I know nothing about the America's Cup boats, but New Zealand using the bike power instead of hand cranking is pretty cool. I don't exactly what's going on there - they generate power, and that is the power that's used to control the flaps and rudders and anything else that moves? So, it's powered hydraulics, I guess, instead of just cables and pulleys? How does that work? Is it storing power in a battery? I tried to find a quick summary of how that works and came up empty. Is that because there's so much secrecy in the yacht design? Are the dagger board heights set before the race, or can they be moved during the race? Also, one thing I did watch this weekend was the end of the US Open golf, and watching Joe Buck misidentify Brooks Koepka's girlfriend, and then Brad Faxon correcting him with "that's actually his new girlfriend" was some classic awkward.
You know, I don't know exactly how the hydraulic system is set up to be pressurized, whether it is by battery powered pumps or directly driven by the grinders. I'm sure it's a system that is different for every boat and changes for each team, every Cup, as new tech comes along. I doubt that it includes a large battery bank as those are heavy as hell. Yes, you likely won't find much info on these systems because of the competition. The foils(daggerboards) can be raised or lowered any time, their position depends on which point of sail they are on. It makes a lot more sense to use the legs, the larger muscle group, to generate power. There are very few rules they have to adhere to when designing their race boats. Basically just size limitations, so each team can go all out to design and build the fastest thing they can.
There is no stored power, but the biking does allow them more power when needed, and allows the grinders to have their hands free. In the case of NZ, one of the grinders now continuously controls the ride height of the boat by constantly controlling the foils/dagger boards, which was typically a job of the helmsman. Here's a video description:
My understanding of the spec is that no power storage is allowed, except to run the onboard electronics. Everything going into any movement of boat parts has to be real time and powered by humans in real time. They can convert real-time grinding into hydraulics, but no stored energy use is allowed. That being said, it's been a few years since I got bored and actually read through the boat rules/spec, but I haven't heard of anything changing in that regard.
Just checked, and yep, page 19 details the use of stored power/energy. https://doc-0s-3k-docs.googleuserco...6038243&hash=as373fhq8jfthviguqt0ttgqtg2p8qoj
Yeah, I has seen that video - it's awesome, and I love the ingenuity. I was just curious what exactly was meant when the grinders generate power, and wasn't sure how the turning by crank or by pedal result in . . . something.
In the old school days, it used to be that "grinders" would power winches that would pull sheets (the lines attached to the sails), and other parts of the sail system to change the settings of the boat. Lately, especially with the advent of the catamarans, a lot of what is being done is done by hydraulic systems, and the grinders are powering up those "communal" hydraulic systems that can then be tapped to power whatever needs doing. It's kind of like riding a bike that powers an alternator that then powers a TV and or microwave, rather than having it hard-wired into just the TV, and then having to switch bikes to power the microwave. Here's an interesting article I saw on some technical insights into the AC50 boats: http://www.sailingworld.com/tech-behind-americas-cup
I enjoy the engineering aspect of it. It's like F1... you kind of get a bit more out of it if/when you understand some of the technical rules and requirements around it. I also used to race 20' Hobies. Which is TOTALLY the same. Still waiting for my call to the big leagues.
I'm going to do everything I can to give my son a shot at being an Olympic or AC sailor. The foiling tech has trickled all the way down to the Opti, a small boat formerly built out of plywood with just a mainsail. They had to change construction material to lighten it up. Hobies are foiling now, there are foiling kits for lasers. I used to race, I have a better understanding of the tactics and rules of right of way than the average watcher. I watch the races and think the boats are amazing, but I read waaaaaay more about marine toilets and alternators than I will ever read about the AC cats.
I hear you. Having raced cars for years in a wet climate I know way more about marine electrical equipment than I should because we used it in our race cars. Other teams would get wet (as in 3 inches standing water sloshing around on the floor) and their cars would die. Ours would keep running, and occasionally need a breaker reset to let us keep going. And it's probably that racing that got me to read the spec, because auto racing is all about the technical spec. You don't build a car and then figure out where to race it, you find the series you want to compete in and then build the car to be competitive within their technical specifications. Same goes for AC.
That's exactly what local phrf racing is. Buy a boat, any boat, and race it against a bunch of different boats. You might be last across the line and win the race on corrected time.
Yeah, I get that for local regattas where you have a ton of different boats for casuals you get corrected times. I'm just saying that for pro racing like AC you have set specs.
And heroin. And other opiates. Shocking, I tell you! I mean really... how else was George Lucas going to fuck her?