Ash Your Questions, Glenn Ashby on the hook Options

[Jolly Roger Torn...]

As a single handed sailor, you obviously had to make some changes to sail with bundy on the T, sharing responsibilities both on and off the water. How different is it now sailing on possibly the biggest sailing team in the world with large numbers of crew on board. Have you had to change your comunications skills at all, and is it nice to not be thoroughly involved in the running and up keep of the boat?

[ozzie]

Glen what’s your favorite beer/food pairing?

[Recidivist]

Have you had to change your comunications skills at all?

"Fuckin' oath mate!"


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[Sparbuilder]

Once BOR switches to the hard wing, will they need to be commited to the wing only? Or will the hull and systems still allow either the wing or soft sail rigs to be interchangable at anytime without additional "surgery"?

Do you feel that there will be any wind ranges that may be considered a weakness for DZ? Can the potentially superior efficiency of the wing make up the presumed weight disadvantage of DZ in light airs?

Do you personally feel that there will be much of a weight difference between DZ and the big cheese in their respective final configurations in February?

Do you believe that it is likely that the date of the match will be pushed back as a result of the recent court filings?

Would you welcome a delay to allow more time to test and develop the new wing, systems?

Do you feel that DZ will be at her most competitive compared to CZ in the typical conditions of RAK or Valencia in Feb? Same question for May?

Do you have any concerns with sailing with a hardwing in Valencia in Feb considering that the sea and wind conditions can sometimes get pretty rough that time of year.

Is the newly modded wing rigged DZ designed to cope with the potential of something like 20kts and choppy 5ft seas? More?

Will you have a backup power source to power DZ's systems in case the engine quits while racing? Such as a second engine to share the loads equally and be a stand alone if required in case of a single engine failure (like an engine out scenario in a twin engine plane) Will there be some sort of minimal manual powered backup in case of emergency?

How many crew members do you suspect that you will race with now that the engine powered systems are onboard?

Will the general engine and exhaust noise be quiet enough not to completely ruin the pure "experience" of sail that beast?

What legs or roundings do you expect to be the most challenging or potentially dangerous. Windward mark roundings bearing off in a sizable breeze?

How much of DZ's control systems will be of the "fly by wire" variety? As in, how much of the active sail handling, canting, foil control, etc will be manipulated as a direct result of computer processing power, rather than directly(intellectually) from sailors themselves. On a 1 to 10 scale. 1 being a 1960's Cessna 150, 10 being a stealth fighter!

How do you expect the wing to compare performance wise to the M3 rig? Are there any conditions that you would forsee that could favor a soft sail rig instead of the wing?

What is the maximun windspeed, sea state conditions that DZ is "comfortable" with?

So far, CZ has had very little training time on the boat, and apparently hardly any experience with more than rather mild breeze and waves. Do you feel that CZ has been built so lightly that it is structurally questionable whether she can handle much more than 10kts, 2-3ft seas?

Do you expect Alinghi to do much more physical design developement besides the coming addition of their large cheesestick(mast) and rudder and foil testing? For example, do you see the possibility of new hulls being built and tested before the match?

If the court upholds Alinghi's venue of RAK, do you expect that BOR will be told that they are "on their own" by RAK officials to provide themselves with whatever they need for a proper base for DZ? Like "Here's your piece of dirt, good luck!"

Has BOR arranged for a level of private on water/on land security if headed to RAK?

Where is the "Ooooohhhh SHIT" button located on DZ? Is there one for each helming station? What exactly does it activate?

Any predictions to DZ's ultimate speed potential both in match racing trim and potential speed after modifications specifically for closed course speed runs?

How worried are you that one of DZ's cutting edge systems may fail to operate when it is needed most(while racing)?

Besides being pretty tough on the blocks and winches(and a sail track issue with M2 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ) how well has DZ been holding together? Has maintenence issue caused much of a serious problem so far? Do you expect the new systems to have serious teething problems to debug?

What were your biggest suprises so far regarding how DZ sails/performs?

Were there any significant suprises that cropped up for the designers. As in real life performance suprisingly different that what was anticipated.

The choice to presumably drop the centerboard and center rudder in favor of larger ama rudders and j-foils instead of the banana boards. Was that as a direct result of gearing toward a lighter air venue?



I'm done, my brain hurts...



SB

[A-man]

Since you have been tapped by BMW Oracle for tuning the crew on BOR90 I'm curious what adaptations, differences, and adjustments you've had to think about regarding the differences between sailing smaller catamarans and DOGzilla. On some levels it's a big A-Cat but there must be some HUGE differences. Thoughts?

[Tornado_ALIVE]

Ashby, a 6 time World A-class champ, two-time Olympic Tornado Class world title holder, three-time international F18 title holder, and ...

... and a silver medalist in the tornados at beijing 2008

Make that 3 x Tornado World Champion

1 x Olympic Silver Medal (2008)

3 x Tornado World Championships (2006, 2008,2009)

1 x Tornado European (Nyberg) Championships (2007)

2 x ISAF World Sailing Games (Multihull) (2002, 2006)

3 x Formula 18 World Championships (2004, 2005, 2007)

6 x A Class World Championships (1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008)

Held 3 world championships in 2008 - A Class, Tornado and F18

[Scarecrow]

You've done and won everything currently possible on an off the beach cat. Having now spent some time playing with BMW-O do you see your focus moving towards maxi multihulls? If you were asked to join a JV around the world campaign or similar, would you be interested?

[Luiz S]

You've done and won everything currently possible on an off the beach cat. Having now spent some time playing with BMW-O do you see your focus moving towards maxi multihulls? If you were asked to join a JV around the world campaign or similar, would you be interested?

Interesting question. Coincidentally, Boywe Bekking was asked a reciprocal question in an interview published in SA's first page today:
SA: As a spectator, what type of boats and racing do you find to be the most compelling?


BB: Fast and exiting boats like moths and catamarans, they are full of action and fun to look at.

[MR.CLEAN]

What's the BMW/Oracle team's nickname for Alinghi 5?

[punter]

Ashby, a 6 time World A-class champ, two-time Olympic Tornado Class world title holder, three-time international F18 title holder, and ...

... and a silver medalist in the tornados at beijing 2008

Make that 3 x Tornado World Champion

1 x Olympic Silver Medal (2008)

3 x Tornado World Championships (2006, 2008,2009)

1 x Tornado European (Nyberg) Championships (2007)

2 x ISAF World Sailing Games (Multihull) (2002, 2006)

3 x Formula 18 World Championships (2004, 2005, 2007)

6 x A Class World Championships (1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008)

Held 3 world championships in 2008 - A Class, Tornado and F18

And also won an Etchells Nationals in Oz crewing for Bulka. And won the Taipan 4.9 sloop/cat and 5.7 nats too (one of the Taipan 4.9 sloop was with his sister who had only trapezed twice before). And the Paper Tigers. And ....

[SurfCityCatamara...]

And also won an Etchells Nationals in Oz crewing for Bulka. And won the Taipan 4.9 sloop/cat and 5.7 nats too (one of the Taipan 4.9 sloop was with his sister who had only trapezed twice before). And the Paper Tigers. And ....

Yep! The dude's a bad ass sailor for sure!

I have the interview scheduled for early next week. Glenn is due back in CA Tue, so I'll give him a day to land.

Thanks for the questions! Keep them coming.

J

[jlen]

If cat's make it back into the Olympics, what about a singlehander like the A-cat instead?

You could race the worlds/selection events on your chosen gear, and then identical production boats of the latest hi-tech design are provided for the games.

[ejpoulsen]

I have the interview scheduled for early next week. Glenn is due back in CA Tue, so I'll give him a day to land.

Thanks for the questions! Keep them coming.

J

Ask about the curved boards and other updates on his new ASG3...

[Wandering Geo]

Ashby, a 6 time World A-class champ, two-time Olympic Tornado Class world title holder, three-time international F18 title holder, and ...

... and a silver medalist in the tornados at beijing 2008

Make that 3 x Tornado World Champion

1 x Olympic Silver Medal (2008)

3 x Tornado World Championships (2006, 2008,2009)

1 x Tornado European (Nyberg) Championships (2007)

2 x ISAF World Sailing Games (Multihull) (2002, 2006)

3 x Formula 18 World Championships (2004, 2005, 2007)

67 x A Class World Championships (1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009)

Held 3 world championships in 2008 - A Class, Tornado and F18

And also won an Etchells Nationals in Oz crewing for Bulka. And won the Taipan 4.9 sloop/cat and 5.7 nats too (one of the Taipan 4.9 sloop was with his sister who had only trapezed twice before). And the Paper Tigers. And ....

Hmmm, nice sailing CV (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Africat]

tell us mortals: what's it like [to sail on Dogzilla]?

Two lines of inquiry that I hope Glen can address:

1. Expanding on bomvo's question: Can you explain how it feels to sail on Dogzilla? How does it compare to sailing a beach cat? How would you describe the experience to a sport boat sailor?

2. What advice would you give a sailor who is just getting started on catamarans? Start with a large fleet like the Hobie 16? Try to keep up in an A-cat fleet, even if you'll start out way back? Something in between?

Looking forward to this interview, Jeremy! Will you be able to do it in person? (No idea how far you are from San Diego.)

[SurfCityCatamara...]

OK everyone, thanks for all of the questions. Glenn is going to be back in The States today, so I'll give him a chance to land then bombard him. I think there are some interesting developments over at The Pound.

And thanks for the corrections and additions to his resume. I ganked the info from Glen's Page www.ashbysails.com and apparently he's been busy with something else and hasn't updated his info...and I forgot it was 2009.


Here's a question for you:

3 x Tornado World Championships (2006, 2008,2009)
3 x Formula 18 World Championships (2004, 2005, 2007)
7 x A Class World Championships (1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Name a sailor that has more world titles in at least 3 different classes, multi or mono?

[Luiz S]

3 x Tornado World Championships (2006, 2008,2009)
3 x Formula 18 World Championships (2004, 2005, 2007)
7 x A Class World Championships (1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Name a sailor that has more world titles in at least 3 different classes, multi or mono?

According to Wikipedia, Paul Elvstrom won fifteen world championships in eight different types of boat, including Snipe, Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman and Finn. He also won four olympic gold medals, one in the Firely and three in the Finn. Interestingly, he finished his career as a Tornado sailor.

Luiz

[Genealex]

Nice breakfast read Surf City, thanks for the effort. Looking forward to the rest of innerview tomorrow...

[SurfCityCatamara...]

Nice breakfast read Surf City, thanks for the effort. Looking forward to the rest of innerview tomorrow...

Glad you enjoyed it! Wish I would have scheduled the interview AFTER the rig came down. That would have been pretty cool. I did send him a brief email after I heard and all he said was:

...yeah everyone is ok. big mast big loads. big bang. we will be back.....

Next Stop... Havamega.

J

[Foghorn77]

Pretty work. Job well done,J.

Have fun at Havamega.

[Genealex]

Second that, always a pleasure to hear a "beach"cat wizard speak. Hope you enjoy Havamega!

[Africat]

Thanks for the effort, Jeremy. Always great to hear it straight from a Guru's mouth. Like the Innerview with Hobie Alter earlier this year.

Enjoy HavaMega!