AC-72 Catamaran's challenges our understanding of physics

[haraldo]

This is actually mind boggling and challenges our understanding of physics!

An Americas Cup AC 72 catamaran can go upwind in 25 knots+ when there is no wind at all, imagine that guys

Precondition: id there if an adverse current of 10 knots, which certainly may be the case in San Francisco sound, then we actually have 10 knots of wind, the boat uses that wind and goes so fast that it generates it's own wind, going potentially 3 times as fast as the wind, so how about that.... doing 30 knots when it's dead still air

This is not a joke guys
Check this: No Second Place: Inside the America's Cup - 34th America's Cup: The Cutting Edge | Red Bull

I'm still trying to cope with this

 

[Midwesthonky]

I caught some of the races at the bar last night. Those things really fly. Amazing aerodynamics on the sails and the hull design to do 25-30 knots in a sailboat. Amazing technology. Although I do miss back when they would run the single hull that looked like a boat, not some sort of strange aircraft.

 

[haraldo]

It actually takes 25.000 man-hours just to build the wing sail...... the Area of the mainsail is the same as one wing from an Airbus A380 ==:-o
Well, yesterday Emirates Team New Zealand topped on 45 knots !

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

fixing one of these is no joke ether:
America's Cup | Oracle's AC72 catamaran badly damaged... | Stuff.co.nz

 

[haraldo]

 

[haraldo]

Well, Kiwi's had a great day of sailing on Saturday