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Featured Stories | August 26, 2013
Inside the fastest boats in america’s cup history with mit meche.
By Genevieve Wanucha
“….It’s a clean start!” the America’s Cup commentator shouted yesterday . “And the Kiwis take the lead!” Two sailboats blasted through a foggy San Francisco Bay, dueling for a chance to race against the defending champion Oracle Team USA. Minutes later, Emirates Team New Zealand sailed to victory past Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge, and now wait to confront their formidable rival in the finals on September 7.
The America’s Cup is the world’s oldest sporting trophy, backed by 162 years of sailing tradition. This year’s motto hints of something new: ‘Best Sailors. Fastest Boats.’ After winning the last cup in Valencia, Spain, in 2010, Larry Ellison, the billionaire entrepreneur and the owner of Oracle Team USA, pushed to reinvent the competition into a spectacular television-friendly event. He got his way—big time. The 2013 America’s Cup is now taking place much closer to the shore, within view of cheering spectators, music concerts, and grandstands. The biggest change is the newfangled boat design.
The new yacht, called the AC72 (America’s Cup 72 class), is unlike any sailboat that’s ever raced in an America’s Cup. The 72-foot-long, wing-sailed catamaran can travel more than twice as fast as the boats that competed in 2010. When the slick carbon-fiber crafts really get going, both hulls levitate out of the water and begin to fly over the surface on retractable underwater appendages called hydrofoils. The decrease in drag during foiling mode can boost the yacht’s speed past 45 knots, or 52 miles per hour. “It’s surreal,” says Team New Zealand’s wing trimmer Glenn Ashby.
Several professors in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering , experts in naval architecture, marine hydrodynamics, and fluid mechanics, know a thing or two about sailboat design. Some have led the design of past U.S. America’s Cup boats. And they say that these AC72s have sailed straight into a new frontier in advanced marine technology. So, Oceans at MIT invited professors Doug Hart , Paul Sclavounos , and Jerome Milgram to answer a few questions about the fastest yachts in America’s Cup history. Knowing what they know will change the way you watch the race.
What makes the AC72 catamarans so fast and unique?
“In order to counter the side force generated by the sails, boats must have a wing shape below the water that generates a force in the opposite direction. Catamarans use long thin rudders and hydrofoils near the center of the hull called daggerboards. The AC72’s are unique in that they have rudders and daggerboards designed to push up on the hulls and lift them out of the water while, at the same time, countering the sideways force of the sails.
In addition, AC72s use “wing” sails rather than the typical canvas sails you see on most sailboats. These are structures built very much like the wings of an airplane. They are “monocoque”-type structures, which means that part of the load is carried by the outer skin. This support allows the sails to be very thin and ridged. This design provides a means of controlling and optimizing the shape of the sails in ways that traditional canvas sails can not be controlled or optimized.
Finally, as with all catamarans, the hulls are long and thin. The force on the sails acting to flip the boat is countered by the weight of the crew and the weight of the part of the boat that is upwind of the sail. The two hulls of catamarans can be separated by considerable distances providing significant leverage against flipping. The long thin hulls also generate little wave drag (drag caused by the generation of waves by the boat itself) and help to pierce oncoming ocean waves rather than slamming into them and decelerating the boat.”
Designing innovative yachts must involve a great amount of fluid mechanics or marine hydrodynamics. What specific research areas are critical for this kind of sailboat design?
Paul Sclavounos, MIT PhD ’81, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture. Interests: Marine Hydrodynamics, Marine & Mechanical Engineering. Professor Sclavounos has been a design contributor to three America’s Cup syndicates.
“The design of the new AC72 boats is a complex process lying at the intersection of a number of disciplines; marine hydrodynamics, aerodynamics, structural mechanics, advanced composites, and optimization theory. Of these disciplines the ones that are critical for the design of AC72 boats are marine hydrodynamics, aerodynamics and carbon fiber composites. The fluid dynamics involved in the design of the AC72 boat may now he handled reliably by computer programs that solve the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes Equations reducing the need for extensive tank and wind tunnel testing.”
Jerome Milgram , MIT PhD ’65, Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering, William I. Koch Professor of Marine Technology, Emeritus. Professor Milgram has been a design contributor to more than eight America’s Cup syndicates.
“For the hydrofoil boats, called foilers, the fluid mechanics of lift is paramount. It differs from the lift of airplanes in that there is a free surface (water) very close to the foils, whereas an airplane lifts in nearly an infinite fluid (air). Lift in the presence of a free surface is the new field of fluid mechanics for foiling boats. In an ordinary boat, there is lift in the form of side force generated to counterbalance the side force of the sails. However, most of the lifting surface of an ordinary sailboat (the downward-projecting centerboard ) is further from the free surface than is the case with a foiler, on which most of the underwater appendage is horizontal and close to the free surface. (See this video: Hydrofoils: Flying on Water )
The new AC boats have rigid wings instead of fabric sails. Their elliptical leading edges can have a suction force on them, which cancels out much of the drag. Thus, the drag coefficient of a rigid wing can be much lower than the drag coefficient of a sail. Furthermore, rigid wings can withstand small areas of pressure difference reversal that would cause an ordinary sail to luff, or flap. This increases in the amount of available control of the lift distribution.”
“Sailing yacht design is extremely complex. Sailboats are anything but simple – generally far more complex then airplanes. They are a balance of compromises between rules governing their construction, structural properties of the materials they are made from, wind and water forces, crew safety, and the controls needed to operate them. While a tremendous amount of modern technology and numerical modeling goes into the designs of these yachts, much of their design is based on practical experience, experimentation, and trial and error. Sailboat races are often won by fractions of a percent difference in overall speed. These differences can be the result of the ability to out maneuver the other boat, point slightly higher into the wind or any number of other factors. Such tiny differences are very difficult to account for by simple numerical modeling thus, yacht design is still very much an art.”
Are there any downsides to this AC design?
Jerome Milgram:
The interaction of a high speed boat with waves is different than the wave interaction of an ordinary low speed boat. When an AC boat traveling at high speeds has its bow hit a wave, the wave can cause an instantaneous increase in drag, slowing the boat with the air wing force and the inertial force of the boat slowing down can cause the boat to pitch pole. Unfortunately, there has been one death due to this kind of inertial and hydrodynamic interaction between the boat and sea waves.
There is some criticism of this departure from tradition and of the increased danger associated with the new design. But, others are excited to see this as more of a spectator sport and demonstration of futuristic technology. What is your personal reaction to this sea change in the America’s Cup?
Paul Sclavounos:
“There is a long and illustrious history of Americas’ Cup mono-hull yachts and many are nostalgic of this tradition. The innovations introduced under the IACC rule have led to outstanding boats that had almost exhausted every corner of the rule, leading to margins of victory often less than a minute for a three-hour race. The new Americas’ Cup rule represents an evolution that is, in a sense, a consequence of the maturity of the designs developed under the previous rule.
The design of the AC72 yachts draws upon advanced marine technologies, e.g. computational fluid dynamics and advanced composites, increasingly used for the design of other marine structures, e.g. fuel-efficient ships, composite mooring systems for offshore platforms and multi-megawatt offshore wind turbines. As has been the case in the past, the races of new AC72 boats will be exciting, and they stand to raise an awareness of the importance of technology in the design of advanced marine vehicles. As to the dangers associated with the new design, it is a risk that is hopefully small yet to a certain degree inevitable given that a new frontier in yachting is being explored.”
“I see both sides of this issue and each has merit. The boats do depart from tradition and are certainly dangerous, but they have the thrill of very high speed. I would not personally get on one of these boats. I have too much sense for that. Others see it differently.”
“While safety is certainly a major concern, as an engineer, I find these new yacht designs extremely exciting. My own feeling is that the America’s Cup races became too bogged down in rules and lost sight of what made them exciting. I hope these new yachts spark people’s imagination and usher in a new generation of young sailing enthusiasts.”
34th America’s Cup: New AC72 class, the fast, spectacular, wingsail catamaran unveiled
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Written by Chelsea Smith
Encapsulating the 34th America’s Cup – the best sailors in the world on the fastest boats – the AC72 will be a physically demanding boat capable of top speeds twice the windspeed.
The new AC72 class is the first-ever wingsail catamaran class for the America’s Cup and the fastest-ever class in the iconic 159-year-old competition. It replaces the ACC monohull class, which was created in 1988 and first raced in 1992 Cup.
The new AC72 catamaran which will be used in the 34th America's Cup. Credit - 34th America's Cup
The new AC72 class catamarans will make their racing debut in the 2012 season for the America’s Cup World Series ahead of the 34th Match in 2013.
A catamaran was selected as one element to transform and enliven the America’s Cup for the future. A multihull is the ideal dynamic class, capable of being raced hard in winds from 5 to 30 knots to minimize racing delays due to winds too light or too strong.
AC72 design parameters:
LOA 22.0 meters (72 feet) Beam 14.0 meters (46 feet) Displacement 5,700 kilograms (12,500 pounds) All-up weight 7,000 kilograms (15,500 pounds) Wingsail area 260 square meters (2,800 square feet) Wingsail height 40 meters (130 feet) Wingsail chord 8.5 meters (28 feet) Sail trimming Manual grinders Configuration Twin-hulled catamaran Crew 11 Sail trimming No mechanically powered systems Sail area reduction Removable top sections/leech elements Appendages Maximum of 2 rudders, 2 daggerboards Construction Minimum 600 grams per square meter outer-skin; High-modulus carbon-fiber permitted in wingsail spar
The AC72 Class Rule was drafted by a distinguished group of consultants, chaired by Pete Melvin, on behalf of US SAILING.
Melvin, formerly a designer of aircraft for the McDonnell Douglas Corp. is a champion multihull sailor, having twice won the A Class Catamaran World Championship. Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering, Inc., also designed the record-setting maxi catamaran PlayStation.
Organizers of the 34th America’s Cup believed it was essential that the first new class of boat to be introduced since 1992 should be developed independent of any of the teams competing. A Concept Brief was published in June setting out the performance and operational requirements.
The AC72 is a “box rule.” This narrows down the design parameters so that while teams have freedom to create their own boats, they will be similar in dimensions in order to ensure close racing.
Hulls and beams will have to be assembled in two days and disassembled in one to allow America’s Cup teams to move efficiently between venues. Replaceable “crumple zone” bow and stern cones will allow for quick repair in the in the cut-and-thrust of racing.
To fast-track all teams to a common level of technology, a new, smaller class of identical wingsail catamaran, the AC45, will be used for the 2011 ACWS season while teams create their new high-performance catamaran.
To ensure the fairest possible competition for the 34th America’s Cup, the draft of the AC72 rule is being made available to teams for feedback before it is finalized. A similar process was used to create the Protocol for the 34th America’s Cup.
Not only does this give all teams a voice in the rule creation process, but they will have all competition rules finalized before entering the competition – another first in the America’s Cup.
Once finalized, the AC72 Class Rule will be administered by the newly created independent organization, America’s Cup Race Management.
Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "34th America's Cup: New AC72 class, the fast, spectacular, wingsail catamaran unveiled".
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Published on August 27th, 2013 | by Editor
America’s Cup: What you may not know about the AC72
Published on August 27th, 2013 by Editor -->
By John Longley, 1983 America’s Cup winner After spending a week in San Francisco and having the opportunity to talk to a number of people who have actually sailed the extraordinary AC72s, I have gathered a bit of AC72 trivia to share…
* If you had an engine to power the hydraulics rather than grinders, you could sail the AC72s with 4 people rather than the crew of 11 they now sail with.
* There is really only one trimmer on board and he controls the wing. The helmsman controls the cant and rake of the board with buttons on a control pad in front of him but only has 3 seconds of stored power before he has to “throw bananas” into the grinding pit i.e. ask for more hydraulic power.
* They have seen 47 knots as the top speed so far but expect to see the 50 knot barrier broken in the Cup match.
* The boats go directly downwind 1.8 times faster than the wind. So if you let a balloon go as you went around the top mark you would easily beat it to the bottom mark.
* There is only 4 degrees difference to the apparent wind from going on the wind to running as deep as you can.
* If you lost the hydraulics while the boats were foiling they would be completely uncontrollable and would most likely capsize.
* It is faster to find the strongest adverse current going downwind because the stronger apparent that is then generated translates into more speed than if you were sailing in slack water. (Warning – this takes a bit to get your head around)
* When sailing downwind you look for the puffs in front of you not behind you.
* It is actually quite dry on the boats, unless you make a mistake and come off the foils, as you are flying a couple of metres above the water. Waves have almost no impact on the boat when foiling.
* In strong wind you carry negative camber at the top of the wing to “reef” or de-power the wing.
* All crew carry personal tackle so they can effectively rappel down the netting if the boat capsizes.
* Gennakers are only used below about 8 knots; the jibs only provide about 3% of the lift up wind.
* The foil on the rudder generates about 800 kg of lift with the rest coming from the center board foil to lift the 7 ton yachts clear of the water.
* The centre board foil’s tip comes out of the water so it effectively works like a governor on an engine i.e. as the board generates too much vertical lift it comes out of the water, the area is thus reduced so it goes back down etc until it finds equilibrium.
Tags: AC72 , America's Cup , John Longley
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Speed and Innovation in The America’s Cup
Get swept away in this awe-inspiring exhibit featuring the world's oldest international sporting competition.
About the exhibit:
Have you ever wanted to see a boat that can fly?
The America’s Cup isn’t just any run-of-the-mill yacht racing competition. Dating back to 1851, The America’s Cup has been the premier sailing event where the world’s top sailing teams battle it out on the water – putting their teamwork, athleticism, and engineering mettle to the test. In this exhibit, you can hear the story of one of the most notable moments in the history of the sport — Oracle Team USA’s victory in 2013 — an event dubbed “the greatest comeback in sports history!”
Not only will you get the chance to hear this phenomenal story, you’ll also see the actual 72-foot catamaran that Team Oracle sailed to victory during that fateful race. Come witness the story, and find out what made these boats “fly” out of the water at speeds up to three times faster than the wind!
What to expect:
- Test your might and see if you have the endurance needed to be a member of an AC72 sailing crew.
- Get up close and personal with the AC72 that won the 2013 America’s Cup race, which is also the largest boat in our Collection.
- Watch boats “fly” – and learn how they do it.
- Touch sample materials from these engineering marvels, like carbon fiber and Clysar film.
- Walk on the same kind of netting that the crew members did.
Discover the objects related to this exhibit through our online catalog.
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Meet the AC72
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- Updated: September 5, 2012
America’s Cup 72: Oracle Team USA
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How Do These Boats Sail Faster Than the Wind?
Please try again
http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/09/Physics-of-Sailing.mp3 The America’s Cup sailboats are sleek and fast. The AC72, the type of catamaran used in this year’s race, can travel almost three times the speed of the prevailing wind. On June 18 th Emirates Team New Zealand recorded a speed of 50.8 mph (44.1 knots), with a wind speed of about 18 mph (15.6 knots).
Wind is the only thing powering these boats, so how can they go faster than the wind blows?
It might seem like the sailboats are defying the laws of nature: that they’re getting something from nothing. Not so, according to Steve Collie, an aerodynamics engineer for Emirates Team New Zealand. “In physics we always talk about conservation of energy,” Collie said. “Sure, we can’t create energy. We can’t produce magic that way. But there’s no sort of parallel theorem of conservation of speed.”
In other words, sailboats are not actually creating their own energy (no, they’re not violating Newton’s second law). They’re harnessing more than one kind of wind, and they’re doing it like a jet harnesses the flow of air to fly.
Everyone has felt this second kind of wind. It’s what you feel when the air is still and you head off on a bike, or a skateboard. You build speed, and it doesn’t take long before there’s a wind on your face. This is called apparent wind.
True wind is what you feel when you’re standing still and the wind is blowing. The wind an object feels when it’s in motion is apparent wind. Sailboats utilize both true wind and apparent wind. One force pushes the sailboat, and the other force pulls, or drags it forward.
True wind always pushes a boat. If a boat sails absolutely perpendicular to true wind, so the sail is flat to the wind and being pushed from behind, then the boat can only go as fast as the wind—no faster. That’s not because there’s no apparent wind; it’s because the apparent wind can’t help the boat when it’s hitting flat against a big sail. But when the boat travels at an angle to the true wind, the apparent wind suddenly generates a powerful force.
“The wind is doing two things,” said Margot Gerritsen, an engineering professor at Stanford. “It’s pushing, but there’s also a part of this wind that is dragging. That dragging is done with this force called lift.”
“Lift,” in the case of a sailboat, doesn’t mean “up” although it does in the case of an airplane. In fact, the physics that allow an airplane to fly are the same physics that allow a sailboat to travel faster than the wind. The difference is that airplanes lift up off the ground, and sailboats lift parallel to the ground— as if they’re flying sideways.
You can feel these two kinds of lift when you’re riding in a car (we suggest not performing science experiments when you’re the driver). Put your arm straight out the window, palm down to the ground like an airplane wing. Now tilt the palm of your hand very slightly up; your arm will rise with the force of lift. To feel what happens in a sailboat, put your arm out the window, bent 90 degrees at the elbow, with your palm facing you. Now angle your palm open to the wind very slightly; your arm will move away from you, as the force of lift pulls it sideways.
Lift is simply the name of the force that’s generated when apparent wind bends around the outside of the sail. Air traveling on the inside of the sail is moving slower than air traveling around the sail, which creates a pressure difference. That pressure difference generates lift.
The hoist you might feel under your feet when an airplane first takes off is not so different from the jostling sensations of push and drag that sailors feel maneuvering one of these catamarans.
“Really experienced sailors can feel this,” said Gerritsen. “They feel the forces below. They can sense changes in the forces in the sail and know how to respond to it. But it’s very precarious at times, too, because you’re trying to balance this benefit of the wind in these two different ways.”
The AC72s also use lift when foiling, which is when the two hulls of the catamaran raise off the water and the boat is almost literally flying, with only the rudders and a board anchoring it to the bay. Foiling makes the boat even faster because the drag forces slowing the boat down are now mostly in the air instead of the water.
If it’s physics that explains how the America’s Cup boats can sail faster than the wind, it’s the skill of the sailors and the design of the boats that give Emirates Team New Zealand or Oracle Team USA the edge, as they race toward the finish of the 2013 America’s Cup.
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The Boats of America's Cup 2013: AC72 Catamarans with Wingsails Lead the Cup into Future
2013 America's Cup Links: Main Page | Results | Basic Facts | Teams | Schedule | Rules | The Boats
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The AC72 (America's Cup 72 class) is a class of wingsail catamarans built to a box rule, which governs the construction and operation of yachts competing in the 2013 Louis Vuitton and the America's Cup races. ... The boats have been used in the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup and the 2013 America's Cup.
Here, we take a closer look at the AC72, in an effort to demystify this amazing boat. Use the numbers on the image and compare them to the numbered design elements listed below to learn what, exactly, makes this boat fly. 1.PEDESTALS shift between pumping oil to the hydraulics and driving winches via mechanical linkages
The biggest change is the newfangled boat design. The new yacht, called the AC72 (America's Cup 72 class), is unlike any sailboat that's ever raced in an America's Cup. The 72-foot-long, wing-sailed catamaran can travel more than twice as fast as the boats that competed in 2010. When the slick carbon-fiber crafts really get going, both ...
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- As the America's Cup defender, Larry Ellison's team Oracle got to set the rules and choose the type of boat for this year's races. Bl...
AC72 Guilain Grenier / Oracle Team USA. Calling the AC72 the most technologically advanced sailboat is not hyperbole. Upwind, on their slowest point of sail, the 72-foot catamarans can hit 25 ...
Encapsulating the 34th America's Cup - the best sailors in the world on the fastest boats - the AC72 will be a physically demanding boat capable of top speeds twice the windspeed. The new AC72 class is the first-ever wingsail catamaran class for the America's Cup and the fastest-ever class in the iconic 159-year-old competition.
The AC72 (Americas Cup 72 class) is a wing sail catamaran box rule, governing the construction and operation of the yachts to be used in the 2013 Louis Vuitt...
There was something surreal about watching Oracle's AC72 catamaran lift itself clear of the waters of San Francisco Bay and fly, with roostertails of spray firehosing off the daggerboard and rudders the only indication of speed: that, and the fact that the chase boat on which I was perched had to strain to keep up with the big black 72-footer as its speed nudged toward and then beyond 30 knots.
As the 34th America's Cup draws nearer, the development of the America's Cup 72 catamaran moves into overdrive. Emirates Team New Zealand hit the water first and fast. Dave Reed interviews ...
You could fit six AC45s in the space of an AC72. When hydrofoiling at speeds over 40 knots, the aerodynamic drag of the hulls becomes even more important than the hydrodynamics! Of course, when the boats come off the foils, the volume in the bows is crucial to preventing a pitchpole. Ergonomics. Perhaps the sleeper issue in AC72 design, deck ...
* The boats go directly downwind 1.8 times faster than the wind. So if you let a balloon go as you went around the top mark you would easily beat it to the bottom mark.
In the 34th America's Cup the best sailors in the world will meet their ultimate match; the fastest boat in the world. Technology returns to the fore with the AC72 wingsail America's Cup catamaran, capable of regularly exceeding speeds of 30 knots. The AC72 will excite fans as it zips around the racecourse with one hull in the air.
The ones used in the AC72 design, and with many other racing sailboats, are specially designed to provide balance to the entire sailboat while actually pushing the boat out of the water. Having the ship leave the water is beneficial for speed because drag caused by the movement on the water is replaced by drag from the much less hindering air.
The AC72: The AC72 is a 72-foot catamaran with a wingsail. These are the boats which will be used in the 34th Defense of the America's Cup in 2013, and in the challenger selection series of the Louis Vuitton Cup regatta. Yachts will be designed and built starting in 2011, launching July, 2012, for early testing, and begin racing in 2013.
The 34th America's Cup gets underway in San Francisco on Sunday when Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa and Artemis will battle for the Louis Vuitton Cup challenge...
Get up close and personal with the AC72 that won the 2013 America's Cup race, which is also the largest boat in our Collection. Watch boats "fly" - and learn how they do it. Touch sample materials from these engineering marvels, like carbon fiber and Clysar film. Walk on the same kind of netting that the crew members did. our online ...
Artemis Racing sailed with the team's first AC72 wing today, after an incredible amount of man power from the team. Artemis Racing set out to build a full size wing, and did just that, while other Challengers for the 34th America's Cup, including the Defender, chose to train for the AC72 catamarans using smaller boats like the AC45 and SL33 catamarans.
AC72 First Sail / ORACLE TEAM USA / San Francisco (USA) / 31-08-2012 Guilain GRENIER. ... More: AC72, America's Cup, Photos, Sailboat Racing, West Coast; Advertisement More Racing;
The America's Cup sailboats are sleek and fast. The AC72, the type of catamaran used in this year's race, can travel almost three times the speed of the prevailing wind. On June 18 th Emirates Team New Zealand recorded a speed of 50.8 mph (44.1 knots), with a wind speed of about 18 mph (15.6 knots).
The AC72 is a 72-foot catamaran with a wingsail. These are the boats which will be used in the 34th Defense of the America's Cup in 2013, and in the Louis Vuitton Cup regatta which selects the Challenger for the America's Cup. Yacht design and construction began in 2011, with the first launch permitted in July, 2012, for early testing, and ...
AC72 - New Zealand fully lifted on her L-Foils and sailing on the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand. America's Cup - Day 1, Emirates Team NZ sailing on Leg 3 of Race 2, with the trademarked stylised Silver Fern licenced by the NZ Trade and Industry. Bob Fisher and David Schmidt raising a glass together at the 34th America's Cup.
Best of the AC 72 that will compete for the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup in San Francisco in July, August and September 2013. Oracle, Luna Rosa, A...
Patience is a virtue for ORACLE TEAM USA who, after two anxious days, finally get the green light to commence sailing trials on their new AC72. All systems w...