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

[Pelagic]

Incredible weekend of Racing with Saturday and Sunday being polar opposites.

What has been skirted around by commentary and seems to bear our by the results is that UK has the best onboard management and US the worst

[CassidyNZ]

From reports in the local press it would seem unlikely that American Magic are going to be ready to competitively race by coming Friday and given that they have as yet not scored a point in the Prada Cup, their chances of being the official challenger must be seen as being dealt a mortal body blow.

Even if they get their boat racing by Friday, they’re missing out almost surely, of five days of practise/development that Ineos and Luna Rossa both will have. Tough break.

It shows the vulnerability of these teams. Such a disaster could just as easily befall one of other teams if they continue to explore the limits of performance. And the irony is that if they don’t continue to do so, the end result will be a team that goes into AC not knowing how hard they can push.

ETNZ, whilst publicly showing the right amount of concern and support, must be secretly delighted by this accident.

[cj88]

They have the option to use their first boat for this next round and they will still be in the semifinals so all is not lost yet.

[jmh2002]

Someone has analysed more of the audio feed coming off Patriot during the incident:

"Barker has commented on "bear away" control issues during practice. Perhaps is even nervous about the move. On the "sound feed' He asks… "would you take the left gate, even with the tack?" Hutchinson the multi tasking skipper, grinder and tactician tells him to go for it "in a 100 (meters)". Mainsail "controller" Goodison spots the gust ahead and clearly says this might not be a good idea. Barker indicates his commitment to Hutchinson's direction. The last thing he says on live sound feed before Patriot launches itself is …"oh ,we have lost the rudder again".

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by cj88

They have the option to use their first boat for this next round and they will still be in the semifinals so all is not lost yet.

It’s not the boat hull that is the problem - that’s reasonably easy to fix - it’s all the electronics and hydraulics that were flooded and destroyed. The cost and effort to replace all those components is several months and 10s of millions of dollars.

If it was trivial to replace those components don’t you think Team NZ would have equiped their first boat for two boat training? They didn’t, partly because they lifted and shifted all those components from first to second boat and partly because they don’t have enough crew to race two boats.

They have until 29 January to get racing again in the Prada Cup Semi-Final as the third placed boat. Of course, the two other challengers will be spending their time until then getting faster and better, while AM will be spending their time in repairs and on a simulator. Doesn’t look too good, sadly.

[CassidyNZ]

On my boat I have electronics that, if dunked in salt (or probably any) water would not work as the manufacturer intended. But then my boat is worth maybe a hundred grand. If I lost all of my electronics I could still safely and effectively sail my boat.

I would think that a boat that costs tens of millions and depends entirely on its electronics to make the boat work at all, all of their electronics will solid state, encased in epoxy, submersible to 1000 metres without any water ingress and all the plugs/connectors will be bullet proof. Even if the plugs etc. are not hermetically sealed, a can of moisture repellent should do it.

In my opinion if their electronics are unable to be dunked in water for a couple of hours, they need to have a serious discussion with their development engineers. All the other systems are mechanical or hydraulic which can probably be rendered fully operational with a squirt of WD40.

Surely nobody goes into a $100million yacht racing campaign with a boat that can’t get wet down below? Yeah, I know there is a difference between getting wet and being submerged but still . . . .

No, I think their boat builders will fix the hole and they’ll be back in business.

[GreenWave]

The US team totally screwed the pooch Sunday They could have and should have been more conservative given their lead. Did something fail before the decision was made to try that difficult maneuver?

[MicHughV]

seeing as the hull of these AC75 boats is meant to be out of the water as much as possible and plays little part in the performance of the boat, other than to provide a platform for crew, foils, mast and sails...if it were me.....I'd throw a patch on that hole and focus on the electronics and hydraulics...

the thing that needs fixing...from where I stand.....is some better communication between helmsman, tactician and crew...there seems to be a disconnect here...???

I wouldn't count the American's out yet....they have come from behind before...

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by cj88

They have the option to use their first boat for this next round and they will still be in the semifinals so all is not lost yet.

Yes, the target now must the repecharge (semifinals), I’m sure they have no further interest in the round-robins. They’re going come last in those no matter what else happens.

Their situation is presently as bad as it gets, it’s all downhill from here. The only remaining question is who will they be sailing against in the semifinals.

Will they use their 1st boat? Unlikely. Most of the gear on the new boat came from the old boat so if it’ll work on the 1st boat it’ll also work on the 2nd boat which is demonstrably faster. Fixing a hole in the bow is a simple task compared to swapping boats.

[MicHughV]

in 2014, Larry Ellison was down 8-1 in the final races....the next race would have put the AC in New Zealand...but we all know what happened next...

Could it happen again ??....Can lightning strike twice in the same place??

Fixing the boat is one thing. Fixing the communication between the crew is quite something else.

[jmh2002]

They were in the lead but nothing a wind shift or an error couldn't change.

So rightly so they were still racing and wanted to head for the favoured side of the course.

I don't think that there was a communication error - they decided what they wanted to do and went for it - but there was a boat handling error.

The bear away in breeze and at high speed is a high risk maneuver in the AC75, as it is in multihulls and other high performance boats.

But it's part of sailing the boat and racing the boat - as are boat handling errors too (just as there are crashes and other mistakes in F1 as well for example).

So much for the many posts suggesting there is little crew input and that computers sail the boat...

Sailing the AC75 is in fact extremely physically and mentally challenging for the crew.

[cj88]

I've been wondering about having Hutchinson serve as grinder as well. At this level does it really make sense to split his focus?

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by cj88

I've been wondering about having Hutchinson serve as grinder as well. At this level does it really make sense to split his focus?

Especially when one looks at Ineos where they’ve reduced their grinders from seven to six to make sure their strategist is totally focused on the task. Seems to have worked out for them.

Mind you, their six grinders looked totally whacked at the end of their races.

[CassidyNZ]

One has to say, that’s a fair sized hole. Not surprising the boat wanted to go to the bottom.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by cj88

I've been wondering about having Hutchinson serve as grinder as well. At this level does it really make sense to split his focus?

There continues to be quite a lot of discussion about this and it's an interesting topic. All the teams do things slightly differently in this regard.

There is certainly a balance to find between focus on the tasks at hand, producing enough grinding power, getting the tactics right, flying the boat correctly, trimming the main, switching sides during tacks and gybes, etc, etc.

As we know at the last Cup in Bermuda the Cyclors on ETNZ provided not only for more power from the legs, and less drag from the crouched position, but also to be hands free - Blair Tuke was 'cycloring' whilst also being the dedicated 'Flight Controller'. On all the other boats the helmsman both steered and flew the boat at the same time (via the twist grips on the wheel).

For this Cup all the teams have dedicated Flight Controllers. Lesson learnt.

Luna Rossa use two helmsmen, so they don't need to swap sides. One drives while the other flys the boat I believe.

Ineos have less grinders and the grinding pedestels facing outboard because they are only used by one grinder each. This setup is supposedly to have more crew free for other roles - eg: Giles Scott is totally focused on Tactics.

It may also save some body weight, because the grinders are all huge guys! But does Ineos still have enough grinding power available? That might only become clear during a race with a lot more tacks. Certainly in Bermuda some boats actually ran out of hydraulic pressure from the grinders.

Everything is a trade off and it's not clear if there is a 100% better way to do things yet. Each setup seems to have pros and cons at this point.

The different boat setups are very interesting.