America's cup cats

[tevake]

While watching the F1 coverage there is an add for Tag Heuer, that features the catamarans that are being used to train for the cup races. I think that these boats are 40' boats ( the race boats are going to be much bigger). The add sure looks exciting and there is a chance that the racing for the cup will be worth watching.

Anyone in the bay area seeing them live?

Cheers Richard

[Matt Smith]

I was on the water in Auckland Harbour,NZ last week and saw Luna Rossa (the Prada/Italian boat) getting its mast put in place.

Magnificent! Mirror finishes to the hulls and massive eliptical sail. It was the AC72 86 footer that will be racing againg Team New Zealand this (our) summer. Should be a sight to behold.

[tfmcmahon]

Check out the video in this.They bury a hull and over it goes.The big ones will be fun to watch when they hit the water soon. The World’s Fastest Boats / America’s Cup

[tevake]

Tfmcmahon thanks so much for the link!! That is a great intro to whats happening to bring the sport into the 21st century.. Those are going to be amazing boats to watch racing. The specs are unreal, but the sophistication of the rigs boggles the mind.

This is bring in a new era in sailing.

Matt, well you are right in the spot to see these boats come together. I'd imagine that there are many teams there to get their boats built and tuned.
New Zealand and France are at the pinnacle of composite boat building. I Have had the pleasure of spending a year there rebuilding my 45' foam sandwich tri. and sailed thru there a few other seasons. Fantastical boating oriented people there, I loved being there. A true sailors Paradise

Cheers Richard

[Matt Smith]

Richard, the Viaduct is where these boats get prepped, and that's about 100m from where I work!

We've had the Am cup boats in Akl for a number of years, but i have to say these Cats are something else. Lots of sails in the harbour as you can well attest (and I've probably seen that tri of yours- maybe dived on its hull looking for for biological nasties if it came in internationally in the last 8 years or so), but those sails stand over EVERYTHING else. Absolutely huge and just say engineering at its pinnacle.

Even the Prada chase boat is a thing to behold. These teams seem to 'need' faster vessels every time to 'keep up'. We were drooling over the quad outboard cat chase boat moored in the viaduct. Need to look up its specs. Always lots of well dressed dudes looking important and very, very busy. Lol!
I'm out there this week so I'll make an effort to shoot some pics for pelicans if I can.

[tfmcmahon]

Hey Matt,any pics you get will be greatly appreciated.The first live TV coverage here in the states,may have been down under,as I remember staying up till 3:00 AM here to watch the live coverage back in the 80`s. Fremantle,if I recall. .Even then it was exciting in mono hulls.Can`t wait to see the coverage of these boats.Somehow ,I hope they can convey the sound and harmonics and vibration of these creations. Formula One on water!I grew up campaigning Lightnings and Ensigns.Wow,what a change.I`ll trade you my autographed copy of Bertrands "Born to Win" book for your Mini? Tom

[tevake]

Yes, how about some pics of the Mini! The son of a friend in the B O I had a classic Mini to go off to school with. I remember popping over one day and he was fabbing up some splash sheilding for the electrics on the front of the engine.

"maybe dived on its hull looking for for biological nasties if it came in internationally in the last 8 years or so),"
Interesting comment, Is that the work that you do there?
Is there now a hull inspection for incoming vessels? Would make sense, as there is so much shell fish grown there. And the introduction of fauna is now understood to be happening from vessels pumping their tanks in waters distant from where they were filled. What is done with vessels found to have unwanted marine life growing on the bottoms? Free bottom job :-)

Snag a pic of the chase boat if you get a chance too.
The on board experience on these boats looks verry athletic in the videos.

Cheers Richard

[Joe Bob]

[tevake]

Pointing inside 20 degrees, boatspeed three times wind speed. WOW. And that is the little boats.
With the gusty winds of the bay area, they better be able to dump and recover the traveler quickly.

Wasn't it in Freemantle that a boat broke in half and was lost? That was some boisterous conditions for cup racing.
One of the teams trained here in Hawaii to tune up for those waters.
Cheers Richard

[dennis in se pa]

As a long time sailor and follower of this series I am happy to see the cats. I appreciated the finesse of the mono hulls, but the speed of the multis is sure to bring more people to be interested. It is going to raise the bar for the crews quite a bit. I don't think Dennis Connor would have made it in this series.

[pwd72s]

Bound to be more exciting than watching the "lead bottomed money gobblers" of old...