American Magic was very badly damaged but a combined effort from rival teams saved her. They worked on the hull all night but no hope ofr being back in action on Friday. The teams are working round the clock on her and she will be back again racing. They are talking of no racing this weekend so she might be back in the hunt.The America skipper has been impressive on TV with the calm gentlemanly way he has handled a major disaster in one of the worlds big sporting events. They are seriously fast sail boats hitting 40 plus knots and probably capable of more and she was moving fast when she leapt out of the water and fell back in.
Quote from: Novagun on January 18, 2021, 02:06:57 AMAmerican Magic was very badly damaged but a combined effort from rival teams saved her. They worked on the hull all night but no hope ofr being back in action on Friday. The teams are working round the clock on her and she will be back again racing. They are talking of no racing this weekend so she might be back in the hunt.The America skipper has been impressive on TV with the calm gentlemanly way he has handled a major disaster in one of the worlds big sporting events. They are seriously fast sail boats hitting 40 plus knots and probably capable of more and she was moving fast when she leapt out of the water and fell back in.So more like a surfboard porpoising?Because when you say “America’s cup boat capsized.”I think, “Have you seen the weight on the keel of one of those boats? How does that capsize?”Crazy. I’ve both swamped and capsized sailboats. Never a big one with a weighted keel.
They reach when on the downwind legs, and their speed pulls the apparent wind forward and increases it.... Sailboats work on the difference in wind velocity between the air and water, removing energy from the air and transferring it to the water (plus the inevitable drag loss).... The limit to how close they can sail to the apparent wind is the vector sum of the lift to drag ratio of the sails and hull (in this case the foils).... I understand the Kiwi boat can sail higher for short distances (ie near mark roundings, or at the start), so they must have discovered some trick way to use the foils to increase the lift to drag ratio.... likely at the cost of boat momentum, which is why it only works for a short time.... Neat trick, with a huge tactical advantage, though.... I was invited to join a Canadian America's Cup challenge decades ago, based on my R/C yacht experience and expertise.... along with Bruce Kirby, Donny Martin, and other top Canadian designers.... This was during the post 12M era, when they sailed fin and bulb displacement designs, which of course model yachts had already been using then for decades.... Here was a model I build of my proposed design.... and extreme lightweight compared to the typical AC of that era.... Unfortunately, the Canadian team never got off the ground, due to lack of funding.... but it was a nice dream, and a great honour to be included at the time.... .... Incidently, I had a keel on one of my R/C yachts that could be angled relative to the hull centreline.... It did exactly what the Kiwis are accomplishing, the boat would point incredibly high for a short time, while bleeding off speed.... Bob
Yes Mr Sterne, I am not sure what the average speed per race per boat is but watching the readout from the boats they are regularly topping 40 knots. I recall 44kts several times and they are developing them all the time. The chase boats have three big outboards on them to keep up. They have to be capable of very high speeds. I drove a runabout with a 200 hp Mercury outboard a couple of times. That could get to 40 plus knots. Not for me, too fast.It is interesting to note that the Americans and Italians have called for displacement boats for the next Americas Cup series. They must foresee speeds becoming dangerous.These boats are so fast there is no real downwind leg. They are going faster than windspeed. Windward all the time.Not sure how they do that because there is no such thing as free lunch.
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