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America's Cup

Comprehensive, but LR at least put up a fight. Well done Burling and ETNZ. We'll have another go ( © Sopwith/Lipton )
 
Congratulations to the Kiwis. What a sailing nation!

EDIT: i hear the rugby team is pretty decent, too.
 
I'm still trying to figure out how these boats can travel up to four times faster than the wind upwind and downwind. Such amazing spectacle. Bring on 2025!
 
Well done to NZ , they lifted their game at the right point .The series has been good to watch with sensible length of races and exciting fast boats coupled with good coverage and commentary .
I think people with no interest in sailing would have enjoyed it as well !
 
Great job NZ. Amazing that they won the last 5 races on the trot!

Can’t wait to get back on the water. Our regatta is currently scheduled for October (Greece), fingers crossed. We’ll be light years slower but far more comfortable!
 
Very well done to the Kiwis!

Really enjoyed watching this series. Have been looking forward to it every evening, and makes great viewing - who'd have thought it, sailing as a spectator sport!
 
Fantastic win NZ! - also, good close racing to the end, which makes it all the better as a series, as a spectacle, as a Match.

I'm still trying to figure out how these boats can travel up to four times faster than the wind upwind and downwind. Such amazing spectacle. Bring on 2025!

Same way say modern wind turbines work, and why the turbine rotor disc is so sparse: - very high lift (here, thrust): aspect ratio - the blade (wing/sail) is an aerofoil, not a 'sail' - and finessed to move/ develop peak power at 4-6x the nom local windspeed; and 'flying' the hull for a min of drag (over an immersed, or planing hull, even a catamaran) enables that.

(e.g. compare outputs of modern windturbines with slender blades at high speed to classic European C.15/16th mills / windpumps- with canvas sails, on a framework, high disc solidity, very low speed in any wind. Or classic sailing rigs, which are the same - fundamentally. They were designed to develop huge torque / huge sail pressure in very low windspeeds - but then struggle to extract any more power when the wind picks up, ultimately being killed by their own drag even to destruction if not furled.)


The AC75s are a fantastic development of a sport, and what a spectacle the Prada cup and the America's Cup has been as a result. And - mercifully - proven objectively-safer than the fast Cats last Cup, too.
 
Does anyone know who actually designed the AC75 concept?

I read that teams of engineers worked out all the details, together and separately, and one company made the mechanics/hydraulics for the center lifting mechanism.

But I can't find original design credits.
 
Does anyone know who actually designed the AC75 concept?

I read that teams of engineers worked out all the details, together and separately, and one company made the mechanics/hydraulics for the center lifting mechanism.

But I can't find original design credits.

I believe it was Dan Bernasconi and Guillaume Verdier (designers for Team NZ)
 
Good overview here from 2017 when it was first announced. The interesting thing is that the use of a Code Zero never really materialised in practice, rendering the stubby bowsprit a bit pointless. I expect that will be tidied up next time
 
Interesting how Bernasconi came to it from F1. Guillaume Verdier learned the trade with Finot-Conq after studying in the U.K. (Southampton), and has worked a lot with VPLP.
 
I am not certain now, that having the boat essentially designed by the two top teams makes for great competition. While I understand that the cup has always had rules, it seems this duopoly-community design and build approach, while cost-effective and efficient, takes the top teams advantage upfront.
 
The finalist boats all look quite different, so not sure I agree with you there. It's a long way from one-design racing.
 
Yes all the boats looked very different and NZ had the smallest foils but seemed the fastest boat .
The worst looking boat IMO was the British one and I am pretty certain if Ainslie was not at the helm the results would have been even worse
 
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I think the boats looked and were very similar. The only differences were hull shapes and the final hydrofoil design. I am sure to a professional sailor/boat designer they were different enough, but they were definitely iterations of the same design, which they were.

I think the goals of the America's Cup as an business has changed. It is more to create an exciting spectator sport and a vehicle to challenge the skill and preparation of the crew. They certainly accomplished that. It was very exciting to watch and the crew certainly had to work hard.

To me it ended up predictable. Two teams that created the boats met in the finals and the team that was the main design agency won the competition.
 


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