Remember when Formula-1 became aero engineering instead of racing cars?

"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond) 04/12/2016 at 20:19 • Filed to: #boatlopnik

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America’s cup racing crossed that line. That’s a hydrofoil system. It’s not a yacht and it’s a catamaran-ish design but it’s not on hulls so it’s just a foil boat? Yeah. I’m gonna call it a foil boat. And sails? Nope. They’rbasicly hinged aircraft wings. Yeah. So let’s go race a carbon hinged-wing-foil-boat.

They sail at 3x the wind speed and make course turns at 60knots. So what’s it like to race these things? Well if you saw the America’s cup last year you know, but here’s a sample of how much faster and how much more dangerous they are.

After a crash resulted in a death, there’s talk of design limits. These are truly introducing new limits to the sailors physical abilities. Any incident brings much greater decelerations and forces bodies flying. Either way it’s now suddenly exciting racing.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Grindintosecond 04/12/2016 at 20:22

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Yeah, its actually quite sad. These races used to be team pitted against team. Not all they do is go as fast as they can and bang the corner and done. There is almost nothing tactical about these races anymore and haven’t been in years. Honestly college match racing is 9000% more entertaining to watch. Hell, any real match race is better to watch. I’d even take a standard regatta over this crap. I used to dream about one day racing in America’s Cup. I now longer care to achieve that dream.

Opposite Locksmith > Grindintosecond 04/12/2016 at 20:24

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I have no idea what any of this means

TheRealBicycleBuck > Opposite Locksmith 04/12/2016 at 20:48

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A hydrofoil is basically an underwater wing that creates up-force instead of down-force. Go fast enough and it lifts the entire boat out of the water, reducing drag and letting the boat go even faster.

Instead of flexible sails, these are using an airfoil. Imagine cutting the wing off a 747 and mounting it on a boat in place of the sail. Then add a big hinge in the middle so it can be curved in both directions. That’s essentially what these boats use for propulsion. The airfoils are much more efficient at transferring force than a cloth sail. Again, it makes the boat much faster.

Clay_T > Grindintosecond 04/12/2016 at 20:50

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Put them back out in the ocean (where they belong!) and the problem will fix itself.

Offshore boats have gone down the same path...

...the path that leads to more sponsorship dollars.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Grindintosecond 04/12/2016 at 20:51

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How the heck do they go faster than the wind?

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > Grindintosecond 04/12/2016 at 20:58

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I love it. I’m a huge fan of applying cutting edge engineering to “outdated” ideas/things.

Ryanator122 > Clay_T 04/12/2016 at 21:00

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Back in the ocean? They couldn’t even be ok with the SF Bay on a choppy day, what makes you think the open seas will be much better?

It was quite a spectacle, in very much the same way an F1 race is.

Clay_T > Ryanator122 04/12/2016 at 21:19

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That’s the point.

As it is, they can’t race if it’s too windy or too choppy. Forget racing in a swell.

Make them race where there’s almost always a bump and the designs will adapt to something resembling a sailboat.

Gone > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 04/12/2016 at 22:16

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Super basic explaination:

http://www.boatsafe.com/kids/bramp1099…

Technical:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_f…

Related supercool article:

http://www.cnet.com/news/sailrocke…

Gone > Grindintosecond 04/12/2016 at 22:26

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I like the foil boats, but boring as hell to watch. I want them around as an F1 of sorts because the tech is cool, but would love some sort of lower class AC with more traditional boats. Like a pre-2010 IACC based cup, or maybe go back to the 12M yachts.

Chasaboo > CaptDale - is secretly British 04/12/2016 at 23:09

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“I now longer care to achieve that dream.”

I can’t parse that.

Ryanator122 > Clay_T 04/13/2016 at 05:39

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I’m guessing if they reinstated the “You must travel to the venue in your race boat" rule they would get back to a more classic shape.

Grindintosecond > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 04/13/2016 at 09:37

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Its not just wind pushing and deflecting, its the sail shape resembling a wing airfoil and generates lift pulling it forward even faster.

Grindintosecond > Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch 04/13/2016 at 09:43

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After that and the amsoil racer they mandated the top wing must not be connected directly to the fuselage, but thats okay. Phantom went 280mph last year, and looks more like a spaceship even with the current rules.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Chasaboo 04/13/2016 at 11:28

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Meant “...no longer care to achieve it.” Slight typo