America's Cup- Steve Clark on Heavy Air Multihull Sailing
by Steve Clark on 12 Feb 2010
Alpha (CAN) has a big splash - C-Class catamaran - in 18-23kts of wind and a reasonable sea running Toronto ICCCC - 2007 SW
Sail-World.com contacted Little America's Cup winner, and long time multihull and International Canoe sailor, Steve Clark (USA) about sailing racing inshore multihulls; whether he had raced these in winds in excess of 20kts; and if he had any images of his beloved C-class in action in such conditions. Clark was initially a little reluctant to talk, as he is remote from Valencia, but then let rip.....
Here's his reply on racing multihull seaworthiness:
This cycle of The Grand Farce highlights many of the things that are troubling about our sport and others things that need to be addressed if the sport is to ever grow and attract the type of sponsor dollars many feel it so desperately needs.
Rich men weaponizing their checkbooks and squabbling for months in the courts is just the start. The public, raised of a diet of rich people misbehaving and indulging their egos kind of understands that stuff. And to the extent that soap opera sells, it's OK. But for many of us, it is hard to be associated with this kind of foolishness.
Both these America's Cup boats are pretty extreme and they and their crews will be at risk if the races are held in heavy air. Nevertheless these boats were designed to be raced on this week; the trade offs have been made in full knowledge of what the race course can dish out; and given that neither side could agree on anything, I think it would be entirely appropriate to send them out and let the chips fall as they may. If they break, so be it. That is the game you chose to play. Each team has the option not to dock out.
I have long objected to wind and wave restrictions.
I think the men should go to sea.
I think wind and sea limits are bad for the sport, and inevitably lead to unwholesome boats and practices.
If people can rely on not having to compete in heavy air, they will not have sails and equipment suitable for those conditions. They will concentrate their dollars and design efforts on light and moderate conditions and as a result boats will become less seaworthy and people will become less competent in heavy weather.
The only way to combat this is to have a pretty tough attitude about putting the boats out and letting the people who can succeed, succeed - and letting the others flail and fail.
For the past few cycles of the Cup, I have felt this was particularly egregious. Multi million dollar seventy foot long keel boats crewed by professionals should be able to sail inshore courses in hurricane force winds. Anything less is laughable. The only thing the wind limits do is reduce the reliability and durability of the equipment.
In the old days of the International 14, the notion of open boat seamanship was integral to the class philosophy. If the race committee could hold station, the race was started. The Prince of Wales Trophy, on more than one occasion was won by a boat that was reefed, and reefing was still very much the thing through the 1960s. People who did not have boats that were up to these type of conditions or who were not able to manage, stayed on the beach and or lost. No question of the fairness of racing in severe conditions was asked, and no excuse offered.
The 18's have understood this through the years because they have understood that they are in the entertainment business and the show had to go on. Their response was multiple rigs that allowed the boats to be sailed pretty much no matter what the weather. This is integral to fulfilling sponsorship obligations, and it is my opinion that sailing will never garner the support it seeks if schedule is unpredictable.
In Valencia, it is entirely possible that the corporate high fliers who are being entertained by Oracle and Alinghi will have to leave town before the first race is run. People have schedules and probably didn't book several extra weeks 'just in case.' Even Larry has a day job, and may have to go back to work before this thing wraps up.
Of course, this is EXACTLY what Alinghi said would happen in Valencia in February.
All that being said, people always exaggerate the amount of wind they have sailed in, and 25 is a really pretty serious stuff on a light high performance boat.
Int. Canoes are a handful, A-Cats are right on the edge and C-Cats are frightening. Of course, sea state is probably more important, particularly with these pretty small boats. Jumping off a 1.5 meter wave at 18 knots in an A Cat is far more likely to end in tears than it is on a 60' vessel.
I have sailed C Class in 20-25 knot conditions more than a few times and we have always asked ourselves if it was even close to being a smart thing to do.
I have done it, as much as anything because of all of the above and my insistence that the boats have to be manageable and strong enough for heavy air. I am also pretty good at it, so it tends to be to my advantage to sail in the upper end of the wind range. But I have also taken a more moderate position based on who else was sailing and what the class was hoping to achieve.
So to your point, yes we have sailed C Class in more then 20kts but not very often and we do it with some trepidation. Committees always ask if we we should race or not, and my opinion is often based on externalities beyond the wind and waves.
It seems that pretty obvious that if you don’t have to count on surviving a gale, you just reduce the factors of safety and get boats that are 'faster' in moderate and light air but ultimately less seaworthy.
People are duped into thinking this surrender of seaworthiness is a design advance when it is nothing of the sort. The result is people going to sea in boats that really aren’t good enough and then things like the Fastnet or Hobart happen and everyone is surprised, call it a tragedy and then postpone the start next time it looks like it is going to get ugly out there. After a while the boats can’t do it anymore. In short they become inbred and unwholesome like some breeds of dog or hot house orchid. That is at least in the off shore game.
Inshore it is hard to imagine a more esoteric boat than the C Class Catamaran. But even here is pretty important to maintain a tough attitude about the boats being capable of sailing when it gets a bit tough out. 25knots really is quite a lot more wind than people think. Certainly on little boats that are as overpowered as C Cats, it gets down right frightening at times. Of course the fact that a capsize costs you quite a bit broken bits makes you more nervous than you might otherwise be.
Sea state is probably more important than wind speed, but because they are linked together, you seldom get much of one without the other. I do have some pictures of the last day of racing in Toronto in 2007 which was pretty dramatic.
This day was pretty much the high end of what we race in, probably a hovering between 18-23kts and a reasonable sea running. Waves were about the size that are said to be too big, in America's Cup, which is odd because their hulls are 4+times as long as ours.
SHC
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