Fri, Nov 09, 2012
Fast Catamaran Was Damaged In Practice, Will Now Be Launched From A Ramp To 'Fly'
Sails are just wings that are vertical, right? So maybe it makes sense that an $8 million dollar racing catamaran that was badly damaged during practice for the America's Cup will take its final journey during Red Bull's Flugtag event in San Francisco this weekend.
The yacht belonged to Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, who has sponsored several high-tech very fast sailboats for both triangle circuit and blue water racing. The America's Cup yacht capsized during practice for the race and was damaged beyond repair. While they wait for a new boat to be delivered, members of Ellison's crew have decided to take bits of the broken boat and see if they can make it fly ... if only for a few yards off a 30-foot-high ramp used to launch Flugtag entries into the water.
A blogger for the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the boat, rechristened "Spirit of 17", was built literally of parts left over from the Oracle yacht, including pieces of carbon fiber found floating in the Pacific ocean after the boat capsized. It will look something like a multi-hull sailboat. How far it flies is another question entirely, but team members are not particularly optimistic. Team Oracle sailor Shannon Falcone, who will be the "pilot," said he expect the boat to "pitch pole" (go end over end. Yes, sailors have their own jargon just like pilots) off the ramp into the water "So everybody will have a replay of what happened when the big boat crashed," he said.
Flugtag San Francisco is coming up Saturday, with viewing of the entries beginning at 1100 PST, and 'flying' starting a 1300.
(File photo from 2011 Flugtag courtesy Red Bull)
More News
Very High Frequency The frequency band between 30 and 300 MHz. Portions of this band, 108 to 118 MHz, are used for certain NAVAIDs; 118 to 136 MHz are used for civil air/ground voi>[...]
Aero Linx: Aviation Suppliers Association Established February 25, 1993, the Aviation Suppliers Association (ASA), based in Washington, D.C., is a not-for-profit association, repre>[...]
Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]
From 2021 (YouTube Version): Colorado Campus Offers aVariety Of Aerospace Entertainment And Education Wings over the Rockies Exploration of Flight is the second location for the Wi>[...]
Also: Paramotor Champ's, Electric Ultralight, ICON BK Update, Burt Rutan at Oshkosh! The Popular Rotorcraft Association is reaching out for help in rebuilding their private runway >[...]