Oracle Speaks

I have a sudden desire, make that need, to spend a few days in the Anacortes area watching for this incredible sailing beauty! I checked the website and didn't find much except they expect to be in the area till sometime around the middle of the month.
Anyone heading up to check this out?
Anne
 
There were some stats on Scuttlebutt yesterday. The down wind sail area is 3 foot ball fields of sail cloth! I would love to see this Puppy sail!
 
I want to see them get through Deception Pass. :shock:
Spotted them from about 10 miles away (yes they are that BIG) on Tuesday but have had no chance to get up there since. Maybe this weekend (but I have to admit if there are Orcas, they will win).

Fantastic technology.

Merv
 
I was out on a Coast Guard Auxiliary patrol in Rosario straits yesterday and spotted the oracle boat about two miles away, got as close to it as I could, (it was surrounded by perimeter boats about 100yds away to keep a protected zone around the boat). The hulls were almost invisible they're so slim but the mast looked, as my other crewmember said, "like an oil derrick at sea". It had a single tightly reefed mainsail that looked almost completely rigid and was being towed by a small boat at about 15kts. Quite a sight. The hull paint is very interesting. From the side it appears dark blue with a raked bow until you look more closely and see that the bow extends about 8ft beyond the apparent dark blue prow and is painted an off white. Not sure just why but it sure is deceiving. The boat is actually about 8ft further along than it appears to be. Hmmm? Some racing trick maybe??
 
On our return yesterday from the Broken Islands, we were coming across Haro Straite and we saw, as Barry described it, what looked like an extremely tall derrick. We were 6-8 miles away at this point. As we got closer and at a different angle it was actually a tri hulled craft. It followed us through the "Cattle Point". When we tied up at Skyline I found out what she was.
 
What a radical boat!

erste_ausfahrt_16.jpg


I used to own a Corsair F-27, a pretty fast boat which seems very tame by comparison. Now I get my kicks in a Hobie Adventure Island trimaran kayak. Get that thing above 8 knots and it feels dangerously fast! :D

If you want to see a really radical design, check out Sailrocket

They have a crazy proa-inspired craft, and want to break 50 knots (if they can keep it intact through a test run). Fun to watch.
 
Should be a hell of an America's Cup to watch!

No more slow, boring, tactical racing.

With closing speeds like 30 mph, depending on the venue and wind, there will be some tight calls to make with no room to make an error that results in a collision.

I'd like to hear the story behind the design, engineering, and construction of that boat!


Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Think of all the downriggers etc you could get on that thing!

Where do you store the fish/crabs/prawns etc.....

Want to try standing on deck at 40 Kts apparent wind ??

Where is the porta potty?

How do you drill holes in that core ?

Where does the kicker go ?

What size truck to trailer it ?

So many questions... Two sails or one..... the mind boggles, and only $10M.

Damn!

Merv :?
 
there will be some tight calls to make with no room to make an error that results in a collision.
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No kidding. Think about the rules for room at the mark. If one of those overlaps another and calls for room at the mark, is the other helmsman even close enough to hear over the blast of wind at those speeds? And if he is, how wide is one of those things? It's going to need a LOT of room at the mark!

Couple that with the fact that there's no such thing as an experienced driver of one of these, and it's a high stakes, high profile race. If there's good wind, we may see what one looks like upside down, and it wouldn't surprise me all that much to see a collision.

The high drama of light air racing in monohulls loses something in the transition to television. It can be exciting, even on slow cruising boats, but only if you're a participant. These races won't be boring to watch! :mrgreen:
 
Sea Wolf":1rv5hqrb said:
Should be a hell of an America's Cup to watch!
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Last I read the lawyers were fighting it out in court to see if the boat can be used in an America Cup race. The article I read said the lawyers were billing enough hours to buy their own boats. Big boats, big bucks, and even bigger egos.
 
That's not an "America's Cup"!! Give them all identical boats, make them switch boats between races and let the best sailor win, not the boats! :!:

Charlie (Take that!!)
 
Bring back the J-Boats, I say!

Endeavor.jpg

Warren
 
There have been quite a few large multi hulls, including many larger than this vessel, but she is so light, so much sail area and so high tech that I am sure she will be faster---if she hold together. Remember that as they first sailed they basically "powered up" the boat, starting with a double reefed main only. There will be strain guages in all of the rigging, and many places in the hull to see what the loads are.

Even larger is 131 foot Banque Populaire V, at 40 meters (over 130 feet) was launched this last week also. She is also powering up--with similar issues a Or

Other large multi hulls include Orange II, which is over 125 feet long, Cheyene about 125 feet, Play Station 120 feet, Gitana 13, over 100 feet, Geronimo 110 feet, our own Tom Cat owning Georgs Kolesnikovs sailed a 60 foot Tri from New York to San Franscisco setting a record for the passage. Dennis Conner's Starts and Strips at 60 feet raced in the Americas cup (sure these are small vessels, but many of the same techniques prevail).

I agree, the America's cup has really lost interest for me. We had our boat in Newport, RI for the 1983 cup and knew a number of the crew members, so it was a very exciting time for us... But with the huge budgets, well over 200 million dollars, this type of sailing is out of touch with reality and the majority of sailors.
 
From the article:
When the boat is pushed from its dock by four bumper boats, it appears as if a piece of the shore has just calved off.
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$10 million and we'll find out next year whether it will even be allowed to compete. The original purpose of the Deed of Gift was to promote sailing as a friendly competition among nations. That's a neat trimaran, but maybe something has gone horribly wrong as far as fulfilling the purpose of the Deed is concerned.
 
At Port Townsend's Wooden Boat Festival, I was sitting on Pirate, and talking to a BMW Oracle guy (part of the building-rigging team) who said they were looking for a top speed of 45 kts. He was admiring Pirate, which was built for racing in 1927, and won the national R Boat championship in New York in the early 30's, against boats including a couple of Herreshoffs. Pirate has been completely rebuilt and is essentially a brand new wooden boat. I had the good fortune to sail back to Lake Union on her. Here's a web site: http://www.r-boat.org/

It was a grand experience to sail on her.

Dave
 
Had a job-related meeting today with Quadrant (a big home building company, if you have not heard of them) and one of their lawyers, Ann Gygi. She confirmed what I thought I remembered, her husband was part of the team for this boat! Specifically, his company had the BMW/Oracle contract to convert the concept drawings into construction plans for the builders. A picture of the boat was on the front page of the Seattle Times this morning...
 
Has anyone seen this boat on the water yet? I keep wondering how often it has been out/will be out. I believe a Seattle paper reported this was the last weekend...and I would love to find out how hard it is to find the boat on the water!
Anne
 
Anne, I don't think you will have any problem spotting it. We saw it from over 7 miles away (but we were on land).
Problem might be catching up with it :shock:

Merv & Kathy
 
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