team which has until the end of May 2023 to submit a late challenge for the 2024 America’s Cup. They would probably want an AC40 for testing, and could field teams for the women’s and youth events even if they do not enter the main event as a challenger. Team New Zealand’s chief designer Dan Bernasconi describes
the AC40 as their best effort at creating a high-performance scaled- down version of their Cup-winning AC75, Te Rehutai. TNZ claims the AC40 has advances over Te Rehutai, while at the same time aligning with the changes in the AC75 Class Rule. Foiling in light air got higher priority than top speed, but the AC40s
12 SEAHORSE
are nevertheless projected to top 40kt. TNZ turned to North Sails to develop the boomless twin-skin mainsail for the AC40. The pointy end of the AC40 will look noticeably different from the
AC75. Testing showed that the AC75’s Code 0 only added drag, and so it was never used for the high-speed apparent-wind sailing in the short races of the 2021 America’s Cup. No Code 0 means there is no need for the V1 AC75’s bowsprit or the extra structure forward of the forestay. This makes the AC40 short enough to be transported between venues in a custom 40ft rack that will hold the hull, the foil arms and rudder, and the two-piece mast. Renderings of the AC40 show the crew of four in cockpits on
either side of the boat. With no obvious way to cross sides, it appears to be set up for two helms, following Luna Rossa’s configuration of their AC75 in 2021. The crew of four will use manual input to steer the boat, trim the sails, adjust the foil wing flaps and cant the foil arms in and out of the water during tacks and gybes. However, all power will come from battery packs; there will be
no grinding. TNZ’s design team developed the programmable logic controller (PLC) for the auto-pilot, which will control ride height only. The crew can override the PLC, holding the foil wing at a preset depth, or adjusting the flap to change pitch angle. Similar to their decision to take the 37th Match away from New
Zealand, Team NZ will build the fleet of AC40s in China at the McConaghy facility. Longtime team member Richard Meacham heads up the project. Meacham explained that this decision to build in China was driven by a shortage of boatbuilding capacity in New Zealand. However,
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