AC Day2 - TeamUSA has a Problem
- Thread starter Gunni
- Start date
Because doing a normal 360 or a 720 would be a disaster in these boats, they normally enforce a 30 second penalty to your time, by making a boat 'slow down' until the gap has changed by 30 seconds.
Some are done via GPS telemetry (boat out of bounds, OCS, etc)
The rest are called by a umpire boat that follows the boats. If one boat thinks the other has fouled them, they raise a flag. The umpire gives a real-time yes or no, and if yes the offending boat has the 30 second slowdown to do.
I didn't mean to convey that I think there's anything wrong with the AC competition in this format. I was simply saying I haven't been that interested. I think they have every right to do this and totally agree that AC has always been first and foremost a design competition. I'm just not staying home on a nice day to watch.
And please, all you AC cup traditionalists, read Temple To the Wind. It will change some of your notions about AC. Hint: Nothing has changed.
And please, all you AC cup traditionalists, read Temple To the Wind. It will change some of your notions about AC. Hint: Nothing has changed.
That is just mimicking the winch grinding as they could very well have a reservoir tank that could be pressurized just a couple of times during the race. They just had to put that in there to keep the semblance that a grinding crew was necessary.
I think they actually have two accumulator tanks but they are not very big so they have to continuously pump to keep up the pressure.
Looks like 3 actually. From the class rules:
- one manually-pressurized hydraulic pressure accumulator as specified by the Measurement Committee, used to energize the hydraulic system that controls appendage rotations about their rake axes and any incidental rotation of the daggerboard in the cant axis as permitted in Rule 15.3;
- (e) two manually-pressurized hydraulic pressure accumulators as specified by the Measurement Committee, used to energize the hydraulic system that controls daggerboard extension. These accumulators may be linked;
Would seem that having to do a 360 would be one heck of an incentive to avoid penalties.
on the last weekend, the Oracle team removed at least one of the accumulators (to save weight)
If you watched the transmissions, you could have noticed a display where they were showing the hydraulics pressure for different systems. When the pressure got low, troubles started.
Additionally, an interesting stats were shown for the cyclors and the grinders - their heart beat rates at various stages of the race (up to 99% at 190 bpm!).
Additionally, an interesting stats were shown for the cyclors and the grinders - their heart beat rates at various stages of the race (up to 99% at 190 bpm!).
Right. Not sure why I have 30 seconds on the brain. The umps can see the computer overlay on their screens and keep their penalty awarded light on until the penalized boat clears the foul by backing off so a full two boatlength gap is added to the up or downind ladder-gap between them.
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Judging by the way that these rigs can spin around, it's a wonder that everybody doesn't need to be attached to their station with Velcro.
There is a techy video out there, and besides the fact that it's got big cats flying around, tons of hi tech design and some interesting commentary, the production of the actual video is nothing short of superb.
There is a techy video out there, and besides the fact that it's got big cats flying around, tons of hi tech design and some interesting commentary, the production of the actual video is nothing short of superb.
I would almost say that the technology used to show it (the video transmission with the VR overlays) is as interesting (GPS+ measuring down to 2 cm (?), GPS transponders at each corner of the boat giving her position in 3D, all the lines on the water that you can see watching the race (and the skipper cannot), etc.).
Btw. AC is like F1; not that much to do with the normal sailing or driving.
Btw. AC is like F1; not that much to do with the normal sailing or driving.
Woof.. sad to see the cup depart.. Maybe the NZ dudes will put some sense of reality back.. Love the speed and technology, but agree that these should be a restricted class circuit .. Once you remove the grinders from any duty except providing hydraulic pressure, why not eliminate them altogether and use a small diesel to put poop in the accumulators? That way you'd have a rules restricted boat with skipper, tactician, and trimmer.. pure sailing and would save the dollars of feeding and training the power animals..
Count me as a contrarian here...but probably with the consensus everywhere else in the sports world - traditional sailboat racing is a boring spectator sport. Might be fun to participate but when you have to sit there and watch boats amble around the buoys, well you see how many people show up to watch even the big events. Foiling Americas Cup brought many many spectators and the San Francisco tech guys have done a remarkable job of making the action understandable with superimposed laylines, gates, gridded course and speed feeds. A sail race that is completed at 35kts and is over in 15 minutes is what most people want to watch. This is battle and contest at the bleeding edge of sailing (sailing and flying) using the best technology and the world's best athletes. Going back to watching traditional AC racing would like spending a weekend at a Civil War re-enactment and assuming that it was anything like the real thing. Top tier sailing was always about speed, and now we have speed that anyone can see and marvel at. Well done New Zealand, you brought your best and proved yourselves to be the champions.
At least we have the fun of watching them scurry across the webbing (and occasionally flying right off the boat!).
Next time I think it will be all bicycles. Maybe they can call it the "Tour de America's Cup".
BTW, last Sunday, the church Deacon (not a sailor) came up to me and said excitedly, "I'm recording the America's Cup so I can watch it later."
That never would have happened before.
Cheers Mate! Alastair.
Excellent point. The AC class back in the day when races were held off Newport was no doubt a boring spectator sport for the average person, but to experienced racers it was very exciting. The boats were basically evenly matched with the naval architects struggling to outsmart each other within the rule. The races were boat on boat held in RI Sound with tricky wind shifts and currents. Good tactics and strategy sometimes won out over boat speed. The personalities were there with people like Ted Turner, Ted Hood, Dennis Conner and others. Who can forget Turner's famous line when he sailed a radically designed 12 which was slow in comparison to the rest of the fleet. "...Even a turd is pointed at both ends...". The AC series was held only every 4 years and when it came, it was the whole summer in Newport. The races just sucked all the oxygen out of the summer. But, it was not easy to see the races as news coverage was sparse the one could only really witness the racing by taking a boat out to the course. However it was not possible to get close and there was a risk of being run over by a large fleet of big, fast powerboats. But once again, unless one was an experienced racing sailor, the whole thing really was difficult to understand. But the excitement was still there. Then everything changed when the Aussies designed the winged keel and destroyed Dennis Conner that year and the cup went to Australia. It seemed at that time the media coverage stepped it up and there was really good TV coverage of the races and you could actually see the tactical moves play out. But again, unless a spectator understood sailboat racing rules, tactics, and strategy, I can see how it might have been boring. But again, if a person didn't understand sailboat racing, why would they watch?
Agreed that sailboat racing is not a great spectator sport. But not agreed that AC didn't attract public interest. Sir Lipton didn't sell a S**tload of tea because of an unpopular endeavor. The AC races of yore enjoyed very good media coverage and public interest. Granted the general public didn't get to go out on the water to watch but there was interest and newspaper coverage was followed pretty avidly.