Judge Approves Engines in AC

[sneuman]

Judge approves engines in America's Cup - Sports - MSN Philippines News - News

We could see not only the first tris, but the first boats to retire due to engine problems.

This is like playing tennis with the net down.

[jdoe71]

AC ceased being interesting quite a while ago. It's just a circus now and has little relevance to sailing as done by most people.

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by jdoe71

...has little relevance to sailing as done by most people.

I don't know about that, I see way too may people motor sailing (or just motoring) in these parts.

[jdoe71]

Originally Posted by FrankZ

I don't know about that, I see way too may people motor sailing (or just motoring) in these parts.

On reflection, you have a point there....

[Talbot]

The following expresses my interest in this competition/farce/legislation

[Joli]

Not much of a surprise, the loads on those things have to be enormous. It would take a very big crew to trim aggressively for buoy racing. Coordinating all that crew would be tough and if they stuff it up you're hanging on for dear life 90 feet from the water.

I want the job of dumping water on the winches so the sheets don't melt, it's probably automated though.

[geoleo]

They also cancel the race if wind is above 12 knots

[SearenitySail]

Originally Posted by georgetheleo

They also cancel the race if wind is above 12 knots

George,

The idea it to avoid that, which was not an unusual occurrence in former America's Cup regattas. According to Pete Melvin from Morrelli & Melvin:

Determining the sail plan dimensions was difficult because the boat has to be powerful in light winds and not overpowered in stronger winds. “It’s been challenging to have the cat fully powered-up and flying a hull in light winds, yet also able to sail in 30 knots,” Melvin said. “We put a lot of time and effort into sizing the wingsail and the platform dimensions in order to sail in that full range.”

Catamaran Racing, News & Design: AC72: The future is Now

And no, jdoe71, AC racing is not any more relevant to the sailing that most of us do than the Daytona 500 or Indy 500 is to the automobile driving most of us do.

I have sailed on a friend's NYYC Class Swan 42 and his racing (and his budget) isn't anything like most of our sailing is either!

Yet many people are entertained by those races, as they are by Formula I or many other auto and sailboat races.

I imagine many people will be entertained by the new breed of America's Cup AC 72 racers and I don't believe the promoters really care if most viewers are sailors or not!

Still I look forward to watching, what has the potential to be, some exciting racing.

That is if I am not out sailing my own boat instead!

Marshall

[geoleo]

A lot of people watch wresting all the time on TV and some people go to DIsney Land every few weeks too

[sww914]

I'm excited about it, I want to see the spectacle. I hope there are AC hotties to rival the F1 hotties and if there are I don't care if they run their engines.
They could put the engines on a timer like the boost button on the F1 cars, you only get, say, 3 minutes of engine and that's it.

[geoleo]

WOW your a advertisers dream--How about two 990 Hp nascar engines in each hull driving a 40 inch maxprop -could be 'time limited to 55 seconds a minute--what say?

[geoleo]

Wait aminute--your sailing ? a Vagabond 39? For you -you get - a co coupled Russian skyhook turbine powered heliocopted crewed by DR No

[sww914]

No, I'm not sailing anything. I'm working on a Vagabond 39.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by sneuman

We could see not only the first tris, but the first boats to retire due to engine problems.

I know this is an old thread, but it was a long time ago that the first sail boat retired from a sail race due to engine problems. Boats have been retiring from the sydney hobart race as a result of engine problems for some years. Any boat that is unsafe at sea if its engine stops is not a sail boat in my humble view.

[markpierce]

Plese bring back the J boats!