TECHNOLOGY CONTINUES TO DECIDE FATES IN AMERICA’S CUP RACING

By Luis Vazquez

It’s a brave new world we have entered. Technology has reshaped the planet and tradition has taken a backseat to the newest inventions and innovations, even the America’s Cup, whose sailing history can be traced to 1851. The shapes are very much different in 2017, so much so that engineers have designed boats that can still move swiftly with limited wind conditions.

Some contain bodies that don’t even touch the water. Yes it’s a whole new monster cruising these waters, created in a lab of sorts and defining the America’s Cup of recent years and the present day. Altair stepped into this world of sailing providing engineering answers to the Artemis Racing group out of Sweden.

 

04/15/2013 - Napoli (ITA) - America's Cup World Series Naples 2013 - Free training Day 2 (Credit: Americas Cup)

04/15/2013 – Napoli (ITA) – America’s Cup World Series Naples 2013 – Free training Day 2 (Credit: Americas Cup)

 

David Durocher, one of Altair’s designers spoke about one of the companies services, Optistruct, which are essentially men who structurally and analytically solve and provide solutions for structural design and optimization.

“This allows you to use physics to drive a design direction that’s based upon the way the bones grow in the body and use that in a lot of different capacities to get lightweight, highly engineered parts on different components from aircraft to America’s Cup boats,” Durocher said.

Durocher found himself in a unique position serving as Altair’s engineer when a customer, Artemis approached Altair. A lover of sailing from his youth he found a project that meshed perfectly on many levels. He was like a kid in a candy store. They needed a structure to improve speed and Altair enjoyed the unique challenges.

“I was giddy. I started racing at twelve years old and me and my wife competed in silver racing competitions for five years until our family grew,” Durocher said, “Combining something I actually loved and with the engineering aspect trying to solve different problems in the context of something as large as the America’s Cup was something a whole lot cooler.”

The 2017 America’s Cup has entered its final leg but one of the boats from Artemis Racing, though no longer affiliated with its designers directly still bore the fingerprints of Altair Engineering, who produced the base tools of technology that contributed to Artemis contending up to a third place finish.

The dagger board, which is a computer model of the design, is a composite solid structure. It’s three meters tall and one meter wide, which lifts the whole boat out of the water,” Durocher said, “It’s 20% lighter than the conventional design.”

That’s the edge so many teams seek but it’s that software that has led to conflict from traditional backers  who debate what is the essential ingredient to winning races, technology or seamanship. The driver or the car? The comparison can be made viewing NASCAR racing to see that without the supporting crew and the superior tools, a great driver is not enough to win with a inferior product.

The cutting edge of technology is ever evolving and those who don’t keep improving risk becoming extinct.

“You will hear claims that its not the equipment, it’s the sailors. It’s not the sailors its how the winds are,” Durocher said, “It’s nothing specifically by itself. They all kind of churn together in this fruit salad of problems and ideas.

Tactics along with the technology will always go hand in hand. Artemis fell short of the mark but it’s the lessons that were learned through observation which will formulate the ideas that keep it cutting edge. Technology rules the roost but does everyone agree that the changes are fair for all? Will this create a glass ceiling on technology used in the America’s Cup?

That has been an eternal issue for this race series. In this competition alone the Luna Rossa team withdrew due to concerns over the America’s Cup class design while Team Australia left over cost concerns.

The only way there will be a technical ceiling is if they limit the rules to the point where you have to use this type of material, or build this certain way. One design on the low end then there are ceilings, “ Durocher said, “But by allowing a significant amount of design freedom then what can be done is unlimited.”

Altair is not done here. They saw what contributed to Artemis loss to Emirates Team New Zealand. They are buoyed by the results of their hardware with only three months of work and they noted much from these races and have an eye to the future. It includes more work on the water.

I see in the future our company getting more involved and probably more investments and partnering with teams like Artemis and sporting competitions,” Durocher said.”

 Comment: Luis Vazquez (@Cyberj2000

 

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