BOR 90 - proposed America's Cup entry

[Dan]

Of course l’hydroptere is a strange beastie, being a hydrofoil boat, and not really a proper trimaran in many ways. The amas are far to short in length to really function properly. AFAICT, it isn’t the amas that really keep the boat upright, but the weight of the crew on a very long lever arm and the power of the hydrofoils themselves. She'd also probably do very poorly in heavy seas, since she really doesn't have the buoyancy forward to prevent her from stuffing the bow and pitchpoling. I'm not all that surprised that she turtled, given her design’s apparent reliance on dynamic lift to resist capsizing.

Sodeb’O is an interesting beastie, since she's primarily designed for single-handed racing and most everything is controlled from the cockpit AFAICT. She's also a bit odd in that she doesn't use the full length of the hull for the sail plan base. Her forestay is anchored well back on the main hull, with a very high aspect ratio rig and unlike many racing trimarans doesn't have a bowsprit.

Brossard is probably my favorite of the big trimarans out there... but she's currently out of action due to severe aka damage last I heard.

My favorite large cruising trimaran has got to be Chris White’s Hammerhead 54, which looks like this:



FlyingFish_sm.jpg (575.56 KiB) Viewed 170 times

[Ron]

This giant trimaran is not bad either. I think it's about 140 feet long, and is very quick. It's got the same curved drop down boards on the amas as BOR90. Its starting to look like tri's will do all of the real racing in the future. There's no way that a monohull can compete with any of them. The fastest monohull in the world got up to around 36 knots in heavier winds.

[jeff432]

Dan,
Thanks for posting the pic of the Hammerhead 54, beautiful cruiser!

[Dan]

Yes, Chris White pens a pretty boat.

IIRC, he is working on a smaller Hammerhead 34, which is going to be a folding design, while not really meant as a trailerable boat, it is designed so that it can be transported over the road, unlike the fixed beam Hammerhead 54. It is going to be designed to sleep four and have an in-board diesel auxiliary engine. I don’t believe any have been built as of yet though.

[Ron]

Looks like it's just about official now. The defender Alinghi wants to race a multihull next year - probably in May 2010. He has the cup and he's setting the rules. Doesn't matter that there may no other competitors other than Ellison's BOR90 90x90 trimaran. Golden Gate YC is the challenger of record and they've got the trimran. The defender will show up in an approx 100 to 120 foot catamaran. Should be a very good race but this is not what's it's about. The real competition was in the courts and it was skippered and crewed by lawyers. If BOR90 wins they will definitely have a real America's Cup the following year with a bunch of monohulls racing for the challenger slot. If they don't, it's still up in the air.

Should be a very interesting race but I really don't consider it as the America's Cup. I don't think anyone has seen what Alinghi is building but Ellisons trimaran is extremely fast. Does over 30 knots in 12 to 15 knots of wind and I'm sure that they are not even pushing it now. Why let the competiton know what it can really do? This will turn out to be the fastest sailboat race ever.

[Ron]

It looks like the America's Cup will be held on or around February 8, 2010. Defender is Alinghi 5 - a 90 x 90 foot catamaran built by the swiss team (photo below). Challenger will be the 90 x 90 foot trimaran BOR90 (to be renamed USA), with a new larger mast and foils. BOR90 has already done 50 knots in less than 20 knots of wind out on the open ocean in a chop and swells. The swiss teams lawyers are fighting over the venue - they want it to be in the Persian Gulf, with no ocean swells or chop. The ultra-lightweight Alinghi may not do as well out on the high seas and that's why the lawyers are back in court. The deed of gift specifies an ocean race, with at least one side open to the seas. Another legal issue is the noisy gas powered hydraulic pump Alinghi needs to run the hydraulic winches and furling head sails. No Cup racer has ever had ANY motor running during a race. BOR90 is totally human powered.

Once these legal battles finally subside, this should prove to be the fastest sailboat race of all time. Both boats are probably capable of breaking 60 knots in 20 knots of wind, although Alinghi may have trouble doing it out on the ocean. Any past Cup contender would be blown out of the water by either of these two machines. I'm fascinated by the enormously expensive technology here. I wonder when it will filter down to our Telstars? (joke).

[seicam]

Maybe we will get the taller mast option again?

[luigisante]

With all the time I've spent refitting my 26' I could have probably built one of these from scratch

Lou

[Ron]

BOR90 now has an experimental 190 foot tall fixed wing sail. It was first raised yesterday - boat was doing about 3 times wind speed (over 15 knots in 5 knots of wind) in San Diego Bay with ONE sail. Wait till they get the bugs out and tune it. Take a look at the Fox News video below:

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-b ... 2321.story

Amazing - It's RUNNING away from the chase boats in 5 knots of wind and making figure 8's while doing it !!!!!!!!! Got to call Tony and see where we can get one of these sails (just a joke - the sail costs more than ALL of our boats together).

[luigisante]

Break out the west epoxy!! The boat is amazing with the wing sail. It's unbelievable how quickly the boat accellerates. Love the scene where the two cabin crusiers nearly collide watching the big boat.

Lou