I've been pretty skeptical of the wing - but the rumors are really running feverish now ... and there's a video of some still shots showing some weird things on long trucks headed toward (reportedly) the Dog Pound in San Diego.....Is it possible that the 90' America's Cup Challenger Trimaran has a rigid wing coming?

Ben Hall's a-cat wing showed up floating out front of the Dog Pound last week on a quad-padded foam floating rig canted at 90 degrees (parallel to the water) as if it were some sort of rigging/derigging test...that alone makes me more suspect of a ruse as it was so painfully obvious...but who knows?

http://www.anarchychallenge.com/ind...atid=51:video&Itemid=138&lang=en

I'm still skeptical - but I'm curious as to what's really under that shrink wrap.

Somebody came up with the theory that the engine that powers the winches looks very out of place and is only there while a traditional rig is in use, it will be taken off once a rigid wing is in place because the winching loads will then be lighter.

Looks a lot like a wing to me. Interesting times.

What would it be like to matchrace with a wing?
Any benefits/drawbacks?

Regardless if they are going to race with it, they should at least try it out.

C-class have done a lot of match racing with wings.

Is there a limitation on sailarea for a DoG match? If not, a wing dont add much performance I think?

I think you're talking about CheeseZilla (Alinghi)...rumors on Alinghi having a rigid wing haven't been very active lately - and though Alinghi hasn't denied having a wing in the works, they keep talking about how little time they have to complete testing on their platform. As far as removing their engine goes - I don't see it. It's far too integrated into the control scheme and control panels and there are no provisions for manual grinding stations and nowhere to even place them in the narrow small ****.

There is no sail area limit in the America's Cup default match. We did, however see a wing on the '88 catamaran the one and only time the America's cup came down to a default match.

Yeah, we did. I forgot about that. Thinking about the 88 challenge, they tried both soft rigs with assymetric spi and the wing, and the wing was faster.

Is the racing going to be in the same format? Was the 88 DoG race a windward/leeward? I seem to remember something about that.

Strange that they have not recruited Steve Clark or one of his people if they are going for a wing. Or Burt Rutan

Sorry. i get a little confused when it comes to AC!

I think Alighi recruited one of Steve Clark's team members?
Could be wrong though.
(Info is probably among the 1000s of crap posts over at SA).

Yeah, I think Alinghi did recruit one of Steve Clark's buddies but I haven't heard of any wing-experienced designers working on behalf of BMWO.

One thing for sure - something big and wing-like is headed to Diego. I still can't believe it would be a rigid wing of that scale - maybe it's a D-shaped mast that uses two soft sails to form a better airfoil? That's pure speculation on my part.

Here's another photo that surfaced this morning.



Link to big version of this photo

These are quotes from Steve Clark about two of the top wing sail designers and who they working for as consultants.
"David Hubbard, senior wing designer of the Patient Lady series and member of the Stars and Stripes design team is a consultant to BMWO."
"Duncan MacLane has been hired by Alinghi but I don't know in what capacity. He and Dirk Kramers have collaborated on any number of projects since Stars and Stripes 88, so it could be anything from reality checker to structural analysis"


It would be fun to see both teams go all in with wings.
I guess that we can only wait and see.

Les - thanks for that ... how easily we forget stuff!

Dudes and dudettes, I'm still hesitant to believe...but it is either a VERY elaborate ruse or an honest-to-god monstrous wing. Reportedly 9 large shrink wrapped pieces showed up at the DoG Pound in Diego last night.

Nine? I heard three.

Two bottom pieces and a top.

Duh, spare wings of course

DZ Re-emerged from the tent this morning.

report from the ground were that nine shrink wrapped pieces showed up at the DoG pound. Only two...maybe three...were identified in the truck photos. some of the lighting in the truck photos made one of the two pieces look unique - but it appears to be the same...only two pieces on the truck. No idea where the other 7 came from.

But...9 works out well to a three piece wing that's twice articulated (hinged on two axis).

All this talk of wings makes me hungry!

Uhg, have you ever HAD KFC?

hahah....