America's Cup- Oracle and Emirates Team NZ lose designers to Artemis
by Richard Gladwell on 26 Jan 2014
Artemis Racing competing in the Semi-Finals of the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup in San Francisco Chuck Lantz
http://www.ChuckLantz.com
Swedish America's Cup team, Artemis Racing has announced that it has signed two designers from Oracle Team USA Emirates Team New Zealand. They will join two returning members of the team.
Michel Kermarec has been lured from Oracle Team USA and similarly Thiha 'Winnie' Win from Emirates Team NZ. They will join returning designers Adam May and Nico Rousselon, as the team prepares for a possible America's Cup bid.
As yet no Protocol has been signed for the 35th America's Cup, and while nationality rules have been mooted, there has been no indication as to whether the rules will change from the previous Protocols, and whether any nationality rule will encompass designers as well as sailing crew. In their media release Artemis Racing, named four designers they had hired. None were Swedish nationals.
Kermarec was a designer for two America's Cups with Oracle Team USA 2010 and 2013. A specialist in performance prediction and appendage design, he holds a PhD in hydrodynamics. As a competitive sailor he France in the Soling class at the 1988 Olympics in Busan, Korea, placing sixth. He has been involved in six America's cup campaigns, the last three (2007, 2010 and 2013) with Oracle Team USA.
Kermarec began with France 2/3 in the 1995 America's Cup in San Diego and the moved another French team in 2000, and Prada in 2003. Outside of the America's Cup he worked as part of a research group in 1992 with unstable flows around helicopter blades
Thira Win was a Mechanical Systems Engineer for Emirates Team New Zealand. Previously he was a design engineer with Audi Motorsports in UK; Aston Martin Racing Team; Luna Rossa Challenge 2007 America's Cup design engineer and structure analyst. In 2010, he was a member of BMW Oracle Racing’s design team during the 2010 America's Cup, and was part of the unsuccessful Emirates Team NZ campaign in the 2013 America's Cup.
Team New Zealand are believed to have signed a replacement designer - a New Zealander, who worked for another team in the 2013 America's Cup.
Nico Rousselon, a specialist in aerodynamics, graduated from Southampton Institute in 2004 with a BEng in Yacht and Powercraft Design, before specializing in Computational Fluid Dynamics with an MSc at Southampton University. In 2007, he integrated the Cape Horn Engineering (then CFD branch of Juan Yacht Design) to start the aero side of the company. His skills were further developed through two Volvo Ocean Race wins (Ericsson4 and Groupama).
Adam May competed for Great Britain at the Sydney Olympics in the Tornado class, and is an aeronautical engineer by trade, having worked for Airbus UK in their wind tunnel and design office. He was a technical coach for TeamOrigin and Skandia TeamGBR, working closely with Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson during their successful 2008 and 2012 Olympic campaigns. Adam was part of the 2007 America's Cup for the Victory Challenge team, before joining Artemis Racing for the 2013 America's Cup.
Artemis Racing, headed by Iain Percy (GBR) says they are continuing to assess the criteria for the next America’s Cup, and is in the meantime building a team based on experience, talent and collaboration, and say it 'looks forward to making additional team announcements soon'.
Artemis earlier signed two key sailors Iain Jensen (AUS) and Nathan Outteridge (AUS). Both were involved with Artemis Racing in the 34th America's Cup.
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