New America’s Cup boat
Next America’s Cup boat will return to grinders, Team NZ designer reveals
Cyclors are out and traditional grinders are back on board for the 2021 America’s Cup, says the man who helped design the new foiling monohulls.
Team New Zealand’s design coordinator Dan Bernasconi has said the team’s successful cycle-grinding system has been virtually ruled out for the 36th America’s Cup.
The team’s bold shift to cycling from the conventional forms of grinding reportedly produced 40 per cent more power than their rivals Oracle Team USA, but Bernasconi told Radio Sport it’s unlikely to make a return as they pursue a more conventional style of sailing under the new design released yesterday.
“We’re trying to get back a little bit closer to the type of sailing that is more common outside of the America’s Cup, we want to connect a little bit more to club racing, so it’s likely that we will go back to traditional grinding,” Bernasconi said.
He said it’s likely the boats will have 12 on-board crew, but more work will be done looking at the power needed to sail the boat while keeping it light.
In releasing the new design, Team NZ said the foiling monohull could potentially be faster than the catamarans used this year in Bermuda.
Team NZ and Luna Ross worked together on the design and believe they have come up with a class that will be challenging and demanding to sail but accessible to a wider group of sailors.
Team NZ chief executive Grant Dalton said they were proud of what the designers had come up with.
“It has been a phenomenal effort by Dan [ Bernasconi] and the guys together with Luna Rossa design team. There is a lot of excitement building around the boat in the development and getting to this point.
“Our analysis of the performance of the foiling monohulls tells us that once the boat is up and foiling, the boat has the potential to be faster than an AC50 both upwind and downwind.
“Auckland is in for a highly competitive summer of racing in 2020-21.”
Team NZ believe the yacht could become the future of racing beyond the America’s Cup.
The moveable foils allow the boat to sail in all conditions. They can be raised and lowered to change the sailing mode and when both are lowered they provide better stability so racing in rougher sea conditions is possible; something that couldn’t be achieved with the foiling catamarans in windy conditions in Bermuda.
This is not a return to the past, but rather a step towards the future. Patrizio Bertelli of Luna Rossa
The boat’s design even allows it to right itself in the event of a capsize.
Although racing performance has been the cornerstone of the design, consideration had focused on the more practical aspects of the boat in the shed and at the dock, where both foils are canted under the hull to allow the yacht to fit into a marina berth. An underlying principle has been
to provide affordable and sustainable technology “trickle down” to other sailing classes and yachts. While recent America’s Cup multihulls have benefited from the power and control of rigid wing sails, there has been no transfer of this technology to the rigs of other sailing classes.
Bernasconi said the design process has been new territory for the team, starting with a clean sheet to develop a class. “We’ve loved it. We wanted to see how far we could push the performance of monohull yachts to create a foiling boat that would be challenging to sail and thrilling to match race.
“We’re really excited about the concept and can’t wait to see it on the water. We think we have achieved these goals — thanks also to the constructive co-operation of Luna Rossa design team — as well as the more practical detail to consider
in terms of cost management and logistics of running the boats.”
Luna Rossa Challenge chairman Patrizio Bertelli said the choice of a monohull was a fundamental condition for them to be involved again in the America’s Cup. “This is not a return to the past, but rather a step towards the future.
The concept of the new AC75 Class, which Emirates Team NZ and Luna Rossa design teams have de- veloped together, will open new horizons for racing yachts, which, in the future, may also extend to cruising.
“It is a modern concept, at the high end of technology and challenging from a sporting point of view, which will deliver competitive and exciting match racing.
“I would like to thank both design teams for their commitment in achieving, in just four months, the goal which we had established when we challenged.”
Luna Ross team director Max Sirena said the new yachts would be challenging to sail, requiring an athletic and talented crew.
“Every crew member will have a key role both in the manoeuvres and in racing the boat; the tight crossings and the circling in the pre-starts — which are part of the America’s Cup tradition — will be back on show, but at significant higher speeds.