Fall 2011.indd - Annapolis Yacht Club

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Update: America’s Cup 2013 Kristin Leutwyler Ozelli This is not your father’s Cup Challenge… When the America’s Cup roars into San Fransisco Bay in 2013, it will look nothing like the last stateside challenge 18 years ago. Indeed, defenders ORACLE Racing, led by owner Larry Ellison and CEO Randy Coutts, are radically redefining the event— from the boats and teams in play to the venues and viewing options for spectators. We want to attract “the Facebook generation, not the Flinstones generation,” Coutts says. So far, they are on course to do so. The America’s Cup World Series began this past August in Cascais, Portugal. Tight fleet and match racing in ultrafast boats got pulses racing on the water and also on land—thanks, in part, to an unprecedented number of onboard cameras and sensors. The circuit will include two more regattas this year, up to nine in 2012, and another four in 2013 before the teams decamp in San Fran for the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup itself. Here we highlight just some of the ways in which this latest test aims to bring new blood to the oldest international sporting event in history. MULTIHULLS AC multihulls—Stars&Stripes H3, Alinghi 5, BMW ORACLE Racing 90—have famously had their detractors. But old-school old salts will just have to get over it because lighter, faster multihulls are here to stay. ORACLE Racing’s design and engineering team have introduced two new classes of wing-sailed catamarans for the next two years of racing. The teams are currently honing their skills on the AC45, a scaled-down one-design version of the 72-footers they will debut in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Even on the bigger AC72s, many of the parameters—length, beam, displacement, sail area—are fixed, so boat-handling and tactical skill, as well as engineering, will be key to winning the competition. The carbon fiber hulls are less than a millimeter thick to keep the boats as light as possible. The fronts of the hulls curve like upturned knives to slice their way through the chop and back out of the water should a bow get buried. 16 AYC BEACON VOLUME 3, NO. 2
The much coveted America's Cup has been awarded since 1851. It is currently in stewardship of BMW Oracle Racing. ©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget In the 22 feet between the hulls runs a web of cross support and netting. The result looks less like a boat than an enormous, floating climbing frame, over which crew members in crash helmets scramble from one flying hull to another. Indeed, the AC45 can tack so quickly—with both hulls in the water for just a blink of an eye as they pass through the wind—that crews need to be extremely nimble and fit. An image of the AC45 in action at the 2011 AC World Series in Auckland, New Zealand. ©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget WING SAILS For maximum muscle, the AC45 sports a rigid wing sail, towering 70 feet above its would-be, woven deck. Transparent plastic covers its antenna-like frame, made from ultrastrong carbon fiber and Nomex, related to Kevlar. Each boat also carries a soft-sail jib for sailing upwind and a gennaker for downwind legs. The total package delivers enough juice to lift one hull out of the drink in only five to six knots of true wind. No surprise, then, that the AC45 really takes off in heavier air, reaching top speeds of around 35 knots. The AC72, carrying a 131-foot high wing, is expected to sail upwind at 1.2 times the speed of the true wind and 1.6 times that downwind even in light air. Crew can depower the wing sail, if need be, via removable flaps on the upper leech or a removable mast tip. And as with a traditional sail, they can also adjust its angle, camber and twist. Despite their 2010 Cup win, ORACLE Racing faced a few minor difficulties with their previous wing-sailed multihull, one of them being the time it took to rig. VOLUME 3, NO. 2 AYC BEACON 17
Page 1 and 2: THE ANNAPOLIS YACHT CLUB BEACON VOL
Page 3 and 4: Contents RACING CRUISING JUNIORS 11
Page 5 and 6: Celebrating Annapolis Yacht Club |
Page 7 and 8: Introducing our Newest One Design F
Page 9 and 10: The Tides Inn and Bay Creek resorts
Page 11 and 12: Tenacious racing in the AYC Fall Se
Page 13 and 14: Expanding Horizons Cruising the Bri
Page 15: Connection to the Community The Ann
Page 19 and 20: Connection to the Yachting World Th
Page 21 and 22: “This committee is really about m
Page 23 and 24: eventually becoming a force at the
Page 25 and 26: Membership Development Understandin
Page 27 and 28: I was asked to be on the Board so I

Fall 2011.indd - Annapolis Yacht Club

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