36th America's Cup

I really, really hope that's sarcasm, Tony...

Mike

I would totally want a ride. Not sure how durable they are, but you're right. I'm sure there would be a handful of interested folk

Originally Posted by Tony_F18

This would be a cool foiling monohull concept at 75ft:

I think it would be. Honestly, invert the main lifting elements and have them come out the side and you have something pretty close to the recent Vendee Globe boats. Except the Vendee Globe boats were intended to heal and then get lift but not fully foil. That pictured (old is new again!) concept leaves the boat more upright and provides a wider more stable foiling platform in comparison so it would probably course race a little better than a Vendee Globe boat. Conceptually, the hull could be more needle-like and the outer structure of the foils system could host some minor buoyancy detail that would help the boat remain upright when at a stand still....kinda like a monohull being a trimaran at exceptionally low speeds. More stable than a Moth (when not significantly moving) but with similar ingrained stability provided by the 'L'/(canted)'V' shapes that were derived in the catamaran America's Cups.

Honestly, I think we'll see the lines between monohull/multihull really blurred with the next development steps of foiling as the foils become more and more efficient. In 10 years, we'll probably look at boats classifications more as one of three classifications instead of two - monohull/multihull/foiler. Foiler designs right now are a lot of different boat classifications applying foils in more and more similar ways....they'll eventually converge into a single fast and stable layout, IMO, and become unified as one thing when the designs converge on a stable and operationally convenient configuration. The design task looks complicated because of all of the variations out there right now - but it's not. You need stability at low and high speeds while reducing the appendages in the water so your drag is low at high speed. A three point foiling system (Helllllooooo Hobie Trifoiler) makes sense here with a low speed

landing gear

to keep the boat stable when the foils can't do it.

You can also draw some really distinct parallels to aeronautical design in it's infancy...lots of really weird configurations before the bi-planes (catamarans) got it working and became the semi-standard for a short while. Other things flew but they were very complex. As wing shapes, drive system efficiency, and manufacturing technology matured, the biplane designs evolved into a single wing three lifting point configuration that became the universal standard in all but the most extreme cases.

So my bottom line, while we may get all emotional about multi-hull / monohull, in a short time, this foiling thing won't really be either one of them anymore (and I can have my a-cat class back).

Artemis AC36 Protocol Statement

First two sentences speaks volumes . . .

I saw two AC boats in Cabo being used for tourist rides.

Dennis lost one of his two cats to bankruptcy. One ended up on a lake in Mexico.

[quote=P.M.]Artemis AC36 Protocol Statement

I would expect any seasoned America's Cup team to issue something similar whether or not they actually felt that way. The entire event is one massive negotiation and leverage has to be established anywhere you can. In other words, Artemis would like to participate but

lets make sure we have a seat at the boat rule design table by dangling our participation decision

. Or, possibly, they don't trust the defender to not bend rules in their favor so they want to try and leverage a chance to see as much under the hood of the design rule as possible.

That said, I imagine there is a significant vein of sailors that do actually feel that way about keeping the America's Cup about high performance/high speed and on the real cutting edge of sailing. It seriously has had a gigantic affect on foiling sailboats in the last decade.

The plot thickens.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other... -series-of-sailing-to-rival-americas-cup

could be good for the sport

What's thickening? Any event is good for the sport, I suppose, but how does this move anything forward?

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, but it's not going to rival the America's Cup, and will be lucky to stand out from Match Race World Series, Formula 40 series, etc.

Larry tried with the ACWS, but Joe Sixpack still doesn't care about watching sailing. I don't see how this will change that simple fact.

Mike

more press with cool boats
may peek more littleones to want to sail

Especially if the AC goes back to monos. Even foiling monos are boring compared to catamarans. Of course, I'm biased.

But we've had more

cool boats

over the last few years than ever before, and very, very few people are buying them. The Moths have led the way, and they got only 14 boats to the last US titles - well down on recent years once again. In the biggest Australian states the Moth state titles got just 14 boats (fewer than before foils) and there's only two active boats in the second-biggest state. The class reports that in the two biggest countries numbers are static or falling and in other nations there's only 40 or so boats or more.

The foiling cats are attracting very few buyers considering the size of the sport. Kitefoilers seem to be quicker than foiling cats or Moths, but the fleets appear to be small, especially among the kids.

Meanwhile medium or slow hiking singlehanded monos are doing well, slow kids boats are doing really well, and the ocean races like the Fastnet that concentrate on normal monos like Beneteaus and J Boats are doing well.

In the wider market we are seeing surveys, studies and press reports that say that the young adults these days don't normally want high-tech high-speed, they want simplicity and economy, which is why they are almost all ignoring foilers but hundreds of thousands of them are buying slow SUPs.

If press and cool boats was going to pique interest, it would have done so by now. It hasn't. Let's learn from that and move on.

I craved going out on my old crusty 5.2 each time I watched those foiling 72-footers. It's not about getting them out to buy foiling boats, it's about getting them off the iPads and Gameboys and on the water in a boat that doesn't require a trip to the gas station.

I'll bet it's more about the price and the learning curve to get foiling that is keeping kids on SUP's and Lasers.

Yes, but it's not working, and for understandable reasons. iPads and Gameboys are designed with an interesting eye on the psychology of reinforcement and other insights into what makes people want to play. They offer an easy entry level and lots of other levels to conquer and get a feeling of accomplishment. The games can require a lot of commitment, but it's commitment to playing and with lots of rewards along the way, not commitment to earning $25,000 to buy a boat, two hours to rig it, a few hours of maintenance, and a lot of frustration and fear while learning to sail at high speeds.

There have been two major studies involving professional surveys asking people why they don't sail. It's because they feel it's scary, complicated and elitist, not because they feel its boring. Watching boats that even the pros call scary and complicated is not going to attract many people.

Yep, and of course practicality and the fact that most people just don't care less about pure ultimate speed. If we did, none of us would be sailing cats - we'd all be on kiteboards and kitefoilers.

A Laser is also just a great boat to sail in a lot of ways. Instead of standing on a hull several feet above water and with your head about 14 feet from where the hull is slicing through, you're often inside a stream of spray and when you're hiking flat your head is about two feet above the water. In strong winds, they are an incredibly intense boat to sail well; you're bouncing the whole boat through the waves upwind while heading up and down over each bit of chop, and downwind you're using heel to steer the boat down the waves, carving turns of 30 degrees or more as you go from just above square to well by the lee, right on the knife edge of rolling in with a thud. And when you get in, the boat is unrigged in 10 minutes.

The big cats are also great fun, which is why I also sail them, but it's very different; more like riding a runaway rocket through the air than riding a bucking bronco which is what a Laser is like. And it all feeds back into the reason why mono racers did not turn onto cats when they saw them in the AC. It's not that they are anti-cat or old-fashioned, they just like different things just like some people like fine scotch and some like fine wine.

Excellent Points about the actual market in 2017.

Keep in mind that besides boat sales..... you were highlighting NA turnouts.... IE competition.

IMO... all of the technology development is serving to undermine competition. How?
Its about the pecking order.... In any class... the trophies are going to go to the elite racers. So why would the next 80 sailors go.... My answer is that its about the competition.... that is the essential fun factor, that keeps you coming back. Competent sailors enjoying Corinthian competition. NOBODY travels to participate. (I am not considering rec sailors who take the family on the water to just sail as a pastime)

When the game tilts to equipment innovation... Or , have you invested enough time to become competent in say foiling... The fun factor in competing is missing. If you are still working on foiling your moth.... you are not spending the cash and time to travel and participate.. You will find a way to travel and spend the money if the game is about competing.

Prime example .. A class. the A Class is a development class. They managed wave after wave of technology changes... until Foiling. Cats versus dogs at that point.. The expectation was that floater would be gone from world competition within a year or two and flying would quickly trickle down to the local level. But ... the sailors did not behave as the past. Flying was a totally different thing.... So... the reality was... nope... still lots of floating boats on the water.

So they finally did the right thing and create two divisions within the class.... They are FINALLY back to recognizing the integrity of the competition with championships in the two divisions.

Creating the conditions for competition though out the fleet is a magical thing and often overlooked.

Very good read on the market as a whole.

The A-Cat fleet in the U.S led that one Mark, and has had trophies for both fleets with one starting line for the last 2 years or more. They also have the highest turnout going of any beach cat or high performance boat in the U.S at the moment (probably ignoring the Scow's and the J/70's, but the latter isn't particularly high performing). 43 boats are registered for the Woods Brothers Regatta next month in Atlanta.

A lot of average sailors find the foiler scary, I have found the same thing at times as the speeds are vastly higher than what we are used to with the floaters. The difference is the elite sailors enjoy the challenge, there is a spot for the mid level sailor in the floater fleet to earn a trophy, and the back of the foiler fleet is loving the learning curve. Foiling A's are also cheaper and less technical than moths. Really the only additional thing beyond a floater is the rake control system. This also makes the boats simpler than anything else out there that flies, or for that matter doesn't, for the speed you get. Foil kiteboarding is a riot but you need a strong core and have a high overall skillset.

Yup, like most things, it comes down to Time and Money.

The Gameboy/iPad/video games don't need a car and a trailer to get to a competition, and the kids can play indoors no matter what the weather, or even if it's dark outside. I have seen many newbies (adults, not kids) show up at regattas, get their butts kicked, and never return. I actually overheard one wife asking her husband,

We bought all the right stuff, why aren't we winning races?

. The learning curve is much steeper to be successful racing a cat than even a mono, and now add the extra learning and costs required to foil, it's the main reason I'm not foiling, no time to learn, no money to buy one.

The other point about electronic games is that there is no real

peril

of failure. Just reset and keep going.

In all other sports/activities I can think of,

fail

may include any number of the following:
- injury
- damage
- despair
- humiliation
- increased effort to improve
- delayed gratification

All harder things to surmount vs. just clicking a few buttons.

Which builds character? Which gives greater satisfaction when achieved? Which forms lifelong lessons and wisdom?

But how do you SELL those factors?

three point foiling configuration

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11946082

It doesn't look inherently able to self right (more like a giant skiff) - I'm interested in how they will carry that out.

I'm also interested in how the rules are going to manage the foil positions in close quarters like at the start. Those things are out there and just asking to be shoved into another boat's cockpit....or, at the very least, they protrude a great deal beyond the beam of the boat underwater and could be really hard to see in anything but clear water. It's going to be hard to keep these boats from

locking horns

.

The windward foil is going to kill somebody. The design is a disaster for trickle down fleet racing. Any appendages outside of the hull beam is just wrong for sailing. This will give new meaning to the hook during the dialup. Bertelli and Dalton have their heads up their a sses.

Here is the video.

counter point - they honestly look like an iceboat. They survive fleet racing at significantly higher speeds - I guess these will too....of course, though, their skates aren't at ear level.

in moderate air can I send all the crew out to the windward foil like the Bahamians on their hiking boards?

If the self-righting thing is correct, then those foils must have some ballast associated with them...? And how do you move those foils when the boat's on its side? Someone has to crawl up and start cranking?

They probably should make those foils connect so that perhaps you can slide in/out along the foil (windward one moves to beam, leeward one extends out/down) along some sort of (enclosed) channel within the hull...

I think someone in the VOR or TJV had a foil setup like that although it had some issues if I recall...

“The foil management will largely be done with battery power."

that crew talk didn't last long . . .

So, are they cranking magnetos/generators instead of winches? Or do they have to plug the boats in after every race?

leave the foils down and make the dang thing a trimaran...

Spithill jumps ship to Luna Rossa, meanwhile, Dalton has diarrhea of the mouth.

The part that got my attention was the last sentence: Spithill's departure ads to speculation that Oracle will not contest the next America's Cup.

So.... is Larry a sore loser, or has he just had enough of blowing billions on fast boats?

I think these foiling monohulls, in addition to looking stupid, are a step backwards in technology and design evolution and I'll be surprised if they are faster than the foiling cats were.

It's pretty much official - Oracle is done.