AC45 First test sail pictures!

The new America's Cup AC45 wingsail powered cat sets sail for the first time, checkout some cool pictures of their Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/americascup
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55585&id=119505771409198

Holy smokes - flying a hull on the first test flight out of the barn. Cajones!

You know that "cajones" means "drawers", right?

Well I wouldn't try that without pants.

Great looking boat, would be better if all 5 of the crew were on the wire

Bloody long tiller extension if they were all out :-)

yea haw! looks awesome.

Video is up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUy0ikkwt-k&feature=player_embedded

Thanks for posting. It is going to be outrageous. Not a drag race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0qXv1-ImGw&NR=1

Raw footage without the music. You just get the sound of bow spray and crew chatter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn_L6qGdUHo&NR=1

Longer TV spot with interviews.

That thing is seriously fast downwind, check the video on FB:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150095433132410&oid=166891610014560&comments

Wow! What's your best guess of their actual speed?

Can you imagine being on the cat that was passed toward the end. Talk about an awsome experience that must have been. I think the only thing cooler would be crewing on the AC45.

They said it hit 29.9 knots on the 30 knot day. Color me unimpressed at the moment since man people have hit 25-27 on our beach cats.

I'm not trying to pick a fight so please don't let this get out of hand. Just looking for a low key, straight forward discussion of the two types.

Hitting a high speed and holding it over any distance are two very different things.

Are you saying that a modern beach cat is as fast as the AC 45? If not, what comparison are you making?

Yeah but look how much wind there is in that video, i'm guessing around 18-22? IMO the true wind/boatspeed ratio is what counts.
Not sure how fast it is in the video but certainly in the upper twenties (1 hull length/sec=+/-27kts).

Tony: the 29.9 was clocked on a day where it was blowing 25 gusting to 30+ apparently.

Undoubtedly the low end of the wind rating this thing goes like a raped ape. I guess I'm just wondering what the top end of its performance is.

Wow you are hard to impress! Watching it blowby that beachcat and tri like they were parked on the beach was pretty amazing to me...

Not in 25 to 30k we haven't. I've hit mid 20's downwind in high teens with puffs on the N20...but this thing's ability is not just in speed but efficiency - the polars (height and depth) are out of this world both upwind and downwind.

in 2007 Basilica an exreme 40 (now the volvo 40 class) took on beach cats of ALL varieties in the LOCHNESS Monster race , over 50 miles winward leeward , she was miles ahead on the water - no contest .

I would hazard a guess the new AC 45 is the same league ahead of the volvo 40 .

Much as I love racing beach cats , its down on the knees to these mighty boats

Finally we will see some two boat testing by Oracle Racing,
IMHO these are the best AC45 pics yet:
http://www.martin-raget.com/index.php?lang=fr&fn=folio&FolioID=1892&co=3

cool stuff.

Nice, thanks for sharing!

Notice the slot when going to weather? At the beam it seems really small, but obviously, they know what they're doing. And dropping the jibs off the wind?

Spectacular! Forget the planned update to the N-20 sail package, I think a wing is in order...

You can take the sailor off of the monohull, but you can't take...

Mike

The X40s have been dropping their jibs for years actually.

By the time these guys race in anger they'll be able to tell you to within 0.1 of a knot at what point it is worth while them dropping the headsail.

I know, I was just trying to get a rise out of more of you. This is a CAT sailor site, after all...

Anyone with half a clue knows that they wouldn't make any moves without some serious testing and data behind it, especially reducing sail area (and the risks involved every time a sail is raised or lowered).

Mike

Check out that poor boob at the end of the spin pole in Picture 1 of 73...

New technique to balance the boat in choppy conditions...no wonder it is in front.

damon just posted this on his site - sexy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_lDXQVcRaE&feature=player_embedded