America’s Cup - ETNZ launches 1st AC75 (new)

[CassidyNZ]

Team NZ’s new boat was launched on Thursday and went out for a test sail yesterday.

It was reported on NZ TV news tonight that the boat was recorded sailing at four times the wind speed!! Conditions appeared quiet so guessing 5 to 10kn so at the lower end means that if the true wind speed was 5kn, they were doing 20kn!

Holy cow. This is going to get interesting.

[jmh2002]

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport...-new-boat.html

Kiwi sailing legend Brad Butterworth... four-time America's Cup winner, now overseeing the 2021 challenger series, knows a thing or two about sailing, so when he saw Te Rehutai in the flesh, he was impressed to say the least.

"I would say the challengers are pretty worried about what they saw"

[jmh2002]

America's Cup Rialto: November 20 - Kiwis throw down the gauntlet to Challengers
https://www.sail-world.com/news/233299/?source=rss

Here is a good article detailing the design aspects of TNZ's boat #2.

I find the below photo particularly interesting, showing not only the high volume skeg, but also additional volume admidships.

Combined this again forms a 'mini hull' will provide quite a lot of buoyancy to try and keep those big flat sections clear of the water and aid getting on (or back on) the foils.

All of the challengers have also added skegs and volume in this area too with their boat #2s, but not as much as this, except for maybe the Team GB Ineos boat, but their effort just seems plain weird (of course that doesn't necessarily mean it's slow, but...).

[jmh2002]

Here is a short series of photos which elegantly show how the high volume skeg (mini-hull), massive flare, and hard chines work together to get the boat back on the foils with minimal drag:

https://www.sail-world.com/news/233395/?source=rss

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by jmh2002

Here is a short series of photos which elegantly show how the high volume skeg (mini-hull), massive flare, and hard chines work together to get the boat back on the foils with minimal drag:

https://www.sail-world.com/news/233395/?source=rss

Great articles on that site, thanks! 25 knots boat speed in 6 knots true wind speed is pretty special.

It seems that races in sub 8 knots will be the trickiest ones for keeping the boats foiling.

Max wind speed racing will be great for seeing the crashes when the rudder and/or foil ventilate, especially if the boats are close together.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Great articles on that site, thanks! 25 knots boat speed in 6 knots true wind speed is pretty special.

It seems that races in sub 8 knots will be the trickiest ones for keeping the boats foiling.

Max wind speed racing will be great for seeing the crashes when the rudder and/or foil ventilate, especially if the boats are close together.

You're welcome

When they were out in the light air the other day there appeared to be some astonishment that TNZ's new boat seemed to be foiling comfortably in 5kn true - WITHOUT the Code Zero.

Expert comment seems to suggest that TNZ is now generating A LOT more power from the mainsail and the new boom/foot/clew design and setup.

Boatspeed numbers of 4 or 5 times true windspeed are being talked about.

Yes, I agree it's all pretty special - Wow, just Wow...

[jmh2002]

I came across another photo which is pretty cool too:

[DomPerignon]

The human factor is totally removed. Now it’s only technology driving these boats ( or planes) They could be totally controlled by artificial intelligence and robotic.
What’s the point?
A similar thing was happening in golf with the ever increasing distance of new balls and equipment design but thanks fully they put a brake to it with regulations.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by DomPerignon

The human factor is totally removed.

Hardly...

[Factor]

Weird looking Trimaran, but its great to see they are still using Multihulls.

[DomPerignon]

My point is it’s not about the people on the boat anymore, it’s all about the boat and technology.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by Factor

Weird looking Trimaran, but its great to see they are still using Multihulls.

Well, funny you should say that. I quoted the principle TNZ designer earlier in the thread commented about boat #1, but the comments equally or even more apply to boat #2:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/sports/06-0...-boat-te-aihe/

...as a kind of smaller, secondary hull, minimising drag in that awkward phase between foiling and not foiling.

During those not-slow, not-fast times, “it’ll only be that bit in the water, and that part is far more like a multihull shape”, said designer Dan Bernasconi.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by DomPerignon

My point is it’s not about the people on the boat anymore, it’s all about the boat and technology.

These types of posts are often made and yet at the same time there is also often a misunderstanding and/or lack of knowledge of the history involved.

I posted a thorough reply on this subject earlier in the thread, and I've copied an extract below, since it applies to your comment too (my replies in red):

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post2990532

....there is without a doubt, a tremendous amount of skullduggery, spying, lying, and other deviousness going on.

Agreed, but it has always been like this.

....this whole boondogle started with the so-called Aussie " winged" keel..this was back in 1983...since then it has become a technology game...bigger boats, fancier sails, cats, now foilers..

No, this is very incorrect. The America's Cup has always been a technology race, and a high stakes race:

- In 1851 schooner America was commissioned for the first challenge. She cost 30,000 USD, a huge sum at the time, and a contractual clause was that she be 'the fastest yacht in the United States' - if not the final purchase could be refused.

- She was rigged with flat-cut, machine-woven cotton sails. Most boats of the era set fuller, looser-footed flax sails. Make no mistake, this was a purpose built high tech cutting edge racing yacht for her day, with no other object but to go to England and win. She clocked a 284nm day run across the Atlantic. This thing was a rocketship.

- Legal battles already started in the late 1800s. They are not a recent problem.

- Design innovation has always been at the forefront. Just look at the magnificent J-Class. When Sir Thomas Liption challenged with Shamrock V in 1930 she had a hollow spruce mast and underwent multiple modifications in the search for more speed.

- Four NYYC syndicates responded with each boat costing more than 500,000 USD - during the depression era! One boat had the world's first 'duralumin' mast. Again, these where no expense spared race boats built by the richest men in the world.

...this is not a " gentlemen's" sport any more. It is a contest between the world's billionaires and millionaires..may the biggest bank account win !!

This was never a 'Gentleman's Sport'. And it was always a contest between the world's billionaires. Nothing has changed. TNZ is pretty much the only exception to this and even they have had some wealthy patrons to literally 'keep the lights on' between sponsorship deals.

...these days every last 0.001th knot of current speed, direction, wave height, wind speed, direction, etc, is monitored and analyzed. There is no hope of winning this race without computing power, from actual design to racing.

True. But that has already been the case in high level sailing for a very long time. Eg: they were already using laser range finders in Fremantle and I expect before too.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by jmh2002

These types of posts are often made and yet at the same time there is also often a misunderstanding and/or lack of knowledge of the history involved.

I posted a thorough reply on this subject earlier in the thread, and I've copied an extract below, since it applies to your comment too:

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post2990532

Great rebuttal. There is no doubt that these boats, as all the other before, require extremely well trained and extremely talented people in each of their on-boat roles.

I’ve heard from a semi-reputable source within the design team that the whole canting foil system could not have been developed prior to 5G mobile communications. The amount of data they had to crunch during development and on-boat testing was absolutely immense and they could work in real time with 5G.

The TNZ base has one of NZ’s first 5G cell sites, and it is configured to beam to the training areas in the gulf. Now with their race boats all their data is live-streamed from the boat to both their chase boats and back to base for instant analysis. Responses from the design team can be immediately sent back to the boat. Very cool stuff.

[wingssail]

The size of these boats, the speed that they go, and the height that they fly off the water is astonishing.

When we see the videos they look rather small.

But looking at this photo of TNZ Boat Two in the shed just as the hull was finished really puts it in perspective.

Just imagining that thing going 50 knots, six to ten feet off the water just blows me away.