News Around the World
when it comes time to race his match racing expertise was where he absolutely shone as a coach in a leadership role with our guys. Ray is another bloke who has seen the movie before, and so is
very much a calming influence with the afterguard and younger guys coming through. He gives these talented younger guys the confi- dence not to overthink or second guess what they naturally do so well. But – and this is also critical – when adjustments need to be made he is exceptionally good at communicating that. Without Ray the results in Bermuda and Auckland may have been very different. SH: When you return to the dock what then happens to an AC75? GA: The boat captain Nick Burridge really takes charge, and there would be a 35-40 person squad waiting, including the shore crew and all the boatbuilders. So Jack Taylor, Nick Burridge and Sean Regan take over as the sailors carry the sails up and then head to a debrief. This Cup was all about maintaining the boat and making improvements for the next day. These guys really made it all work. Every team was running a 24-hour operation to stay on top of it all. SH: What is the process for checking the boat? GA: So firstly rig out, boat lifted and into the shed. Then everything,
how it all worked. It was a bit of a risk at the start, to be honest, but we have created something pretty special that, for sure, will trickle down into the industry. SH: I think the mainsails worked so well nobody noticed! Everybody was focused on the foil movements, forgetting how hard these twin- skinned sails were working… GA: They were, and every time we did a batten change or luff curve alteration it obviously had to be on both skins, and so a big job for the loft. But the sail packages lasted so well – plus they stayed in shape. In the old days we would replace a main or jibs after a number of days. These mains were lasting through weeks and weeks of extreme work, and staying in racing shape. The other benefit was we would drop the sails, tow in to the dock, lift the rig out and the guys would have the boat out and into the shed in 35-40 minutes. And in all weathers. SH: All components are designed to do the job but to be as light as they can be. What areas gave the biggest concern…? GA: There were thousands of components on the boat doing their job, and in that package there were bugs that we would iron out early on. There are hundreds of things that could stop us sailing the boat at any point, and so sorting out any issues in the first year and half, both with our small boat and then the AC75, was key to everything. By the time the Christmas Cup came around the boats were pretty refined and very well maintained. SH: Any concerns with the hull and structure? GA: No. Again we had a brilliant structural team who did a fantastic job. But funnily enough a lot of the guys had never built a boat before! These new guys from outside the industry worked with our existing boatbuilders, and that new blood really raised the bar, push- ing boundaries that may not have been attempted in traditional composite boatbuilding. So once again we looked outside the square and in challenging the visions of normal it worked extremely well – hats off to Dan Bernasconi and his team who gave us sailors something we could really sail hard on the limiter. SH: Any clear changes in the boat to be made – lightening foil arms, for instance? GA: In the review process of the AC75 class I am sure we could potentially pull some weight out of the boat, and moving forwards in Version 2 or 3 that certainly will improve the light-air performance. The boats will not get slower as they keep developing. Righting
After 10 America’s Cups you can see why it would be tempting to call it a day after winning the last two in a row. ‘Clouds’ Badham may be metaphorically hanging up his GRIB files and retreating to his hideaway deep in the Australian bush, but those Hobart boys will track him down when the next big race comes around
rig, hull, foils are all checked and ultrasound tested where needed, particularly the high-load areas of hull, foils and structural compo- nents. The sailmakers would go over the sails, checking and making adjustments from our notes and I was obviously involved there. Then with the hydraulic and electronic side there was a whole schedule of maintenance in place – very much like bees round a honey pot. For Sean and Nick their management and choreography of all
this was vital so that people didn’t trip over each other! What was interesting was we had a lot of young guys coming through, and when you place them with more experienced guys they deal with some seriously full-on situations really fast. SH: Jibs and double-skinned mainsails – much repair work there? GA: Actually, there wasn’t. The sails had been developed from day one and we, and it seems all the other teams, were extremely happy with how the twin-skinned main worked. The performance of these boats, particularly upwind, when you have over 100kph of apparent over these sails, means a single-membrane mainsail would simply not cope with that amount of airflow over it without turning itself inside out and flapping itself to bits, particularly during manoeuvres upwind. That stability, combined with the range you could get the sail through from light to heavy air, meant we were very pleased
32 SEAHORSE
moment is great for high-speed uprange performance, and the boats are so fast upwind now that if you were half a knot slower you wouldn’t really pick it up. But what you would pick up is if performance improved in light-air marginal foiling conditions, and so that will be discussed by all the teams involved in the class. Certainly through this last Cup the teams discussed if we stayed with this class what would the future look like? Plus obviously with all the existing boats out there you would like to see them have a future home. There will be some good conversations happening over the coming months! Blue Robinson
USA The hardest-working man in yachting? Not enough credit is given to those who plan, promote and execute good racing events. For anything on a national or international scale this is a lot more than what those of us with grey hair remember in our youth: bunch of old guys in blue blazers having nice lunches and bottles of wine while raising flags and blowing horns or firing cannons. The respect they got (and in context, surely earned) seemed to be polite and often mistaken as just part of the formal culture of the sport. We never did appreciate the accumulated years of their knowledge and insight. We had a hint they were wizards, we just never got to see what was behind the curtain. Top-end race and event management is a little different these
days, and we’re not talking about the America’s Cup, 52 Super Series, Vendée Globe or other such grand prix events where there is plenty of funding to spread across a team of pros to run things. No, we’re talking about the racing at the lower to upper-middle end
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 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106
