In regards to ballast as far as I understand it: 1) They must fill the boat for measuring with as much ballast as they will race with. 2) They can put the ballast anywhere in the boat they want. 3) They can discharge the ballast but cannot take on more than what they measured with.
There's a lot of talk about it, but we've heard absolutely zilch about the measurement of either boat. BMWO did make an official statement or two that they didn't agree with the measurement procedure because it could lead to some ridiculous outcomes (200 foot LOA boat with two 3000 gallon tanks on the back to make it pop a wheelie and displace only 90' for measurement). There is also a lot of semi-official (press) speculation that Alinghi would have to have NO ballast in order to measure under 90 feet if sitting level but that she would need a good deal of ballast to handle any kind of breeze. They really cornered themselves with a design dependent on a questionable rule/measurement issue. At the outset, Alinghi had intended to be able to take on as much ballast as they wanted after measurement.
The New York Court ruling stipulated that the ballast was to be distributed evenly fore and aft...somehow that got changed (because it would effectively cripple Alinghi to the point where they couldn't measure in?).
The LWL of BMWO 121ft (20ft more than Alinghi), they cheat the 90ft rule as much as Alinghi, by having a hull which is always in the air and has no rudder or daggerboard.
Weather prediction for Wed is even worse than Monday. Looks like a calm night for you guys over there.
Cheers,
Klaus
Klaus, wow! where did you find the 121' listed? I've always maintained that it was more than 110' but I never found any real evidence.
Both teams are definitely using all the room in the rules - but they are doing it in two different manners. Is one more legal than the other? I do believe so.
Suspended overhangs have been a part of the America's Cup since the very beginning and particularly the J class yachts that had the long glorious sweeping bows and sterns. When healed and carrying the leverage between the sail and the lead ballast, the J-boats (and all monohulls with overhangs) will extend their waterline length as the hulls are depressed deeper into the water. This is why the J-boats were designed with such extended overhangs.
BMWO has expanded on the suspended overhangs to a whole new level - but it is still a very similar situation.
Alinghi, on the other hand, has planned from day one to move ballast in order to shorten the waterline of their boat. Moveable ballast or dumpable ballst (other than the sailors and sails on board) has never been seen in the America's Cup...and outside of the Volvo ocean racing boats and a few other limited racing classes, movable water ballast is rather nontraditional...but I don't have the time here to go into the legalities of the water ballast issue.
The Deed requires measurement of the Load Water Line to be 90' (for single masted vessels). This LWL measurement, while popular in the 1800's with sailing vessels (which were the predominant cargo ships at the time), is mostly used today in the shipping industry. It is the static measurement of the boat in "load condition"...i.e. everything on board and in place ready to make sail including maximum cargo. Shipping vessels continue to use this parameter today to represent a fully loaded condition.
One could argue that measuring multihulls in this manner is a foreign concept to the LWL measurement and there would be some truth to that. There is an advantage to a trimaran configuration when restricted to a particular static LWL in that her ama overhangs can grow considerably compared to that of it's America's Cup monohull brethren. A catamaran can also utilize suspended overhangs (and Alinghi still does) but her sailing hull shape will be more affected by the rocker needed to suspend the bow and or stern at rest. You could also argue that the trimaran cheats the LWL measurement by flying on one ama and thereby increasing it's water line length when it is actually sailing. However, this is no different than the historic J-boats and other boats that used large suspended overhangs since the conception of the America's Cup. These types of boats have always leveraged suspended overhangs to increase their LWL when under way. LWL is a static measurement. What has never been done before is to move ballast around in the boat only during measurement to reduce their LWL in a "load condition" designed solely, and temporarily, to decrease the measured LWL at the time of measurement. Placing an exorbitant amount of weight in the stern of the vessel to make it pop a wheelie, and thereby decrease it's measured water line, is not "load condition" as defined by hundreds of years of common practice of LWL measurement as performed inside or outside the realm of the America's Cup.
