OH Poop!!!! American Cup Cat Flips (video)

[avb3]

Yeah, I know, controversy.

Cat flips etc.

[rowingdude]

Holy cow, that looked.. crazy. Any idea why it happened?

[James S]

Pretty spectacular....

Amazingly, I didn't see any signs of damage to the vessel, looks like once it was righted they could have kept on sailing.

Cool....thanks avb3

[avb3]

Originally Posted by rowingdude

Holy cow, that looked.. crazy. Any idea why it happened?

It's a cat? (running, ducking and hiding)

[James S]

Originally Posted by rowingdude

Holy cow, that looked.. crazy. Any idea why it happened?

Looks like they were on a run and the noses just dug in.

As an armchair racing cat engineer/designer I'm thinking a little more hull length ahead of the mast might help....or perhaps some more buoyancy in the noses.
Or maybe a reef.

[sailorboy1]

hey that's what happens when a cat sees a bird fly by, it jumps for it!

[avb3]

Originally Posted by James S

....Or maybe a reef.

That was my thought. On the other hand, as this was a practice, maybe they are trying to find the limits of performance? After all, it appears it's an Ellison sponsored boat... and he is not known to be competitive at all

[James S]

I think all the next America cup boats are exactly the same..by the same builder...could be wrong?

[roverhi]

These are crew training boats. They are all the same design and mass produced to keep the costs somewhat below the stratosphere. The actual America Cup Boats will be individual designs built to a rule and about 1/3rd larger.

The mainsail is a wing design so reefing is a problem as it's a fixed sized sail. They can alter the shape but not the actual sail area.

These boats are prone to pearling (surfing term for the bow playing submarine). The sails have so much drive they force the bows down. When they hit a wave just right, the nose pearls, and the boat stops. All the drive from the sails is still happening and has to have somewhere to go which causes the stern to lift and the boat pitch poles. Moving the mast further aft may have a beneficial effect but you'd have to talk with a NA to figure that out. Designing the bows with more life might also help but would probably slow the boat down. These hulls are designed to go through waves more than over them. If the full size Cup boats have the same issues, we are going to see some spectacular spills in the real competition. Pearling seems to be a problem with high performance Cats. There is video of a cat racing in Puget Sound doing the same thing a couple of years ago.

The boat probably was fine but for the hole in the main. One of the crew couldn't hang on when the boat pitch poled and fell through the main making a pretty big hole. You can see him falling in the Latitude 38 video. The main is a rigid frame covered with pretty light gauge mylar like a fabric covered airplane wing. Fortunately the crewmember apparently went through the sail between the framing. Believe he wasn't injured though they did send him to hospital for a check up. There is a reason they wear PFD's and helmets on these boats.

At the end of this video is a near capsize that happened sometime earlier that shows the cause a bit better: http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/...6-13&dayid=595

[boasun]

Now you know why I want a Mono hull boat

[MarkJ]

A guy went straight through the mainsail!!!!!!!!

he could have been killed if he hit the boom or rigging.

That was sacry!

[avb3]

Thanks Roverhi... that was educational!

[oldjags]

Originally Posted by James S

Pretty spectacular....

Amazingly, I didn't see any signs of damage to the vessel, looks like once it was righted they could have kept on sailing.

Cool....thanks avb3

There's a big hole in the mainsail where a crewman fell right through the sail. It looks like it will still sail, but I'll bet the repair bill on that carbon fiber wing is going to be a bit higher than a traditional sail would cost to fix.

Looks like they had a strong gust, and they bore off to keep from being flipped, and then just dug the bows into a wave.

[boasun]

The America Clup should go back to the J boats...

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by oldjags

then just dug the bows into a wave.

Wave? Its flat as a tack.

And did you see those ribs inside the mainsail foil? He could have been sliced, diced and Juilenned.



Maybe the next Americas cup will be a blood sport?




At least we might start watching it