America's Cup 33 - BMW-Orale tri on one hull

Race 1 of the 33rd America's Cup is currently underway in Valencia, Spain. The BMW-Oracle trimaran is flying two hulls at 24 MPH in 8 MPH of wind on the upwind leg. Awesome. Photos and live feed at http://bmworacleracing.com/ .

Matt - tell engineering we want to do that in next gen AI. Ha ha.

Peter

THEY KICKED BUTT!!!

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

yeh they had some crazy tech, like not using a sail in a sailing race! They also had some cool laser at the front that detects what the wind is doing a kilometer in front of the boat giving them time to adjust their wing.

check it out...

http://www.gizmag.com/bmw-oracle-americas-cup-wing-trimaran/13926/

http://www.gizmag.com/catch-the-wind-racers-edge-laser-wind-mapping/14083/

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Now we need a wing for the AI. There are sailing Kayaks out there with them.

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jzk

Hobie Adventure Island.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTIq7IhU84Y[/youtube]

Exactly what I was thinking. If I get a spare mast, some balsa, some thin model airplane fabric and dope... Hmmm...

They actually are making/designing inflatable soft wing sails for Kayaks.


http://www.pdracer.com/sail/wing/index.htm

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jzk

Hobie Adventure Island.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTIq7IhU84Y[/youtube]

Of course, you all know this is not new stuff. Greg Ketterman (currently with Hobie) designed and built "Longshot". With its dual wing design and foils, it set world records in class A, B and C sailboats. It still holds the world record in A class of 43.55 knots (50.12 MPH; 80.65 KPH) set almost 18 years ago in 1992.

Here is a list of current world record holders for various classes: http://www.speedsailing.com/Background_records.htm

Here's a picture of Longshot showing its wings and foils:


The folks at Hobie have a lot more talent than many realize. They can build some pretty exotic stuff when they want to! Hmmm, maybe they were consultants on the Oracle campaign?

The trifoiler is one of the coolest things ever, but the Mirage Drive changed the world, putting GK at the top of my list of designers who made a difference for the boating public at large by doing something revolutionary:

Greg Ketterman, for the Mirage Drive
Ian Farrier, for fast, folding family trimarans
Roger MacGregor, for, well, putting out a HUGE number of boats of all kinds AND for the much-reviled powersailers, a huge commercial success made out of a bad idea.

I never thought I would live to see the paddle become obsolete, except maybe through superior batteries in the future, and never thought anyone would knock Farrier from the top of my list. We have only begun to see the Mirage Drive revolution. I think they belong in a lot of small sailboats, but they'll have to be redesigned so you pedal from beside the unit, not behind it. It would be a great source of power for the Hobie Bravo to get in and out of areas where it can't sail, and would replace the outboards on little daysailers and light racers up to perhaps 18 feet.