sail their AC72, but once they mastered it they ran off eight straight wins to crush Kiwi hopes. After having burnt through a few hundred million dollars to stage
AC34 in San Francisco, Oracle moved to foreign waters and dramatically downsized the yachts. Five challengers showed up. Low-budget Team France took races from big-budget BAR and from Artemis. The Kiwis out-engineered and then out-sailed everyone, dominating Oracle eight races to one in the Match. The AC50s – the second generation of foiling wing-rig cats – were
faster and more manoeuvrable than the AC72s, but lacked grandeur. Seen from a distance, they were hard to distinguish from the AC45s being sailed at the same time in the Youth America’s Cup. After the Kiwis got their hands on the Auld Mug they opted for
grandeur and daring innovation: the AC75 foiling monohull with a double-skinned soft mainsail. This technical innovation has yet to be seen afloat, much less racing. The structural engineering challenge of designing the foil arms
has led to delays in the build of the yachts (originally planned to splash at the start of April). Two possible ACWS regattas in 2019 will not be held. Three substantial challengers, Luna Rossa, Amer- ican Magic and Ineos Team UK, have the means and the talent to design, develop and race the AC75. ETNZ is once again betting on their formidable simulator capabilities to strengthen their defence. Three late challengers signed up then benefited from an inter-
esting ruling from the Arbitration Panel concerning entry fees and the performance bond: despite deadlines in the Protocol they face no penalty for not paying. As long as their accounts are up to date when the AC World Series starts in a year their challenges remain valid. This feels a bit like the situation leading up to the 2013 Cup when most of the low-budget challengers dropped out. On the business side the three billionaire-funded challengers
show little interest in the commercial side of the America’s Cup. They would have little opportunity for sponsor activation even if they wanted it. The first AC World Series was postponed to April 2020 – over two and a half years after the last race of the 35th Match in Bermuda. ETNZ is clearly focused on Auckland and showing a return on investment for their government funding for the event. Business, technology, innovation – all part of the America’s Cup
mix. Each new defender introduces their own recipe. It will be interesting to taste the cocktail served up in Auckland in 2021.
BROKEN – Terry Hutchinson A cool spring morning in Annapolis, Maryland and while it is always awesome to be home can’t help being a bit bummed as I am meant to be racing in St Barts. But after a great start the event came to an abrupt end. In a relatively benign practice session Bella Mente bore away through a tack-set manoeuvre that included a moderate size bang and the top two metres of the spar buckled. The hard part of this failure is we were not abusing the gear. Lord
knows we’ve had our fair share of being unreasonably hard on gear; part of the structural testing is to load the boat up then intentionally broaching and making sure that what just happened does not. As we begin to understand the reasons why a failure like this
occurs it is a simple matter of not speculating. Having a great supplier behind Bella Mente in Southern Spars it is critical to let the experts review the video and loadings as the situation unfolded. From there all we can do is move forward and improve. But it is a constant reminder of building in reliability to all the boats we race. Success through failure is a brutal way to improve. American Magic. Things are chipping along in America’s Cup
world. The days in the Mule are exciting and time will tell how beneficial. All the teams are in a holding pattern while the foil arms are being constructed. It has been interesting following this – the AC75 foil arm is an incredibly complex part and, as you can imagine, is going to see some load! One of those things that regardless of how much teams scream and shout about delivery cannot be rushed. As we just learned with Bella Mente the foil arm is a no-fail part.
Imagine if one team has a failure and the other three are still sailing. The fall-out would be horrendous, hence the reason we continue to back the methodical, diligent processes of the builders at Persico. The extra time for peace of mind is well worth the investment!
Now that’s a spinnaker pole. This is Shamrock I about to cross the finish during the 1899 America’s Cup after another thrashing by Charlie Barr’s multinational crew on Columbia. But it wasn’t the sailmakers’ fault such over-long poles were carried – the rules of the Cup had yet to permit spinnakers to be sheeted to leeward of the forestay so this was the only way to fly the sail effectively
Looking at the future a lot more Mule sailing on the horizon…
probably the absolute most fun you can have in a drysuit! I know we are all missing the racing and in 2019 we will have to live vicariously through the 52 SuperSeries website watching Quantum Racing defend last year’s trophy. Exciting times ahead and chomping at the bit to go racing!
HIGH AND LOWS – Will Harris The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster. I certainly didn’t expect to be sitting where I am today. After a significant grounding in Leg 1 of the Sardinha Cup, Figaro 3 Hive Energy sits back in the boat shed in Brittany. Considerable damage to the keel has meant we were unable to carry on and compete in Legs 2 or 3. It was quite a successful build-up to this two-handed event. The
new mast was ready after earlier damage to the spreaders, and I delivered the boat solo for the first time to St-Gilles a week before Leg 1. On arrival, we went through the safety inspections and were feeling ready for the racing to begin. Getting to this point was an incredible feeling. Although it’s a relatively small boat, the time and effort that go into setting up the boat by yourself are a huge under- taking. It’s almost a race against time from the moment the boat is delivered to make sure you have prepared as best you can. Leg 1 (the ‘Warm Up’ leg) was set to be a 24-hour sprint around
Ile d’Yeu, down to Les Sables d’Olonne and then back to St-Gilles. Off the startline the fleet saw moderate conditions, with fair winds predicted for the rest of the race. With around 12-15kt of wind, a short windward-leeward course was set before we headed offshore. We managed to come off the line well and sailed around the last
leeward mark 10th. Next it was a swift reach up to the northern side of Ile d’Yeu. Dropping the spinnaker, we began to round up around the back of the island under jib with the whole fleet in one unbroken line only a few metres apart. Suddenly, bang. The boat stopped dead… It took me a few seconds
to realise what had happened. I was steering at the time and was thrown forward. Not as badly as Eric, who flew into the coachroof. We knew we were close to the rocks but according to both the
charts and GPS we were still 70m from any shoals. From the sound of the crash we knew it wasn’t a small hit so Eric went down below to confirm any signs of damage. We spent the next five minutes gathering ourselves together and informing race control before deciding that the boat was in a fit condition to continue the race. By now we had fallen towards the back of the fleet. After such
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