Sail-World NZ e-Magazine - March 25 - Another Cup boilover..Pacific 52

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZ on 19 Mar 2017 Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for March 25, 2017

Apologies for the time-out since our last newsletter.

There has been plenty happening over the past week or so.

Changes have been made to the America's Cup Protocol to allow the teams to train against other in Bermuda in AC50's - which was previously prohibited.

For sure the change will work Defender Oracle Team USA's way as they continue to work up against the Challenger Softbank Team Japan - the first time a Defender and Challenger have worked together in 160 years - one of many oddities in the 35th America's Cup.

Courtesy of Emirates Team NZ we have a brief video of the first hook-up with Land Rover BAR and Oracle Team USA. Reports from Bermuda had it that Oracle went on to beat the Brits by a hefty margin. That raises the issue of what is the point in these match-ups?

Did the US team drop by on their way home and give the Brits some tips on how they could make their boat go faster? Unlikely.

The Brits have been rumoured to have speed problems for some time - going back into their AC45S, and the inside word is that Land Rover BAR received a new set of foils today, and the French had their new foils delivered on Tuesday.

Reports from Bermuda have it that Land Rover BAR improved on their half a lap drubbing from Oracle Team USA on the first day of Practice racing. Maybe that was due to the new foils.

How long the teams continue to sail against Oracle Team USA remains to be seen. What is likely to evolve is a natural pairing, with Oracle working out against Softbank Team Japan. Artemis Racing against Artemis Racing and that leaves Groupama Team France to either work up with the Kiwis when they arrive or for both teams to do their own thing.

The latest change to the Protocol resolves an error that was made last May, but what is surprising is that it took so long - and it is another retrospective change in the Protocol for what is a Restricted class. That term 'Restricted' means that development and design innovation is encouraged within certain limits. Teams then develop their design strategy and options within those limits to produce the fastest boat.

Changing those limits retrospectively mean that a team which has gone in a particular design direction is disadvantaged if the other teams get together and vote for a change which erases a particular design option.

The real concern is the alacrity with which changes seem to be made - which in turn triggers a concern among fans as to when it will end?

Even in the America's Cup, there has to be a purity of competition for the event to maintain credibility. If you don't have that purity, sure in the short-term you can ignore and survive, but in the medium, to long term, the sponsors and backers perceive that the competition is rigged - and they put their investment into a sailing event which isn't tarnished with that stigma - of which there are plenty.

In this edition, we feature a story on the development of the Pacific 52 class - a relaunch of the TP52 concept, which was to have a 52ft keelboat that could be raced on a level rating basis inshore and offshore without needing to be a one-design.

Level rating racing is one of the great forms of keelboat sailing - inshore and offshore. The problem in the past has been getting a rating rule that is stable, and rates boats fairly, on a long term basis.

The downfall of the early rules, CCA, RORC, IOR and IMS were that they all encouraged a certain type of boat, and then designers worked out how to make a bigger boat seem smaller under the rating rule.

The IRC rule seems to have fixed that issue to some extent but is perceived as being unfair to some types such as those with canting keels.

The big advantage of a class within a rule - like the new Pacific 52 - is that cost controls can be imposed which stop the arms race and tweaks which usually add little to the speed or performance of the boats, but which do add significantly to the cost.

The Pacific 52 also has the advantage that it can leverage off the Super Series 52 (the inshore racer version of the TP52 class), and with the addition of a raised sheerline, the hull moulds and tooling for a Super Series 52 can be used to take off a Pacific 52 hull.

In this edition, we talk with Mick Cookson and Bill Erkelens, who was project manager for the build at Cookson Boats of the Pacific 52's Invisible Hand and Bad Pack. Erkelens has a long background with various America's Cup teams and more recently was the CEO of the US Volvo Ocean Race team, Team Alvimedica.

There seems to be a good vision for the new class, part of which is developing boats that will have a competitive racing life of 10 years or more.

The Pacific 52 is being developed by a group of owners on the West Coast of the USA - in San Diego and San Francisco. The Pacific 52 is designed for all the classic offshore races - Rolex Sydney Hobart, Rolex Fastnet, Transpac - and of course would be ideal for the races from New Zealand to Fiji and Noumea.

Invisible Hand and Bad Pack are both able to shed their removable interior kit and race as inshore racers - even make the switch from wheel to tiller steering inshore.

Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on www.sail-world.com by scrolling to the top of the site, select New Zealand, and get all the latest news and updates from the sailing world.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com

Please forward news stories and images these directly to Sail-World NZ using our new very easy to use submission system, or forward to the email address: sailworldnzl@gmail.com as text in the email and attach images in the standard way for emails.

To subscribe to Sail-World.com's NZ e-magazine published two or three times weekly go to www.sail-world.com and click on Newsletter and Subscribe. You can see previous newsletters by clicking on Newsletter and then Archive from the drop-down menu.

To check if you have been missing one or more Sail-World newsletters - then check on Archive in the Newsletter section - and if you are missing some, then enter a new gmail.com email address for you.

Or if you are a potential advertiser and want to understand how Sail-World can work for your company, website or product, then drop a line to Colin Preston at nzsales@sail-world.com

If you want to contact Richard Gladwell directly email: sailworldnzl@gmail.com or call (+6421) 301030 or by Skype at sailworldnzl
Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on www.sail-world.com by scrolling to the top of the site, select New Zealand, and get all the latest news and updates from the sailing world.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com

Please forward news stories and images these directly to Sail-World NZ using our new very easy to use submission system, or forward to the email address: sailworldnzl@gmail.com as text in the email and attach images in the standard way for emails.

To subscribe to Sail-World.com's NZ e-magazine published two or three times weekly go to www.sail-world.com and click on Newsletter and Subscribe. You can see previous newsletters by clicking on Newsletter and then Archive from the drop-down menu.

To check if you have been missing one or more Sail-World newsletters - then check on Archive in the Newsletter section - and if you are missing some, then enter a new gmail.com email address for you.

Or if you are a potential advertiser and want to understand how Sail-World can work for your company, website or product, then drop a line to Colin Preston at nzsales@sail-world.com

If you want to contact Richard Gladwell directly email: sailworldnzl@gmail.com or call (+6421) 301030 or by Skype at sailworldnzl