Ray Hunt's Deep V back at the America's Cup

[Peter]

Somewhere Ray Hunt is smiling:

Here is a picture of what the officials have to use in the latest America’s cup to keep up with the “sailboats.”

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2013/ ... cisco-bay/


These machines are giant catamarans with wing sails that literally lift out of the water and fly with only the dggerboard and rudder foils piercing the surface. They are achieving speeds close to 50 MPH as they zoom about San Francisco Bay.

http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Ne ... 655837.php


Screw ups are dangerous and expensive and have resulted in the tragic death of one crewmember. All crew on the sailboats wear specialized gear including body armor, helmets and emergency air supply as well as required safety tools. Part of the protest referred to has to do with rule changes for safety which caused a row with the Italians.


Now most of you know that Ray Hunt designed the first Bertrams. And most of you know how the first 31 “Moppie” kicked ass in her first ocean race Miami to Nassau…

Many of you might know that Ray Hunt was an accomplished offshore sailor first and designed a 12 meter for the America’s cup. It was observing the way the 26 foot tender to this twelve which was also designed by ray Hunt, handled the chop off Newport Rhode Island that inspired Dick Bertram (also a very accomplished sailor) to hire Hunt to design “Moppie.”

Since then Bertram style deep V’s have been legend for their sea-keeping ability and speed in tough conditions.

But since then giant inflatables have become the tender of choice for big expensive sailboats with mirror-polished topsides. Fast. Light, powerful and essentially with a fender as a hull they were quite handy and much preferred.

But at the pre-cursor to the present America’s Cup event the inflatables were having trouble keeping up with these new generation wind machines. The tenders, chase, and officials boats not only have to go as fast as the competitors, they have to exceed their speed by a good margin, and the sailors are NOT going to slow down to allow them to catch up. In the last competition for the America’s Cup the chase boats were having trouble bunkering enough fuel since they were running flat out not only for the race itself, but also during the entire time leading up to the start.

So here we are back at the deep V again. Heavy; wave crushing; smooth riding; and with plenty of fuel. True, that officials boat is not a Bertram, but we all know where the idea came from!
Somewhere C. Raymond Hunt is smiling.

Edit: Here is a link to a video that shows one of the big cats foiling. This is older footage. They are even faster now as the sailors learn to handle them better and the designers tweak the foils.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sectio ... id=9115543