Editorial- Of ACC Design and Instant Reach

by nzeditor@sail-world.com on 3 May 2006 Welcome to the Wednesday edition of Sail-World NZL.

One of our lead stories is the release of the Confidential Interpretations by the America’s Cup Measurement Committee. Not that they are hugely exciting reading, however they are significant for two things. This is the first time that such rulings have been released so far in advance of an America’s Cup, and gives an insight into what we can expect to see in the way of development of ACC design with the new generation of Version 5 yachts.

However the main reason for running the story is that it provides a real contrast in thinking between those involved in out of the box classes, where gear is bought off the shelf, and is completely standard; and the thinking of those trying to wring every last 'go-fast' out a restricted class rule and the mental gymnastics that the top designers go through looking for that special speed edge. In isolation these 'smarts' don’t add up to much, but get three or four or five of them working together and suddenly you have a boat that is a game-breaker.

Reading the interpretations is pretty turgid stuff, but if you want to understand how the top designers work at getting the edge out of a rule, then it is an interesting exercise – particularly when you realise that you are only seeing a very small part of the game. For some more background, read some of the excellent ACC design primers that are available on the web. Then ask yourself, what you would do to make an ACC boat go faster?

We also feature a report from Jo Aleh on her regatta at Semaine Olympique Francaise at Hyeres. Jo is the youngest member of the YNZ 2006 Olympic Squad and while she achieved a good result in the 2005 Europeans (finishing 9th) she was put into the Squad for her light airs ability which will be a key in the 2008 Olympics in China (expected to be a light air venue).

Jo certainly delivered on this potential when the breeze lightened at Hyeres, producing some excellent results in the tail-end of the regatta and was unlucky not to medal. Her comments on the Grand Final are interesting.

At Sail-World we are more than happy to run reports from sailors and classes, and will always fully support sponsors of the sailors. With about 8,000 newsletters going out, three times each week, and 125,000 page views per day, Sail-World does have a lot of reach into the sailing scene. We are happy to share this with the sailors, so that their campaigns can become viable for a sponsor – without them we wouldn’t have too much to write about!

With current technology it is not too difficult to get emails and photos back to us. In one instance we had shots taken from a mobile phone, on the water in Sydney, emailed from the phone, and we had it up on Sail-World within a few minutes of receipt. Now you can see why Sail-World has Instant Reach!


Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

PS Please keep the contributions coming to nzeditor@sail-world.com