So, the new AC75 Cup Class has been revealed!
Stunningly new and different

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/199667/Americas-Cup-AC75-boat-concept-revealed

It looks like it could be even more stunning than the Cats in Bermuda.
Thoughts?

Oh yes!

A sailors boat, not a cyclists boat 😉

Those things are going to go like stabbed rats!

Looks like they’re still going to be needing plenty of hydraulics for those foils and the wing.
TBH I’m not seeing a whole lot of difference between a foiling cats racing and foiling monohulls racing…. they’re both going to be quick so the traditional dialup isn’t going to happen. But more crew will be needed on the monohull which looks like it could be tricky to get the max out of.

They look wobbly. I presume less stable than wide multi at first, similar when up on foil…

Foiling stability should be pretty equal. The exciting bit is the change to soft sails.

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Yeah I saw that, having heard rumours of a monohull 75ftr I was expecting old school displacement with foils for both upwind and stability.. didn’t expect them to reveal flying hulls.

It will be interesting to see the designs as they form some sort of cohesive view, I now wonder if the hull length will be the only std box rule and leave the beam to be up to the designers crayons.. if it’ll foil in 10nts then there’s no need for beamy fat bottoms.. more designs around Mike Lennons foiling moth ethos..

Plenty down at my club if your interested .

There is a good cgi vid on insta giving a good visual representation of what these boats will look like match racing.. but I can’t link to it here (unless someone has an answer)

I’m happier that match racing’s back in the cup, the reech’athon of the last cup was just too… dull. Whilst I admired the tech, the sailor skills and intelligence I felt was missing.
Back to monohulls should (IMO) bring back the skills of the helmsman and the intricate teamwork ethos.

Looking forward to it..

Mehhh, they’ll sail them like multihulls, and they’ll be fast enough and oddly shaped enough to not be tactical.

Feels like a giant step sideways just as the rest of the sailing world was catching up with the foiling-cat concept (OD dinghies, inshore racing series, big tri’s) the AC goes with some half arsed concept. Should have stuck with the spectacle of big cats or gone back to proper match racing monohulls.

Bring back the J-Class I say.
Or the 12 metre- I once helmed Gretel for a couple of hours on a shy spinnaker reach off the Whitsunday’s and she was lovely

^ this is my feeling.

I’m happier that match racing’s back in the cup

I don’t think it ever went away, but with fast boats it just doesn’t work.
They can’t go back[wards] to displacement hulls as the progress made in TV viewing will be lost very quickly but they couldn’t stay with the multihulls as they’d be destroyed in NZ.
So they’ve produced a theoretically fast design that should survive in Aukland – it’s the same but different.

[video]https://youtu.be/rx2qG_YMrDs[/video]

This is what you where speaking of @bikebouy

I am just thrilled the Kiwis won. I’ll have a small bet Mark Turner gets involved with an Alinghi challenge

Thanks for the link, couldn’t find it anywhere..

Well I like the concept, the technology and design will be very interesting to see. Not too sure how a feeder series is going to work now though, still in the small cats to qualify then into mono’s for the Cup?

I’d like to see none foiling in the prestart and all the match racing at slow speeds, the off the line see just who can foil first .. or not… and then some good boat on boat tactics up the beat.. Haven’t seen any mention of kites or downwind capabilities, but looking at the bowsprit on the concept it looks like Assys are in so this could lead to a two gybe run .. like the cats… which could just be a bit dull..

They didn’t call the moth worlds the “unofficial corner banger cup” for nothing.. 😆

I think they are still solid wings (hard to tell from the vid) but they did say the rigs won’t be removed when in dock.
Open hull rule is irrelevant,it’ll never be in the water.
They claim they’ll be as fast as the multihulls.So no need for the Code1’s again.
And if they just as quick….then match racing tactics are irrelevant.
The change seems born from the lack of dockside space in Auckland and eliminating the need to crane them out of the water everyday.

I think they are still solid wings

Yep, a soft sail is never going to have the power to get that hull out of the water [quickly].

I think the idea is to have a dual luff groove and go for some sort of soft wing / controlled camber wing on the back of a fixed tube.
Quite like the idea of self righting too. But, whether the mast / sail would survive a high impact capsize / crash is debatable.

You can see the luff of the main has some sort of “wing” in it..

They claim they’ll be as fast as the multihulls.So no need for the Code1’s again.

The blurb and video talks about furling code0, but as you say it’ll be interesting to see how useful it is.

Has anyone ever built a foiling monohull with ‘bilge’ foils like that? What happens as it comes off the foils, the cats could/did pitch-pole, is there a danger these will hit the water sideways and capsize over the bow?

The DSS foils work on the big offshore boats, but those aren’t lifting the hull out of the water just keeping them flat and the hull shape makes them plane like a big dinghy.

Let’s not forget that this is a ‘concept’ (probably aimed at getting sponsors interested)…. It doesn’t mean they can actually make the design work.

The DSS foils work on the big offshore boats, but those aren’t lifting the hull out of the water

Well they are though really, just not completely. Watch the videos and you can see that, when they’re working, the hull takes off waves more readily and takes a bit longer to ‘come back down’.
The extra drag of the foil has to be overcome by less wetted area and reduced drag from the hull.

Ballasted foils is an interesting idea; it will take a good bit of hydraulic power to raise something heavy enough to be useful as ballast, and it will have to be done quickly if there’s a tacking duel. I hope it doesn’t come down who has the best grinders/cyclists.

Foiling mini transat 6.50…..

[video]https://youtu.be/hY6taXLY2NE[/video]

We’ve a very good mini transat sailor at the club looking to fund his way into the foilers…

Now that Transat looks fun…game on!

Windward boat keep clear

@Greybeard I am assuming there is no ballast in the foils, just their own weight. To make the design work the windward foil needs to be clear of the water so why not just get it outboard for some righting moment and call it ballast ? Thats my guess anyway.

That Mini Transat is possibly the ugliest sailing boat I have seen in a long time

I think they had to design it like that to survive the landings when it came down at speed. Good article about them in Seahorse mag.

Interesting rig on Arkema.Looks like a 2 element solid wing but is fully reefable.

That Mini Transat is possibly the ugliest sailing boat I have seen in a long time

That’s the “scow bow” – defintely not a pretty one but a really interesting design. The idea is that you bring the maximum beam as far forward as possible to increase righting moment which allows you to get away with a more powerful rig.

It will be interesting to see if the America’s cup boats go for a similar approach!