phillysailor

Here's what I think would work, although it's way too late to make any changes to the formula now:

 

- 60 feet long

- 36 feet wide

- 90 foot mast

- soft sails with a reef point 10 feet from the top

- genaker head 10 feet from the top of the mast

- straight rudders

- Daggerboards loaded from the top

- separate minimum weights for the platform and the rig.

 

These are just approximations, but I think this approach would yield very fast boats which would also be practical (relatively speaking) to build, maintain AND operate.  

 

The proportion of rig size to platform size is ridiculous on the AC 72.  The AC 45 had things about right and produced a great racing series, but the AC 72 is horrifyingly top heavy.

 

Hard wing sails may be a bit more efficient, but they add a lot of cost, compromise safety and don't make the racing any better.  They are also an evolutionary dead end, as they are not practical for any real word sailing application.  Also, a fully battened square-top sail with a rotating mast is still very efficient and has the huge benefit of a halyard.

 

A formula similar to the one above would have the potential to get a lot more teams involved too.  

 

Right now, the whole event is one more AC 72 capsize away from not happening.  The AC72s failed to learn the lessons of ORMA 60 and will suffer the same fate, or worse.  At least some of the ORMA 60s are still being sailed and their design innovations led to the more conservatively designed MOD 70s.

+1.  Well said.

Are we sure it's paint?

Perhaps Monsieur HR has slapped on some pitch or roofing tar in an effort to ensure "water tight integrity," something he's started musing about recently?

The people who are offended by these ideas are already well serviced by the rules currently governing all sailboat racing. They are obviously not the target audience for the "FRS". 

What is really kind of interesting, is that these same folks call themselves "Sailing Anarchists." But they are showing their true colors as establishment-defending brownshirts. Grow a pair, guys, and entertain some contrarian, new and fun ideas. Or don't, but look benignly upon these families and kids having a good time and just reap the benefits of broader appeal of the sport. Envision more TV time, more newspaper coverage, perhaps new candidates for rail meat and other spots on your boats! 

Take it easy, the sport doesn't belong just to you. It belongs to all sailing anarchists... lower case intended.

Go the Glenn! 

@ Knobbly: It would be nice if knockdowns only happened when the hatches were dogged and locked, and the companionway shut tight. But sometimes a sheet gets caught in the lazarettes and a hatch gasket is imperfect. I'd rather redundancy than count on perfect conditions when it comes to buoyancy.

The Precision 18 (the boat in the story) displaces 1100lbs, lets say 1500lbs loaded with stuff (hope that's reasonable). You would need 25cubic feet of air bags or foam (actually a little less for airbags) to float the entire boat, but that's not what you need to do, I don't think. What you want to achieve is a significant change in behavior when the boat is on its side, in usual sailing mode, with a method forgiving of imperfect seals and hatches. Combined with a mast float, just a few air bags would be a pretty powerful safety feature. I personally don't think 1' wide buoyancy bags along the hull/deck joint (perhaps doubled in the area of the lazarettes and less elsewhere for convenience) is a big deal as far as impacting on the "livability" of the boat if it saves a life when a knockdown happens. 

I don't think you even need them all the time. But if you are a bit inexperienced, sailing in small craft conditions in December? I'd rather have them available, inflate them, strap them in, and then go sailing. A good read, btw, is "Suddenly Overboard" by Tom Lochaas... talks about how sailors (especially small boat sailors in hypothermia-prone waters) can get into trouble really quickly.

That said, not shipping 200 gallons through an open companionway (or unlatched lazaretto) would also help

My 17' boat turns turtle pretty easily after a knockdown, so I had to modify it extensively to compete in the EC with my wife. I've learned not to trust lazarettes or hatches. An open-cockpit trailerable dinghy is a different animal than a PHRF vessel, though, so I admit my 2cents might not be worth very much more than a penny!

You'd bet against Bob?