Interesting that American Magic and Ineos Team UK have launched half scale (or so) models of the new AC
monohull class yet the originators of the class Team NZ and Luna Rossa have not, or perhaps have and are keeping it totally under wraps. Haven’t seen anything on the Hauraki Gulf yet. All I’ve seen so far from Team NZ are YTs of the full size hydraulics for the main foils. Will that be shared tech or does each team need to develop their own?
Amazing
boats and really cool to see that they’re doing all manoeuvres points of sail on foil. Might that be due to the scaled
boats having more
lift proportionately than full size?
Between this and the foils being developed by the IMOCA 60s and the
maxi tris it is a very exciting and transformational time at the top end of
racing. I’m wondering how much of this will filter down to cruising boats? Will we ever be flying rather than sailing?
Monohulls, maybe not so much as the
power requirements and relative fragility are not assets. We haven’t really seen even simple systems such as
water ballast make their way into production cruising boats.
Multihulls, maybe so for greater control and dynamic stability. Certainly
rudder foils are already present among the performance set, and curved daggerboards with
lift are also around. When reaching or running hard I would love to know I’ve got a foil helping to keep that leeward bow up. For now ITRW I reef and slow down.
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions