Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

CammaswouldjoinwithaTeam

France TP52 bubbled through the

winter and the former Quantum

Racing was sold to a supportive French

owner, but nothing came of it.

Despite no-shows from the British and

French, when you consider the number

of Cup Challengers and Defenders

likely to line up for AC36, having two

fully funded teams in the 52 Super

Series among a leet of between 12

and 14 boats - nine of them new - is a

pretty exciting prospect for the world’s

leading grand prix monohull circuit.

his fact hasn’t been lost on the

Cup Defenders. Emirates Team New

Zealand has Ray Davies playing a

key role on Takashi Okura’s Sled.

Just ater the launch of Sled, which is

distinctly Kiwi this season, Davies told

Y&Y: “For us (Team New Zealand) it is

good to be out there sailing and racing

at the highest level. In grand prix sailing

there has been a real move (forwards) in

drone technology and all the information

coming of the boats. Having had the

coaching/sailing role on Team New

Zealand it is good for me to be able to

keep current with all of the analysis that

is going on. he 52 Super Series is almost

as current as the America’s Cup and the

technology here is moving quite quickly.

“Overlaying the drone footage with

the data from the boat and presenting

all of the data in a user friendly manner,

we found that really beneicial in the

America’s Cup. It was easy to analyse

where the mistakes were made around

thecourse.Ithinkallofthe52sare

heading in that direction. here is a

lot of logging of the performance data

coming of the boats; it is evolving

and becoming more user friendly.”

LUNA ROSSA LAUNCHES

he launch of the new TP52 Luna

Rossa in Trieste, Italy on 13 May was

a real moment of pomp and occasion,

drawing crowds in their thousands, and

marking the return of Prada president,

CEO, and monohull fan Patrizio

Bertelli to the America’s Cup arena.

Luna Rossa last sailed a TP52 during

the Audi MedCup in 2010. With a new

Botin design built at Persico in Italy,

their campaign is run by Max Sirena

with Francesco Bruni as helm, and

Vasco Vascotto as tactician, moving

from Azzurra with whom he won the

2017 52 Super Series. he Luna Rossa

aterguard, it is understood, will include

Jimmy Spithill, a recent hiring – though

the Australian was helmsman for Luna

Rossa before he moved to Oracle Team

USA for the 34th America’s Cup.

During the winter they trained

out of Cagliari, Sardinia with an

older generation TP52, the 2013 ex-

Quantum Racing. A new generation

talent search has seen six young Italian

sailors selected from 80 applicants

to join the TP52 programme.

Luna Rossa’s boat was the last to be

commissioned and is set to be playing

catch up at the very start of the season.

“We need to build and grow into a

America’s Cup overlap: data and tech

According to James Lyne, team coach for Hap

Fauth’s Bella Mente (now part of NYYC’s American

Magic), data collection and analysis is similar to

Cup programmes, with teams incorporating similar

tools, analysis and debrief presentations.

Drone footage allows teams to break down mark

rounding and startline manoeuvres. “We get some great

sail shape shots from overhead and behind. We use an

anti-distortion programme and then get really good

sail shape analysis from these images,” explains Lyne.

“We measure and collect boat speed, heel angle,

rudder angle, fore and aft trim, forestay load, deflector

position.” On Quantum, a deck-mounted sail and rig

vision system tracks and calculates sail shape and position

in real time, as well as analysing rig bend and sag.

“At any point, when we’re not going well, we have

access to a lot of data – sail shape, boat heel and trim data

• and quickly conclude why that was; maybe our twist
  value was relatively low at the top camber stripe. We are
  able to take good and bad moments and build a data set
  for good ones. They then become targets for us in terms
  of sail shape and performance; that is where the number
  analysis comes in. We can give the sailing team a very
  good set of targets for every wind range and sea pattern.”

Above

The new Luna

Rossa TP52

launched in May

TP52S INSIGHT

PHOTO: CARLO BORLENGHI, NICO MARTINEZ

26 Yachts & Yachting July 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk