When the Louis Vuitton Cup winner meets the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s Team New Zealand for the America’s Cup beginning Feb. 15 on the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, it will be a battle of technical innovations and Kiwis.
Much speculation has flown about the Kiwi “bustle,” an appendage to the hull that, it is feared, could give the Kiwis a longer effective waterline and thus higher potential speed. The International America’s Cup Class rule allows the boats to have up to two moveable appendages below the waterline. Traditionally these are the rudder and a trim tab for fine-tuning steering. The rules do not limit non-moving appendages. The “bustle” is non-moving.
Consensus among designers working for challenger teams is that the fears are unfounded because such an appendage, a sort of extra hull closely fitted to the rear portion of the actual hull, would disturb the flow of water along the hull, resulting in boat-slowing drag. Several have suggested that the device is a ruse to create anxiety in the Kiwi’s challengers.
Of course, many in the 2000 Cup said the Kiwi’s innovative “millennium rig” (a then-unusual arrangement of the spreaders that support the rods that brace the mast) and “knuckled bow” (an extra bend where the bow meets the hull bottom) would not give them a significant speed advantage. But that was before they effortlessly swept Team Prada.
Today both are found on all the new IACC boats.
Another technical innovation came to New Zealand with Switzerland’s Societe Nautique de Geneve’s entry, Alinghi Swiss Challenge. It has been copied by most of the teams racing on Hauraki Gulf. It’s the square-top mainsail, similar to those on many catamarans and trimarans. Team Dennis Conner sailor Peter Isler told Outdoor Life Network that they called the version aboard Stars & Stripes “SpongeBob Square-Top.”
To increase sail area, the battens that help hold the sail’s shape and the fibers in the sailcloth were engineered to allow the top of the sail to extend farther back from the mast before angling down to the boom. The shape looks like a side view of a butter knife blade rather than a more traditional triangle. More area higher on the sail also helps catch the usually stronger winds aloft. The innovations also allow better control of these more powerful sails.
Another innovative sail that has been seen on Hauraki Gulf is aboard Oracle. It looks like a kite-board sail or parachute and would be used in place of a spinnaker going downwind and flown in the stronger winds above the masthead. Oracle has practiced with this sail, flying it about 100 feet above the boat’s 110-foot mast, but has yet to use it in a race. It is attached to the boat by a halyard and two sheets, plus a retrieval line.
The kite sail also is suspected of being a ruse.
Whatever team and technology wins the 2003 America’s Cup, a Kiwi will be the winning helmsman. Helmsmen for all three remaining teams are New Zealanders. Helmsman for defending Team New Zealand is Dean Barker. Helmsman for the challenger favored to win the Louis Vuitton Cup (which was scheduled to begin Friday Chicago time), Alinghi, is Russell Coutts. The top Kiwi sailing for the United States’ sole remaining entry in the LVC, Golden Gate Yacht Club’s Oracle BMW Racing, is helmsman Chris Dickson.
Flotsam & jetsam
– Chicagoland Sport, Fishing, Travel & Outdoor Show comes to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 555 N. River Rd., Rosemont, Wednesday through Jan. 19. Hours are 2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, noon to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 19. Admission is $8, $7 for ages 65 and older, $3 for ages 6-12, free for 5 and younger. Call 800-511-8376 or visit chicagolandsportshow.com.
– Strictly Sail Chicago returns from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2 at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 30 and 31, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 1 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 2. Advance tickets cost $8 for Jan. 30 and 31, $9.60 for Feb. 1 and 2 at sailamerica.com and 800-937-2628. On-site tickets are $10 Jan. 30 and 31, $12 Feb. 1 and 2. Admission is $5 for children 6-12 and free to ages 5 and younger. Call 312-946-6269 for information.
– Author and submariner Capt. Edward L. “Ned” Beach Jr. died last month. Capt. Beach commanded the USS Triton (SSN-586) in the world’s first submerged circumnavigation. He was also author of “Run Silent, Run Deep,” based on his experiences as a World War II submarine officer. The book was made into a movie, which the captain didn’t like, starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. In an interview with All Hands magazine, he said, “If you read the book and look at the movie carefully–one right after the other–you’ll see that the movie has little resemblance to `Run Silent, Run Deep.'” If you are looking to pay tribute, check out the book. Capt. Beach retired from the Navy in 1966. Beach Hall, the U.S. Naval Institute building on the campus of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., is named for Capt. Beach and his father, also an author and Navy captain, who retired in 1921 and died in 1943.
———-
E-mail Mike Esposito at MEsposito@tribune.com.
