Sport-heute: Sailing - On the edge

31. Januar 2012, 02:27

On the edge

Sailing from the inside out

At a nondescript warehouse on Auckland's North Shore, the latest AC45 development is taking shape - a 4 meter tall extension to the wingsail that will add over 8 square meters of surface area to the wing. Photo © ACRM.

Zürich, 31.1.12 Red. (mk) Posted on 25 January 2012

Adding more power to a boat that already challenges the best sailors in the world may seem like overkill, but Regatta Director Iain Murray says the bigger wing will promote more exciting racing in light conditions.

"The extensions aren't fixed permanently," Murray explains. "We can put them on or take them off, so they'll be used at our discretion for light wind venues to add more power to the boats when we're racing in lower wind ranges."

Murray says he expects the wing extensions could be used in up to 15 knots of wind.

Glyn Davies, the build manager for ACRM, has been in Auckland since the beginning of December, overseeing the wing extension project.

"We're currently building 12 wing extensions to have ready for the teams for the first World Series event in Naples (in April). We're on a very tight schedule," he says.

"We came back to Auckland from the last event in San Diego, set up the factory and started work in December. We're fortunate to have been able to hire a 'dream team' of boat builders here and have been able to get into production very quickly."

The first extensions will be tested on the waters off Auckland by Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa early next month.

Among the challenges has been accommodating the media transmission equipment that is located in the top of the main element of the existing wing. The on-the-water tests will be critical to ensure the media equipment still works under the extension.

Any modifications that become necessary as a result of the tests will be quickly incorporated into the production. Then a small team of Davies' boatbuilders will shift to Valencia, Spain to prepare the wings that are in storage there ahead of the Naples event.

"The plan is to have the lion's share of the work done before we get to Naples so everyone is able to get sailing using these extensions as quickly as possible," Davies says.

And sailing even faster in the lighter conditions typical of the Mediterranean in the spring and early summer.

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Photo © ACRM

On the edge

Sailing from the inside outAt a nondescript warehouse on Auckland's North Shore, the latest AC45 development is taking shape - a 4 meter tall extension to the wingsail that will add over 8 square meters of surface area to the wing. Photo © ACRM.

Sailing from the inside out

At a nondescript warehouse on Auckland's North Shore, the latest AC45 development is taking shape - a 4 meter tall extension to the wingsail that will add over 8 square meters of surface area to the wing. Photo © ACRM.