'Drones' at he America's Cup

[Geoff S]

I only started aeromodelling when a cycle accident stopped me from sailing. Outside the Olympics the only sailing that gets much coverage is the America's Cup which is a strange competition because it's match racing (ie one on one) which is hugely different from the fleet racing 99% of competitive sailors experience. We used to race in fleets of up to 100 dinghies in national championships but were very much middle of the fleet sailors.

I've been watching the races on BBC2 iPlayer and the graphics bring out how the wind shifts are working and how much the boats are separated which isn't always obvious otherwise. It's very interesting that some of the aerial shots are obviously being filmed from drones rather than helicopters because sometimes the legs appear.

It's incredible how fast the boats go. The wind speeds have been around 12 knots and the boats are sailing at up to 40 knots both up and down wind which means the sails (really more like wings) are always angled very tightly. There are hydrofoils which lift both hulls of the catamarans out of the water which makes them both very low drag (hence the high speeds) and much more manoeuvrable.

Exciting stuff for a sailing geek like me Even more so because the Kiwis are giving the Americans a thrashing so far. Not quite as good as the British doing the same but close.

Geoff

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

I was interested to note that during the recent coverage of the Giro d'Italia cycle race dependency was still pretty much 100% on helicopters for aerial shots as far as I could tell. I think the reason for this is that bike racing tends to take place over "A to B" with the two places often being over 100 miles apart. This is well beyond the range of any commercial drone in regular use today. Is the Americas Cup different - in that the racing takes place over a well defined circuit in a relatively small area? If so that would be much more conducive to the use of drones.

BEB

[Dave Bran]

Strictly, more about the length of time they can fly for than over the ground distance travelled.

[bouncebounce crunch]

The Cyclors stunned me. In my part of the world the Kiwis get Aussie status when we have no hope of getting a mention The New Zealstralian team winning the cup.

When Australia II won the Americas Cup in 1983 through Ben Lexcen's winged keel and Alan Bonds borrowed money Our Aussie Prime Minister declared 'Any boss that sacks a worker for not turning up today is a Bum.'

Geoff I am not a sailing man but although the Sydney to Hobart gets good coverage each year it is sad to see that there isnt more shown on free to air tv.

bbc

[Simon Chaddock]

BEB

I think you will find the physical distance of any race being covered by a drone is not a problem, they just use several and switch pictures from one to the other 'on the fly' (pun intended!) as required.

They are used quite extensively on the World Rally Championship where I believe the drivers rather prefer a drone getting (too?) close than a chopper!

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

Here is a reminder :

**LINK**

Edited By Josip Vrandecic -Mes on 20/06/2017 10:24:05

[Geoff S]

Thanks for that Josip. It looks like drones were being used for boat development as well as for filming actual competition for we spectators.

SImon, not only is it better to have a relatively tiny drone in close proximity but the effect of having a helicopter close to a vessel which is relying on wind for its propulsion isn't a good idea.

BBC. Yes I remember the winged keel controversy. Was it really so long ago? One of the reasons I voted for Ted Heath's party was because I thought anyone who could keep a crew together and win the Sydney Hobart race would be quite good at the relatively trivial job of running the UK Interestingly, Oracle (the US boat) has an Aussie helm so it's really an antipodean contest. I wonder if they'll recruit Ainslie to save them from an ignominious defeat as they did 4 years ago.

BEB I don't think drones are yet quite up to the job of covering something like the Gyro although they might work on shorter circuit type races where they could be used in relays and batteries changed at a central point. I'm always amazed how many helicopters are used and that thy have, so far, avoided any conflict. The helicopters also relay the signals from the motor cycle-based camera etc on the ground.

The America's Cup races are quite short in time (the nationals we raced in were at least an hour long and often needed an hour's sailing to get to the race area - in 14' dinghies) as well over quite a limited area. Though I suppose when the boats are sailing at 30 to 40 knots they cover a lot of water in a very short time.

Ah well 5 days before race numbers 5 through 8.

Geoff

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Mowerman]

Watched some of this on TV, amazing they are not so much sailing as flying low.

[John Privett]

"Flying low" as mowerman so aptly says! I have no background in sailing, not particularly any great interest in it, but I'm curious to know what those with a real interest in sailing - people like Geoff - think of these "flying" boats.

I can imagine that some might be very much against it, thinking it's "not real sailing", but what is the reality?

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

Good point John , many say that even modeling, RC flying etc, today is ''not real thing''....Who would please to the people !

[Geoff S]

Actually the competition itself isn't now and never has been 'real' sailing because almost no-one does any match racing. The America's Cup has a long history and originally only concerned the UK (England, I suppose) and the USA (specifically the New York Yacht Club). Moreover the yachts were required to sail across the Atlantic in order to compete. It's always been a very rich person's sport - Sir Thomas Lipton (of tea fame) tried to win Cup several times between the wars but failed.

The catamarans themselves are unique and AFAIK it's almost like single handed sailing in that the only person who has any fun is the skipper/helmsman. The rest are mostly just grunts who pedal (in the Kiwi's case) or hand crank (Oracle) to keep the hydraulics charged so that the foils can be lifted/adjusted and the sails adjusted. In a conventional mono-hull flying more conventional sails (the spinnaker is huge fun) the crew has more responsibility as part of the team.

Believe it or not the International Moth class is a tiny 11' single hander with outrigger wings which also has hydrofoils and, unattended, will fall over. How on earth anyone learns to sail them, I don't know. Being a gymnast is probably a good start

My wife and I used to race Scorpions, 14' dinghies with quite a big spinnaker but no trapeze and I had a Laser single hander. I have sailed 470s (4.7 metre with both trapeze and spinnaker) and would have bought one except that there was no class racing anywhere near.

Geoff