America's Cup: Luna Rossa test AC75 double mainsail
by Farevela.net/Sail-World.com/nz 1 Dec 2018 12:28 UTC
2 December 2018
Italian sailing website Farevela.net reports that the Challenger of Record is testing the AC75 "Double Mainsail" on a test platform at their base in Cagliari.
The test platform is a foiling catamaran, which even though the America's Cup is sailed in monohulls is still subject to the definition of a Surrogate boat, which cannot be more than 12metres long. The rule previously only applied to monohulls but was changed to include all yachts.
Farevela reports that Max Sirena has specified in recent days how the choice of Luna Rossa was to refine the new-concept mainsail, a double mainsail with a semi-rigid structure that can be opened, using the platform of the old AC45 foiling cat, while for the part the foil and the hull are following the path of the simulation, as ETNZ is doing. As is well known, the other two teams, American Magic and INEOS Team UK, are on the other hand navigating with monofoil boats of 38 and 28 feet respectively.
They also report on the foil arm development by Luna Rossa:
The technology under scrutiny is that of the foil arms, which have been routinely cracked by Persico Marine and which would be giving further concern to the designers. The loads are very high and, since it is an equal design component for all the teams (the foil will be instead of free design), before you can trust them you will still need several tests. The next one is scheduled in January, again from Persico.
Sail-World understands that while the arms are built at Persico, they are designed now by Auckland based composite engineers Pure Design. The Foil Cant System is a fully operational system in Auckland. The test failure of an arm is not a significant setback and will not affect any launch or sailing programs.
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