Tagesberichte siehe Menu unten
08.02.2016
In this issue:
Bermuda AC Village at Dockyard (PDF available)
Team Updates: design & development, rosters, news...
Questions from readers
Chicago ACWS tickets
Cup Experience Monday News
This week's issue focuses on team updates - team rosters, AC Class yacht development and ACWS campaigns. On the Cup Experience website, you can always get a team overviews and updates here.
We'll start with what's happening for all of the teams in Bermuda - here's a draft of team base locations in the America's Cup Village at Dockyard. Oracle and SoftBank Team Japan are operating from the bases shown here. Artemis operates from their main base at Morgan's Point; the base shown here will be used when racing starts in May 2017. Land Rover BAR, Groupama Team France and Emirates Team New Zealand are all operating from bases in their respective countries. They will no doubt be in the bases at Dockyard in early 2017, to launch their race boats and to prepare for the racing in May and June. The landfill for the Public Event Village is nearing completion now. Download this diagram as well as the racing calendars on the America's Cup Guide page, here.
Oracle Team USA
After some two boat testing in Bermuda in late 2015 Oracle sold their first test boat to SoftBank Team Japan. In the first week of February the two teams sailed together in training. Oracle hopes to launch a third test boat in the week of February 8, weather permitting. That will again give them two boats for testing. Their sailing team is up to 14 members - two full crews plus two spares. While one boat testing, they rotate crew when they switch off the electrical power for the hydraulic pumps. In this video, sailing team manager Tom Slingsby explains that the grinders struggle to provide enough hydraulic pressure to get around the race course.
Emirates Team New Zealand
ETNZ has been sailing the AC45X boat they acquired from Luna Rossa. This boat has a mostly standard AC45 platform. Wheel steering has replaced the tiller. The photo shows a white structure where the center spine meets the main crossbeam. This probably houses hydraulics for wing and board control. Notice also the raised track for the self-tacking jib. To my eye, the beam looks wider than the standard one design AC45 - as if the standard tubular crossbeams had be replaced by longer ones. There are no cockpits and no grinding pedestals. We can be sure there are electrically powered hydraulics - for daggerboard and wing control. ETNZ has said they will launch a more highly modified AC45X test boat, possibly in March.
ETNZ: First day flying back on Auckland harbour
Watch the Video
ETNZ does not list their sailing team roster but skipper and wing trimmer Glenn Ashby and tactician Ray Davies from the 2013 campaign are still with the team. Peter Burling has been helming. Burling's crew in the 49er, Blair Tuke has also been aboard their AC45F in the AC World Series, where they top the leaderboard. The fifth member of the AC45F crew is Guy Endean. Endean, Tuke and Burling all sailed together and won the 2013 Red Bull Youth America's Cup in San Francisco.
Artemis Racing
Artemis launched their second development AC45X in San Francisco at the end of January. The boat has since been shipped to Bermuda where the team will begin two boat testing. Artemis calls their test boats "Turbos" - T1 and T2. With the arrival of T2, there will soon be five development AC45X boats on the Great Sound in Bermuda - two each from Oracle and Artemis and one from Team Japan.
Morgan's Point Base Nears Completion
Artemis should soon be fully operational from their base at Morgan's Point.
Land Rover BAR
Since capsizing their T2 test boat on 11 December we have no news about how the repairs are going and when the boat will be back on the water. Damage to the wing was quite extensive. On the day of the accident, the team reported, "The wind range was between 15 – 19 knots, the boat was sailing at a slow speed when an issue with the wing inversion initiated a capsize to windward. No other vessels were involved."
Groupama Team France
Since his training accident at the end of November, Franck Cammas has been spending a fair amount of time at the office, working with the design team. At the same time he has a rehab program that he hopes will allow him to sail again soon, although almost certainly not for the AC World Series in Oman at the end of February.
New color scheme
Groupama Team France now sports the traditional "bleu - blanc - rouge" of their country's flag. While the green and orange of their old color scheme were certainly different, these colors are more to my liking.
SoftBank Team Japan
Since late January, SoftBank Team Japan has been sailing the AC45X test boat they bought from Oracle. The are also buying Oracle's design for their America's Cup Class race boat. Their head of design, Nick Holroyd, formerly headed the design team at Emirates Team New Zealand.
Holoyd has pointed out that daggerboard design will be the highest priority.
The protocol allows teams to fit only four boards (two sets) into their AC Class race yacht. Design considerations include wind range, sea state and stability. When the race boat is launched, the first set of boards will be one of your two racing sets. There is little time for deciding on a final design for the second set of boards - It takes about three months to build a set of daggerboards.
Add to this the fact that contractors have specific build windows in which to construct these underwater carbon fiber wings and it becomes clear that every practice session on the water is precious.
SoftBank Team Japan testing with the AC45X test boat they bought from Oracle
Inspecting the damage to Team Japan's AC45X test boat. Dean Barker reported that the damage was due to a "board system issue." The damage is located near some important components of the hydraulics. Did this happen because of crew error? Or did it happen because of a design or build error?
Two Japanese crew members selected
After an intense selection process in Japan in December, Yugo Yoshida and Yuki Kasatani have joined SoftBank Team Japan. They were selected following a three-day tryout in Zushi, Japan where 22 Japanese athletes were put through rigorous fitness and sailing tests.
Yugo Yoshida is an Olympic 470 sailor. Yuki Kasatani is an oarsman.
Reader Questions to "Ask Jack"
Ask me anything about the America's Cup! I don't claim to know all the answers, but I usually can find someone with the information.
Just reply to this email, or use the "Ask Jack" page on my website.
Martine: I plan to travel to Chicago for the AC World Series in June. Is it worth buying tickets in advance or should I just look for the free public viewing spaces when I get there? Where will the team bases be?
Jack: Short answer: yes, buy tickets, and in advance, ASAP. Response has been strong, it's likely they will sell out, at least the basic level. There are a few spots that are free that might work, but won't be as good viewing as the end of the pier, and it would be a roll of the dice each day as to getting a good position and how obstructed the view will be. Especially for someone making the effort to travel to the ACWS, buying the tickets seems like it will be a more enjoyable experience. Especially since it adds access to the activities and amenities. Whether the VIP level is worth it is up to personal preference and budget.
Team bases will be inside a building at Navy Pier. Boats will be on moorings nearby from Thursday through end of racing, possibly still on Monday.
(Thanks to my friends at CupInfo for their "local knowledge" in Chicago!)
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