XPost: rec.autos.sport.f1

from https://www.yachtingworld.com/extraordinary-boats/sailgp-f50-board-sailing-equivalent-formula-1-racecar-122851

also, good to view:

https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2019/07/26/video-harder-than-it-looks/

SailGP F50: On board the sailing equivalent of a Formula 1 racecar
Yachting World
Yachting World August 20, 2019

(sailboat = capable of speeds of nearly 60 mph.)

The F50 is the new one-design foiling 50ft catamaran used for the SailGP circuit, and is adapted from the AC50 used in the 2017 America’s Cup.
Mark Chisnell steps aboard

1 / 10The boats are expected to be 10-15% faster than when they were
sailing as AC50s, reaching 53 knots
The boats are expected to be 10-15% faster than when they were sailing
as AC50s, reaching 53 knots
Credits: Chris Cameron / Sail GP
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“I think 99% of people believe that we received these boats from
Bermuda, repainted them and sent them on their way again. I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to explain quite what we’ve done, but the amount of work that has happened here in New Zealand has been simply phenomenal,” explains Brad Marsh, technical team operations manager for SailGP. “The only thing that resembles the previous boats is the length
and width; they have been modified in every respect.”

Marsh is talking about the F50, the boat developed for the SailGP
circuit. The basic plan was simple enough: to take the AC50s that raced
in the America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017 and use them to jump-start a one-design fleet for the new professional circuit. The AC50 would
transform into a strict one-design F50 with standardised components.

The fundamentals of the boat didn’t change: it is still a 50ft foiling catamaran with a hard wingsail. The F50 foils using rudders with
elevators, and two L-shaped daggerboards. The crew control the angle of
attack of both to achieve flat, fast and stable flight.

SailGP-f50-raceboat-Sydney-credit-Sam-Greenfield-Australia-SailGP-Team Australia won the inaugural Sail GP race in Sydney. Photo: Sam
Greenfield / Australia SailGP Team

But almost everything was built new, from the daggerboards and rudder
through the control systems and hydraulics to the headsails, as well as
two new hull platforms. “We have been going since November 2017, when
they started laminating the daggerboards,” recalls Marsh, who has been overseeing the work at Core Builders Composites at Warkworth, north of Auckland.

“In April 2018 we received our first containers with the boats from
Bermuda. In October 2018 we sailed the first boat, and in February 2019
we sail our first regatta. I think it’s been about 135,000 man hours.” It’s an immense amount of work, a lot of which is not immediately
visible – like the adaptations that mean the boats can now disassemble
for shipping.

“It’s the closest thing that sailing has to Formula 1 now. We are a travelling circus going to international venues. We’ve had to take boats
that weren’t intended to be dismantled at all, and turn them into
something that could go on this travelling roadshow. Every component has
to be stored in a container and assembled and disassembled quickly so we
can get as much time on the water as possible.

Article continues below…

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“We know when we go to an event the intention is to have two days of
practice and two days of racing, so there’s no point in having two weeks
of assembly for four days of sailing. So we’ve had to be very clever
about how the systems and boat work so that it can be assembled quickly,
sailed reliably, packed up quickly and transported safely around the
world in containers.

“We have 66 40ft containers that have all been custom built. The wing
goes in one container, the hull or platform breaks down and goes into
two containers, plus the boards and rudders. It’s about having a system
and set-up so you don’t lose all the pieces and you’re not running
around looking for bits.”

Battery power
There have been philosophical changes as well as practical ones – one of which is very visible. There is just one grinding pedestal, compared to
the two on which the America’s Cup crews laboured so much blood, sweat
and tears. The foil rake, rudder pitch, cant, wing twist and jib sheet
is now driven by lithium ion batteries, leaving just the wing sheet
adjustment needing the manpower of two grinders.

sailgp-f50-raceboat-battery-credit-mark-chisnell
The lithium ion batteries which have replaced the manual
grinder-produced power are housed in a central pod. Photo: Mark Chisnell

“The boats have moved away from the physical, grinding aspect, to focus
more on the technical side of the sailing challenge,” said Marsh. “Using the batteries means we don’t need a sixth sailor as grinder, but we have changed the roles around.


“So we have one person, the flight controller, whose job is specifically
to fly the boat. In the past that was done by the helmsman: now we’ve
split that role off so it can be focussed on.”

During the last America’s Cup, the crews were restricted by the power available from the grinders. “They had to limit their tacks and gybes,
but it also meant they had to limit how much they moved the daggerboards
and rudders. Now we have unlimited battery power, the teams are able to
move all the components as much as they like.

sailgp-f50-raceboat-hydraulics-credit-mark-chisnell
Adding batteries resulted in a redesign and rebuild of the entire
hydraulic system. The system now demands over five times as much oil as
when the hydraulics were grinder-powered. Photo: Mark Chisnell

“The introduction of the flight controller means that one person is
there with his or her joystick and they are constantly moving the
daggerboard in an effort to keep the boat level and in constant flight.”
The extra workload on the hydraulic system meant that it needed a
complete redesign and rebuild.

SailGP took delivery of four of the six boats that competed in Bermuda,
and the F50’s development team – led by technical director Mike Drummond – was able to go over all of them and select the best ideas from each
for the new fleet. The details of the different control systems and
hydraulics used on each AC50 had been tightly guarded secrets during the
Cup.

“It was extremely interesting for us. We had the opportunity to take
four different boats from the America’s Cup and bring them back into one shed, pull everything out and see what the different teams did. Then we
had to go through and standardise these things, so that each boat is identical,” said Marsh.

sailgp-f50-raceboat-disassembled-credit-mark-chisnell
The boats have been redesigned for quick assembly and disassembly at
each venue. Photo: Mark Chisnell

The one thing that didn’t change significantly was the wingsails, at
least not yet. “The wings are still about 85% as they were in Bermuda.
By the time we had rebuilt all the boats, built 28 daggerboards and 28
rudders, stripped, reconfigured, rebuilt and repainted the boats, we
didn’t have time to do the wings as well.

“We have now started a project to build eight new wings for the 2020
season. They are going to be a modular wing, which will allow us to
assess the conditions and set up for each regatta. They could be set to
be 4m taller than the current wing, the same size, or 4m shorter than
the current wing,” explained Marsh.

“The idea is to be able to have the boats foil in very light winds, and
still sail in very heavy winds. This opens up different venues to us.”
The boats will constantly develop to keep them at the bleeding edge of
what’s possible, while remaining one-design.


Nothing like this has ever been done before – the nearest is probably
the developments the VO65 went through between the last two Volvo Ocean
Races. Those boats generated some of the most exciting offshore racing
ever seen.

It will be interesting to see if the same philosophy can deliver that
result for high-speed, short-course inshore racing long-term. The
America’s Cup community will be watching with interest.

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