America's Cup: Foiling AC75 arm and foil under test - Video
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 10 Sep 2018 02:19 PDT
10 September 2018
Canting mechanism testing - Emirates Team New Zealand - Seotember 10, 2018 © Emirates Team NZ
To many the AC75 foiling monohull is an experiment is sailing science - as was the AC72 and AC50 wingsailed foiling catamarans.
In the next America's Cup several components are supplied parts - the first time in America's Cup history that this has been done in an event in which entry is supposed to design build and race a boat that is a nationalist effort.
However that rule has been gradually watered down beginning in 1962 when the requirement for fittings and sails to be constructed in the country of origin was dropped.
For the AC75 the canting foil mechanism will be a supplied component. In the video Emirates Team NZ's Project Manager Peter ‘Brush’ Thomas gives a first look at the prototype
foil control system, being developed.
While a foiling 75ft monohull is definitely at the bleeding edge of sailing technology, canting keel technology using PLC's (programmable logic controllers) is not, and has been used for more than a decade to control the swing of a canting keels.
The advantage of using a supplied part for this aspect of the AC75 is one of lowered cost and reliability.
Emirates Team New Zealand say they have been working on the development of the system for six months and have just begun full size testing. In the project, Emirates Team NZ develops the canting mechanism. Luna Rossa produces the carbon arm, and the teams develop and supply their own wings to attachd to the arm.