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‘‘This should allow the boats to take off earlier and easier’’

Insider’s guide to Am Cup design changes

In-demand America’s Cup designer Martin Fischer expects cyclors and dual-helming options to dominate the early phase of exploratory work on the next boats to contest yachting’s premier event.

Both concepts proved influential at the last two Cups and could be blended for the 2024 regatta.

Team New Zealand used leg power to win in Bermuda while Italians Luna Rossa came up with the worthy double helming act in Auckland, that saw them push the Kiwis close in ‘The Match’ as they limited crew movement and dominated the starting box on the lightning-fast AC75s.

With crews reduced from 11 to eight, Fischer believes cyclors will return.

Germany’s Fischer was head designer for Luna Rossa in Auckland and has been persuaded by Sir Ben Ainslie to join Team Britannia for the next Cup.

Fischer is enjoying his new environment and has happily discussed where the next generation of AC75s could go as teams look to produce the perfect allround boat.

Fischer told Cup Insider the grinders would be the casualties in the crew department. Asked if it was a ‘‘no-brainer’’ for teams to go with cyclors, he said: ‘‘From a first view, I would say yes. But we have to look into that in detail to be certain, Right now I would say yes. The higher power output from using legs rather than arms should hopefully compensate more or less the loss in grinders.’’

Team Britannia are in a strong position in this key department with their sporting link to the world-class INEOS

Grenadiers professional cycling team they share resources with through their major sponsorship deal.

Fischer pioneered the dual helming concept in the Cup that saw helmsmen Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni operate wheels on either side of the Italian boat. Again, he feels others could follow.

‘‘Last time Luna Rossa definitely looked good with it. Other things may develop, but it is definitely an option that I guess each team will look at too. For sure, we will study it in detail on the simulator to see how it works,’’ he told Cup Insider.

Fischer said with the class being retained and modified, the design process wouldn’t be as tricky as it was in the build-up for Auckland though teams are restricted to one boat in this cycle, placing pressure on them to get it right.

Fischer produced two boats for Luna Rossa that were universally admired, though the challengers ultimately came up short against the faster Te Rehutai, which won the Cup for Team New Zealand, breaking away from 3-3 to triumph 7-3.

The Achilles heel at Auckland was the light-air performance of the radical foiling monohulls as they struggled to get on their foils at the lower 6.5 knots wind limit.

Fischer is confident that has been addressed and this will be an area where teams explore.

The boats are 800kg lighter after discarding the ballast intended to make them selfrighting in a capsize, while the crew reduction saves around 300kg. Add those to the significantly increased span in the foils and there is a reduction in drag of about 20 per cent, according to Fischer.

‘‘This should allow the boats to take off earlier and easier,’’ he explained..

‘‘You could fly in six-and-a-half knots, but you could not necessarily take off. Often you needed a gust of seven or 7.5 to get airborne. After that, the wind could drop again. ‘‘This time, hopefully, we can take off at the minimum wind speed and – hopefully – those races where one boat is flying at 30 knots and the other one is drifting at six knots will be less likely.’’

Fischer has taken over at Team Britannia from Kiwi Nick Holroyd as chief designer. Quick in the heavy winds in Auckland, the British were dogged by lightair issues, but they still intrigued Fischer.

‘‘I really liked the look of the team from the outside. I also knew a few people that worked in the team, and they were all very positive about the culture. It looked very attractive to me. I also thought their second boat was very interesting. It was radical and daring, which I admired. So, I phoned up Ben (Ainslie), and that’s how it started.’’

Fischer got a bit of a head start with the original AC75s as Luna Rossa enjoyed the Challenger of Record role and were involved in the concept. Now the British have that, working closely with defenders Team New Zealand to

refine the design. Fischer was won over by the AC75s and feels they have revolutionised the sport.

‘‘When we first heard that we were aiming for a foiling monohull I thought it would be quite a challenge,’’ he told the Team Britannia website in a lengthy interview.

‘‘Then we looked at different options and Team NZ came up with this concept which looked completely crazy at the beginning. My initial reaction was that it was something really extreme and new. Then very quickly we ran through the numbers and looked closely at it and within two days it was clear that it was a feasible concept, and it was just a

challenge to get there. The first time I saw these boats racing in New Zealand I was pretty relieved, I don’t think I was the only one.

‘‘My initial thought was that we finally got it right. What we saw in Auckland was that proper match-racing is possible with these boats. It was the first time, I think, that we saw proper matchracing at 40-plus knots.

‘‘With the catamarans we had good racing, but it was different, there were no tacking duels and similar match-racing manoeuvres. Now, suddenly, we had boats with which we could do really close match racing at very high speeds, so we were all very happy.’’

Again though, it came down to the old formula for success as Team NZ won the Cup.

’’Yes, the (New Zealand) boat was definitely quicker,’’ Fischer conceded in his interview with respected yachting journalist

‘‘The higher power output from using legs rather than arms should hopefully compensate more or less the loss in grinders.’’ Martin Fischer

Justin Chisholm at Cup Insider.

‘‘At the beginning we did pretty well, and I think that was because we had more race practice than the Kiwis. Also, our boat had an advantage at the start.

‘‘We had bigger foils, and therefore we had more possibilities at the start. So that gave us an advantage.

‘‘It took the Kiwis a bit of time to figure out how to overtake once Luna Rossa was in front. But once they had learned how to do that, there was no way for us to win. We sailed 10 races in total and out of these 10 I think Luna Rossa won seven of the starts.

‘‘They [Luna Rossa] were also very good around the course – I think the split helmsmen was a good move – but the fact that we had more possibilities due to the bigger foils was really important. But then, later on, it was just speed that that won the races.’’

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2022-01-16T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-16T08:00:00.0000000Z

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