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I got a text from a mate whos working on a building in town and they said that they have just put the wing on the cat and might be taking it out. Does anyone know if they have left the dock?

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Wing is up and boat is in the water. But its hard to imagine that it will go sailing this late in the day? Thought if they are limited to 30 days it will dock out first thing...

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If you can get down to the harbour then do so....the beast is going to fly today.

 

It's a green light - we are heading out on the water today! We have a very small weather window so we are leaving promptly at 1pm.
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Fully foiling... Hmmm... I don't think they would have time to learn to sail a fully foiling 72ft cat. Unless they just hire in the Hydroptere team!

Any rumours of the Hydroptere team disappearance maybe?! :D

 

I guess the learning has began.

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Exciting. I can't wait to see the foil config on these beasts.

 

I'm willing to bet the race will be won on foil design more than wing and hull shape.

 

Only a few weeks to go :thumbup:

 

You heard it here first folks :D

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Some more comment via my email inbox

 

With short courses for the cup, the issue is not whether they can foil, but who can keep the boats foiling while changing direction & how quickly they can foil at starts and marks if they do fall off. The greater the lift, most likely the easier to stay in the corners, but the slower at high speed. More drag.

 

The amount of time lost when tacking or gybing as opposed to a boat that can continue to foil will be massive. What is the trade between getting up quickly and foiling at high speed once up.

 

I am pretty sure in lighter winds, the quicker you get up, the slower the top speed owing to the excessive lift in the foil and drag or atleast, the more volatile the foil will be at high speeds, hence crashing off. Lift verses drag of the foil. So, the faster the speed once up, I am guessing the longer it takes to foil. The stronger the breeze, the less effort to get up but most likely the harder to control.

 

I am not sure what the rules are but think they are not allowed tabs (like foiling Moths), hence they cannot flatten the foil at speed (correct me if if I am way out here please). I would look to change foils depending on the breeze but I am not sure they are allowed.

 

In a short course will they give away some speed and get up quickly (in lighter breezes) or go for higher top speeds. Strong breeze, go as fast as you can, yet keeping control.

 

If someone can get up quickly, keep it on the foil in the corners and accelerate quickly they will have a massive edge. So, its only a few million in foil development. To have fast foils where they can stay up in the corners without having a lot of lift in the foil will most likely mean more wetted surface (fore and aft) in the foil, hence slower to get up in the light, but probably easier to stay up in the corners. It could also cause a real drag problem at high speed. Hmmm sounds like one hell of a lot of testing to me.

 

Another thought. Foils in pre-starts. Could sudden acceleration be seen as not "giving room and opportunity to keep clear" ?? One tacks onto starboard. Hits 15 knots in a few seconds, 2 lengths later is doing 30 knots on foils. Very hard to keep clear of. Interesting. Yes, one should anticipate the acceleration, but that's one big call.

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and

 

Thinking about it, I would be testing two piece deep foils (fore and aft). e.g. two section foils with a gap between them that effectively gives the surface area for the corners but possibly lessens the drag of having a deep foil. The aft foil might also prevent hobby horsing if they were allowed to raise or lower it slightly or alter the pitch. It might not be a foil, but a tab for a foil. Sounds crazy . Surely someone has tried this sort of thing?

 

Just might work with enough lift in the corners while minimize drag at high speed.

 

What the teams come up with is going to be really interesting.

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I'm curious about the rule that they can't alter the trim of the foils. Is that correct?

 

If so, how do they know that it is possible/safe/realistic to foil with no ability to trim 'in flight'? If this is such a new area, what do the rule-makers know that nobody else does?

 

It seems a bit like going back to the era of the first aircraft test flights. If someone said "you can't adjust the trim of the wings" then we all know aircraft wouldn't have flown very far cos they need to be able to continuosly adjust - not only to change direction but even to maintain straight and level flight.

 

Mmmm.....

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AC you are being far too intellectual.

 

The America's Cup has been (consciously) transformed into a NASCAR/ Formula One style sound bite fest.

 

Out goes the subtlety of yacht racing and in come the prangs and the capsizes.

 

That will sell airline seats and Nespresso.

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