Cycling on Racing sailing boats.

Wow, my mind was blown away this morning  watching the sports news.

While taking part in the Americas cup, the sailing boats had static bikes and the cyclists created more power.

They are used to power the winches that control the sails and stuff.

Yeah, cyclors. More power than hand cranking for trimming etc. It’s bonkers though, big dudes smashing out 1800w.

The sails on the AC75s are trimmed with hydraulics, the “cylcors” don’t create ‘more power’ they are are only there to pressurise the hydraulic system*.  That said, if there’s not enough hydraulic pressure then the sails can’t be trimmed properly and the whole thing falls apart.

* The first time the boats used hydraulics to trim the sails every team used guys on grinders [kinda like an upside down bike with someone turning the pedals by hand] apart from the boat from New Zealand which used guys on bikes as they realised they could produce more power with legs than arms.

They are used to power the winches that control the sails and stuff.

No winches [too slow] ….. just rams – and just the sail trim, no ‘stuff’.

I think the rules limit the number of power sources. Interesting piece on GCN about this a couple of weeks back.

I knew you lovely lot could explain the ins and outs. Fascinating.

I knew you lovely lot could explain the ins and outs. Fascinating.

But what tyres for…

I think the rules limit the number of power sources. Interesting piece on GCN about this a couple of weeks back.

Interesting they feature the Americans who probably had the worst system [recumbant].

Are using recumbent for aerodynamics?

According to google some people think the system causes too much drag?

Can anyone produce 1800w?

Interesting they feature the Americans who probably had the worst system [recumbant].

More aerodynamic 🙂

Interesting they feature the Americans who probably had the worst system [recumbant].

More aerodynamic 🙂

It raises up on hydraulics to catch a tailwind. Maybe 🙂

Hey it’s not me who suggested aerodynamics were a big issue but some expert in an article about it.

They don’t even pay…sea tax?

Can anyone produce 1800w?

1800 is a lot but not huge. I used to be a rugby prop forward, so can produce that for 2-3 seconds on turbo, but cannot sustain it.

World Tour sprinters will do that in closing, after having ridden 200km plus before hand.

Track sprinters will put out 2200w plus (Hoy used to have a peak power of 27w per kilo!!)

But the most powerful are the BMX guys at 2500w+ from the start

More aerodynamic 🙂

That was their reasoning but it looks like they miscalculated the amount of pressure needed in a racing environment – video of the US cyclors doesn’t compare well to the other boats.

Aero is definitely a factor but Ineos is a big slab sided lump of a thing and yet it’s fast!

Turns out legs can put out more power than arms. Who knew? This came after they changed the rules about how the winch cranks can be human-powered. I’ve never put my power meter on the recumbent trike, but I won’t be troubling the 1800W brigade just yet. You can press into the back of the seat, but it’s not the same as standing on the pedals to get full bodyweight onto the crank whilst pulling up on the bars in track sprinter style. Recumbent will fit into the hull better though I guess, so aero gains there. On a recumbent my heart rate is lower as it’s easier for the blood to return from the legs without as much effect from gravity.

But what tyres for…

Schwalbe Captain Birdseye?

I think 1800w is from 4 people. They had the power on the screen for yesterdays races. I think I’ve seen 700W from an individual at times. Some of the guys are peddling and sailing the boat. There is some speculation
that the teams that went home didn’t make  enough use of their cyclors as eyes out of the boat save controllers.

The foils are operated by a Shore charged battery.

Shout out to Mozzy Sails as literally the geekest youtube channel. Great for race analysis and explaining the tech

To play devils advocate, since it’s pressurising the hydraulics, why do they need to be on board at all? Could do a Zwift sailing option, and have them landslide on turbo trainers and just feed in the watts via a motor. Or just make it battery powered like the foils 😉

Although I understand the reasons why, I’m a little disappointed that the lifting keels aren’t human powered.

To play devils advocate, since it’s pressurising the hydraulics, why do they need to be on board at all?

I assume its a tad harder zwifting when the boat is moving around vs a nice comfy garage.

For the keel batteries I think they should “start” the race x hours early with a “bike” per crew member to charge it up.

Shout out to Mozzy Sails as literally the geekest youtube channel. Great for race analysis and explaining the tech

^ indeed.

I assume its a tad harder zwifting when the boat is moving around vs a nice comfy garage.

Rocker plate and a few buckets of seawater. And I had previously assumed the keels were human powered 🙁

They don’t even pay…sea tax?

Rowed tax surely?

To play devils advocate, since it’s pressurising the hydraulics, why do they need to be on board at all? Could do a Zwift sailing option, and have them landslide on turbo trainers and just feed in the watts via a motor. Or just make it battery powered like the foils 😉

I think that’s a fair point. It is very arbitrary and no they don’t cycle to charge the battery on shore. I think operating from the shore would be tough. They active control is all human and they are looking and feeling all the time. In addition to looking at screens

The powered keel seems to be part of a sort of weird sailing politics. There seems to be a part of the sailing community that wants to hang onto mono hulls. This only seems possible with non human power.

Its worse on the big ocean racing mono hulls. I was watching one of the inshore races between volvo ocean boats and cheekily sent a live message asking why they were all running their engines. I knew the answer but the comments cheerfully admitted they can’t tack or gybe without a 75hp engine running to swing the keel

The smaller AC 40 boats are entirely battery powered. The crew of 4 just have electronic inputs. These boats are used for the women’s and youth Americas Cup

Although I understand the reasons why, I’m a little disappointed that the lifting keels aren’t human powered.

Too much power required I presume…. and getting it wrong would mean potentially trashing your £multi-million boat.  The foil system (not the foils) is a standardised package for all teams.

Too much power required I presume

Yes, each one weighs about 1.5 tons.

Other than the fact they are as fast anything the Americas cup is pretty meh.

I would love a winning side to declare “1903 rules” and next year they all have to turn up in beautiful wooden J class things.

just feed in the watts via a motor.

I believe the rules only allow electrical power sources for devices below the waterline, so the cyclor system that powers the rigging is hydraulic.

Pic

21.30: “You’re not allowed to see this, but im going to do a bit of a description.”

Then goes on to describe the hidden inner workings. But its the guy on the laptop behind him. He looks surprised, maybe shocked as the presenter speculates on which bit does what. Unscripted commentary.

@joshvegas I thought that the AC50s were more exciting than the AC75s.

The AC75s are spectacular though.