Yachts & Yachting — February 2018

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“We reached an aggressive

commercial target last time round

and we are condent of doing

so again,” promises Ainslie.

It’s something that will put them

ahead of the other teams coming into the

mix, rumoured to include Australian,

French, and Swedish teams, as well

as a strong possibility of a second

Italian team emerging as we went to

print. Meanwhile, the New York Yacht

Club backed Bella Mente Quantum

Racing campaign, headed by Hap

Fauth and Doug DeVos with Terry

Hutchinson as skipper, announced in

October, is also banking on an early

start to get ahead, signing an exclusive

design agreement with Botin.

SECRET WEAPONS

ere’s no doubt that this ra of

America’s Cup teams will need to have

signicant budgets, with many predicting

costs above and beyond those of AC35.

One area all teams will be focusing more

resource and time on than ever will

be the use of computational tools and

programmes to develop and test designs.

It’s something that Land Rover BAR

height control adjusters used to enable

a foiling tack, for example). With huge

processing power, the computer is

then able to run millions of dierent

calculations to accurately model how

the boat will handle. Condence in

using this tool throughout development

will help put Land Rover BAR ahead.

MASTERING THE AC75

At this stage, it is hard to imagine the

new AC75s in the esh, let alone envisage

how one would actually master sailing

them in close quarters manoeuvres

at speeds of 40 or even 50 knots. It’s a

big leap – even for Ainslie. “e boat

is going to be the most full-on we’ve

ever seen,” he says. “e performance

predictions show that it’s going to be

phenomenally quick, and that’s exciting.”

A return to upwind starts and longer

courses with racing over a duration

of 40 minutes will make it all the

more interesting. e foiling 75ers

will, Ainslie predicts, “be more high

performance with less interaction and

fewer close quarters manoeuvres”.

used for testing in the late stages of the

last Cup – and that Emirates Team New

Zealand has been widely acknowledged

as having had in place from the early

stages. It’s certainly an area that Ainslie

sees as critical to success, with the

ambition being to develop an even

more accurate and ecient system

that can be used from the outset.

In addition to Computational Fluid

Dynamics (CFD) – used to predict

how ow works around an object

• Velocity Prediction Programmes
  (VPP) allow designers to model foils at
  various speeds to see how much force
  is on each surface, above and below
  the water. is enables designers to
  predict how easy it will be to foil and
  to control the boat at any given point.
  e more accurate the programming,
  the more accurate the predictions.
  Designers can then feed this
  information into a simulator. Working
  much along the lines of a highly
  sophisticated computer game, using
  virtual reality visors and a motion
  platform, sailors are able to input their
  actions and weight against parts of the
  boat to test dierent scenarios (ride

MONO VS MULTI

Ainslie has made his enthusiasm

for the move to monohulls

clear – but rewind to AC35 and

his support for continuing with

multihulls was unshakeable; Land

Rover BAR was a firm proponent

of the Framework Agreement,

something Martin Whitmarsh was

instrumental in driving forwards. So

why the apparent change of heart?

“For me it’s not about monohull

or multihull,” says Ainslie. “Frankly,

I am not that concerned with

the type of boat, so long as it is

fast and exciting. What is most

important is continuity, which is

something the America’s Cup has

been lacking. That is a fundamental

issue that needs to be addressed,

hopefully in the near future.

“Continuity in the sport and

with that, cost cutting measures,

are important for commercial

sponsors and TV to be able to

consolidate and gave continuity.”

How this will manifest itself as

the next Cup cycle unfolds will

be interesting to see – they are

all areas that Grant Dalton, chief

executive o”cer of Emirates

Team New Zealand, has said

it is committed towards.

Below

TP52 Gladiator:

Land Rover BAR

crew will be on

board this summer

INTERVIEW BEN AINSLIE

February 2018 Yachts & Yachting 31

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