Cracking the Sailing Equation…
“The cat was let out of the bag – so to speak – very early on in Team NZ’s testing programme in the new AC72 class, after a sailing enthusiast and amateur photographer snapped pictures of the team out training, which appeared to show both hulls of the Kiwi boat flying clear of the water. The initial reaction from the sailing community was that of disbelief, with most writing off the images as a Photoshop job…
Team NZ boss Grant Dalton told the Herald last month they would have liked to have kept it a secret longer, but “it was like trying to hide an elephant in a phone box – you can’t”.
Since then the other teams have been scrambling to catch up…But the concern is that Cup defenders Oracle have got the time, expertise and resources required to crack the foiling equation before the September final.
That is why Friday’s jury decision, which overturned regatta director Iain Murray’s alterations to the rudder regulations in the class rule, was an important win for Team NZ. Had the changes been upheld, they would have assisted Oracle greatly with their foiling stability – something that they haven’t quite mastered yet.
Monk said Oracle still have time to crack the equation, which will be helped significantly by their two-boat testing programme.” Source: NZ Herald (Click on the image above for spectacular video of these boats racing)