Cup Experience Monday News | Racing the Test Boats in Bermuda | Building the Race Boats | more…

By on July 4th, 2016

Cup Experience Monday News | Racing the Test Boats in Bermuda | Building the Race Boats | more...

Cup Experience News

Issue 23 | Monday 4 July 2016

In this issue:

  • Racing the Experimental Boats in Bermuda in June
  • Building the AC Class Race Yachts
  • CNN Sailor Profile: 2013 Youth AC Sailor Now Sailing with Oracle Team USA
  • Ask Jack: What are the specifications for the 2017 race yachts?
  • 3 Bermuda-based Teams Race Their Test Boats

Thanks to Pamela for sharing in the Cup Experience Facebook Group the news about Oracle Team USA, Artemis Racing and SoftBank Team Japan racing their experimental boats in Bermuda. She reports that Oracle won six of seven races over two days. A Bermudian sailor I know was on the water watching on Friday. His comments: The race area looks SMALL! Artemis raced both their boats; Boat 1 had the old modified AC45 wing. Artemis's Boat 2, Oracle and Team Japan all had AC Class wings. The boats with newer wings were noticeably faster.

Oracle pulled off a foiling tack in about 9-12 knots of breeze. In about 9 knots in the first race Oracle and Team Japan were both foiling upwind; neither Artemis boat was. When the breeze was up all four boats were foiling upwind.

Four AC45x experimental boats raced on the Great Sound last week - two Artemis boats and one each from Oracle and Team Japan. Dockyard, home of the 2017 America's Cup Village, is in the distance.

  • Building the AC Class Race Yachts for 2017

Boatbuilding crews are hard at work building the AC Class race boats (often called AC50). The hulls are built in three pieces. The lower section has most of the structure, including the cockpit floor and the reinforcement for the daggerboard cage. The upper section has cutouts for the crew cockpits. The 2.7 meter long bow section unbolts so the hull can fit in a 40 foot container. The skin of that bow section is the only part of the yacht required to be built in the country of the yacht club it represents. Oracle and Team Japan are having their boats built at Core Builders in New Zealand. Team New Zealand is also building their boat in New Zealand, at Cooksons. Artemis Racing, Land Rover BAR and Groupama Team France are all building their boats in their home countries, using tooling furnished by Core Builders.

Upper half of an AC Class hull - the "deck." It will be joined with the lower hull section and the bow section will bolt on. Thanks to Richard Gladwell of Sail-World for the photograph. Richard has many more photos and lots of detail in two articles, here and here.

  • Another 2013 Youth AC Sailor Moves Up: Oracle's Cooper Dressler

In 2013 Cooper Dressler raced with the local San Francisco team "Youth American Sailing Force" in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup. He then got a low level job with Oracle Team USA's shore crew. His work ethic got noticed and he was asked to join the sailing team. Thanks to CNN for this video. Click photo to watch the video. 

  • Low Budget Gym for San Francisco Youth AC Team in 2013

The Oracle gym in Bermuda is a bit different from the youth team's gym in San Francisco... At 2:00 into the video we see their capsize training - also a bit different. Cooper and his teammates share their training routine in this video. Click photo to watch the video. (Very popular with female readers.)

Join the Conversation on the Cup Experience Facebook Group.

  • Reader Questions to "Ask Jack"
  • from Yvon IN France
  • ask jack!
  • Is it possible to get the specifications of the AC Class yachts, including dimensions and which parts are one design?
  • Hi Yvon - I see you are detail oriented! You can download the Class Rule for the yachts on the Cup Experience website. You will also want to download the Protocol, since that gives the limits on the number of boats, wings and daggerboards that the teams may build, and when they are allowed to launch. Both downloads are here.

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