Gathering evidence for the designers
Coach Rod Davis blogs on gathering evidence for the AC72 design team
OK boys, back to the grindstone.
We landed at Auckland on Wednesday and will be back out on the water on Friday. This is what most of the sailors see as the hardest part of wining the America’s Cup.
Gone is the winner’s podium, the interviews, press conferences and anything to do with the thrill of racing. Back are the early morning starts to get the “right” wind conditions, very long hours testing and repeating tests over and over. All to make sure a design decision is based on the very best on-the-water evidence we can provide.
The roller-coaster of San Diego’s racing will give way to the clinical world of two-boat testing. Change one thing, see how it goes. Retest it again and again just to make sure.
Truth is it’s a let-down after the thrill of racing. But, and a very important but, it is how we win the America’s cup. At least when you are in the world of the unknown, with new boats the world can’t even comprehend and won’t’ see sailing until the middle of next year.
Neither Emirates Team New Zealand nor any other team, is really sure how we are to launch and get the new 72 ft cat with a wing bigger than “BIG” off the dock each day. Let me put it into perspective. The jibs are the new AC cats are the size of the mainsails of our 82ft America’s Cup boats of the past.
We have so much to learn and so little time. It all comes down to testing and developing new ideas well enough to base a design decision from.
It is a hard grind. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes boring, and on the rare occasions that a radical idea works, really cool.
COACH
