Artemis and Oracle Hook Up On Their 72's

[Photoboy]

Today on San Francisco Bay, a minor milestone in the hostory of the Americas Cup was reached as the two locally based sydicates, Artemis Racing and Oracle Racing
both got their AC 72's side by side for a little bravodo and comparison check.







With cold clearing winds and gorgeous skies complementing a building ebb, the two 72's left their respective camps directly across the bay from each other and crossed paths just south of the Bay Bridge slight before 1:00 PM




The shared crossings all the way to the Golden Gate and then both bore away in 15 to 20 knots, sailing side by side, checking out the competition, with two members of ETNZ in hot pursuit




But then Artemis headed back to the Barn...




And Oracle Racing was just finding their groove, and lit it up!




On this run they carried the foiling from Knox to Marker 10, no problem







They were just getting started! With the buildingebb and wind filling solidly on the south bay, Oracle moved their show to slightly more protected waters and continued their foiling technique for a couple more hours!




Additional Pics

[fototaker]

great images!!! guessing you were out there BUT i didnt see your boat, guessing you were on a different boat. too COLD fer an open boat!!!

[Rainier]

Cool chit!

So has Artemis been foiling yet? They kind of look like a chitty training partner at this point....

Good to see the Or guys getting after it at full speed though!

[familysailor]

".....milestone in the hostory of the......"

I'm waiting for the details about the ho.
Who, what, when, where and why?
(how would be interesting too..)

[Photoboy]

I did get a reply from Jimmy on the 2 wheel deal:

A little more challenging, but not as bad as you'd expect-just got to practise my trampoline running!

[Photoboy]

Cool chit!

So has Artemis been foiling yet? They kind of look like a chitty training partner at this point....

Good to see the Or guys getting after it at full speed though!

I have not witnessed any foiling on Artemis, but they have been pretty evasive/elusive, could the Prada stinky water be giving me away?

[fototaker]

so it's confirmed: two wheels!! my eyes weren't crossed at all!! but makes sense actually. is something similar on the artemis boat too? readying my gear in the case they come out again today - or is it a gear-down and family-day today?

[fototaker]

so NOW wondering if they will sail this weekend at all

[bowline]

After three good days this week might be time to pm the boats and review the data.

[fototaker]

true. i would think they would want to compare past data and performance between original USA17 and new boat to see why they are foiling so well now. inquiring minds wanna know!

[bowline]

It's apparent the boat has had the capability to foil all along. Things were early enough on last October it may not have been that high on the priority list.

Having lost the luxury of 3 1/2 months of track time, I'm sure the priorities and focus have changed, which is what we saw this week.

Lots more to come - it's only early February and boat number 2 launches in April.

[The Flash]

I had the chance to take a tour - and here's what they told me. Didn't seem confidential so here we go:

Because foiling was expected to cost shitloads, and scare away the less well-budgeted teams - the rule makers thought they figured out a way to prohibit foiling with no active wands, etc.

Obviously, they failed…. and flying is possible.

The designers, amongst other tradeoffs, had to figure out whether to optimize upwind (low resistance, and possibly a wiggly structure) or a stiff platform(more air resistance) for easier flying, but slower upwind.

Personal observations:
17 version 2, seems to be a stiffer platform than version 1, but not as stiff as the Kiwis. So not as easy to fly as theirs, but maybe faster upwind. No one knows. As an aside, to keep the flight-attitude stable they have hydraulics to swing the foil fore and aft while flying. Imagine that for a moment. Or, holy crapola!

Also, look at 17 again, port foil is C-Shaped, starboard is straight. As explained to me, C-Shape is more forgiving, straight goes upwind better. They're working to see which is better.

beg, borrow or steal an invite to wander around the shop. Amazing. 160 folks full time here making her go, plus the builders in Kiwi-land. Oh, and it's cold in there - they are bare bones in amenities, all the money is going into R&D and building.

Interesting tid-bit: The cores are aluminum honeycomb, no insulating layer between the core and the skin. Hence, water intrusion creates all kinds of havoc. the damage to Version 1 wasn't the wing break, but lots of little punctures to the skin letting in salt water. They did an infrared study post capsize not to see where the structure failed, but where there was water, and therefore where they needed to replace panels.

[fototaker]

thanks for your fab insight and descriptions. i have been trying to get inside for months - no: years, and hinting on first FB and now twitland after abandoning fb, and still no invites or looksee. i'd love to see the behind-the-scenes but i don't think it'll happen in my lifetime, so am very thankful for your report, and those of/from others. at all the meet&greets, i've talked to the sailors. i did identify myself to JS not that it means anything since he meets a lot of people in a day/week/month but i've tried, and have given up. thanks again!

[Rainier]

Cool shit HP.

Now that they are proven to fly I wonder if the rules make it more expensive?

Seems like rudder length and foil angle will play a part in all this.

Plus OR only has to survive 9 races max while the rest have what, like 20-30 races? Might lead them to a more conservative design?

It's getting good!

[The Flash]

the guide we had said the fact that they figured out how to fly with the restrictive rule and now are optimizing to that, is definitely more expensive….