| The latest sailing news from New Zealand and the world. |
16 Feb 2017 |
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  Two Launchings and a Dismasting
 | | Emirates Team New Zealand's new AC50 sailing for the second time from the Team's base in Auckland. February 15, 2017 © Richard Gladwell |
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for February 16, 2017
While the spotlight is firmly on Emirates Team New Zealand at present, spare a thought for plucky Kiwi solo sailor Conrad Colman, who was dismasted in the Vendee Globe round the world race on Saturday morning (NZT).
He was just 700nm from the finish (just over a Sydney Hobart away) and was battling 35kt headwinds about 300nm off the coast of Portugal.
The reason why his rig dropped is not known, but certainly Colman has experienced a number of setbacks in this endurance race, and has risen to the occasion each time - and kept sailing. He was in 10th place at the time of the latest mishap.
 | | Conrad Colman is making slow progress under Jury rig due to light winds - a finish at the end of next week is now being forecast. © Conrad Colman / Foresight Energy / Vendée Globe |
His dismasting would have taken out most competitors, but Colman seems determined to become the first sailor to complete the Vendee Globe using only natural energy sources - wind, sun and the sea. He has an electric engine.
After enduring a very difficult 24 hours or so after the dismasting, due to the sea state and the motion of Foresight Natural Energy, Colman worked out his priorities and options and proceeded to repair his main boom, so that it could be used as a mast - and then start a Ceramco style jury rig to get him to the finish line.
We have the updates as to his progress in this edition, but it is one step at a time for Colman, currently he is clipping along at a tidy 3kts - which will hopefully increase as he is able to get more sail set, and assuming his makeshift mast lasts the distance. At latest report he is forecast to finish late next week - but there is a lot that can happen between now and then - including dwindling food supplies.
 | | Day 101 – Conrad Colman – Foresight Natural Energy – Vendée Globe © Conrad Colman / Foresight Energy / Vendée Globe |
Regardless of the outcome, Colman's is an amazing story of never giving up.
Stay tuned to Sail-World.com on our website for daily updates.
The AC50's have started to make the news, with Emirates Team New Zealand making a bold move putting their crew on cycles instead of the traditional grinding pedestals.
The story has been the biggest we have ever run, in terms of reader response in my 12 years at Sail-World.com
 | | Emirates Team NZ get some close attention, despite the rain - Day 1 007 - Emirates Team New Zealand - February 14, 2017 © Richard Gladwell |
We will know after the conclusion of the Round Robin of the Qualifiers in the first week of June, whether the move has been a success.
From what I have seen in the past two days, I don't think there is any doubt that the boat is fast, foiling well, and the move to 'pedalstals' is working well. But the AC45S looked very good as well and the conventional systems on that platform seemed to be doing their job.
It would seem that the other teams are going to stay with conventional systems.
The move to pedalstals has caused some quizzical comment, and there is little definitive data on the subject.
In one of the stories in this edition we have the comparative data for a top grinder, a top rower and a top cyclist.
It would seem that the rower and cyclist come out well ahead of the grinder - both in raw power - 480 watts (almost 1hp) for the rower and cyclist; compared to 250-300 watts for a grinder. That says a rower/cyclist is producing 1.5 times more energy than a grinder.
 | | Dean Barker (Softbank Team Japan) and Grant Simmer (Oracle Team USA) look over Softbank Team Japan's new AC50 in Bermuda. |
The numbers also stack up for endurance - with the cycling output being taken over a 70 minute Olympic Gold medal time trial. Rowing - well you can row as long as you like - just drop the pace a few clicks and row to a comfortable heart-rate.
Of course, the imponderable is whether the crews can maintain their output in a sailing environment. With grinding the sailors obviously stay on their feet and can brace themselves. Cycling remains to be seen - depending on the degree of heel. Those in the know say that how the cyclists handle the considerable G-forces on the AC50. At least with the grinders they are still on their feet and can brace themselves against sudden sideways movement.
The advent of the AC50 should have triggered a new thinking amongst the teams, rather than just down-sizing systems from the AC72 - andf the crew reduction from 11 to just six on the AC50.
Simple maths tells you that with each of the AC50 and AC72 needing a dedicated helmsman and wingsail trimmer that on the AC72 there were nine crew available for grinding and on the AC50 that drops to four. That equates to less than half the available power generation resources, with a power requirement that is unlikely to be less than half and AC72.
 | | Oracle Team USA - San Francisco - showing the four pedestals on the AC72 which have now come down to two pedestals on the AC50 © Richard Gladwell |
The question with the AC45S and AC50 has always been whether there sufficient grinding capability on board. In San Francisco Oracle Team USA got though in the end by a massive effort from the grinders and the energy they were able to produce to power the requirements of the foil and other systems.
The teams that have been running multiple AC45S test platforms, took the obvious approach of initially running from battery banks while they assessed how much energy was required, and how they would generate it.
Next step was to shift from electric to manual power only. Then the teams shifted from one pedestal to two pedestals - being all they could fit in the boat. The AC72's had four sets of handles - allowing eight crew to pump the hydraulic oil pressure on one side of the boat. The AC50's have just two sets.
Energy is the currency of the AC50 and AC72. Once the race has started it doesn't matter how much money your team has, it counts for nothing if the crew can't generate sufficient energy to pressure the hydraulic systems reservoir.
 | | Oracle Team USA - Unveiling - February 14, 2016 Sam Greenfield/Oracle Team USA |
And of course, if you have plenty of energy then you have more to spend on the niceties of AC racing life - which means that you should be able to do a lot more adjustment of control systems, or use hydraulics where others have to use less elegant mechanical solutions.
Whether the pedalstals are a game-breaker remains to be seen. Whether the other teams have the time to make a change also remains to be seen. Clearly if the computer modelling shows a clear advantage they will have to switch. But having just spent their 28 day Blackout period, another time-out to change-out and test hydraulic and systems could be too much - unless they come up with a plug and play solution.
As the situation stands, the other five teams will probably put a brave face on it, hope they have done their design and analysis correctly, and that there will be shortcomings with the Kiwi system, on the water, that weren't apparent in the design and development phase.
From what I've seen that doesn't appear to be the case. The tell-tale signs are a lot of down time and fluffing around with the boat between runs. The first two days have looked very slick - given that it is just two days into a new boat.
 | | Grinders on their cycle pedestals - Emirates Team New Zealand - February 14, 2017 © Richard Gladwell |
Thursday is the launch day for the Emirates Team NZ AC50 - we will have news, interviews and images from the base Thursday evening on Sail-World.com
Defenders Oracle Team USA had their unveiling of their AC50 yesterday in Bermuda. Today the boat got wet. Again we have the images and reports in this issue. Softbank Team Japan would appear to be the next to launch, and will be very restricted in their arrangement with Oracle Team USA - under the Protocol they are now prohibited (as are all competitors) from testing or sailing in a co-ordinated manner.
 | | Emirates Team New Zealand's new AC50 sailing for the second time from the Team's base in Auckland. February 15, 2017 © Richard Gladwell |
Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on www.sail-world.com, scroll to the bottom 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
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 | | Ernesto Bertarelli will helm Alinghi in Oman © Lloyd Images/Extreme Sailing Series |
 | | Oracle Team USA - new America's Cup Class boat - Unveiling - Bermuda, February 14, 2017 © BMW / Carlo Borlenghi |
 | | Day 102 – Arnaud Boissières – La Mie Câline – Vendée Globe © Olivier Blanchet / DPPI / Vendee Globe |
 | | Phaedo3, Lloyd Thornburg's MOD70 - RORC Caribbean 600 © Rachel Fallon-Langdon |
 | | Oracle Team USA launch their AC50 in Bermuda - February 15, 2017 © BMW / Carlo Borlenghi |
 | | Oracle Team USA - Unveiling - February 14, 2016 Sam Greenfield/Oracle Team USA |
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