America’s Cup: what will Luna Rossa’s AC 75 look like? Following the kiwis is not enough
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In recent weeks we have returned several times to Luna Rossa, in particular its strategy for approaching the next America’s Cup, starting with the choice regarding the helmsmen, and continuing with the decision related to the Prototype and the construction of the AC 75.
In continuing this analysis, we address a key issue: the design of the future AC 75, the construction of which has begun and the launch is expected next Spring. The goal is to close or reverse the design gap with Team New Zealand. The Kiwis, in the figure of Dan Bernasconi, were the inventors of the new AC 75 class in the last edition, a fact that put them ahead of the other crews in terms of design. Te Rehutai was a much more advanced boat than both the old Luna Rossa and the challengers’ other AC 75s, the feeling was that it was practically at least a generation ahead.
Luna Rossa- What will the future AC 75 look like?
The design of the Leq 12, the Italian prototype, leaves little doubt that Te Rehutai is the model to follow. That is, a boat with hollowed-out hull volumes that can create a kind of air “cushion” to help the boat stay high on the water by also taking advantage of the hull shapes and not just the foils. With such a hull, smaller foils can be used, thus creating less hydrodynamic drag, basically the trump card of the Kiwis in the last Cup.
Beware, however, simply following the Kiwi path will most likely not lead to a winning path. Indeed, it is legitimate to expect from the New Zealanders a further step forward with their project; if Luna Rossa wants to keep up and be competitive, therefore, it will have to succeed in putting something of its own into the new boat, not simply following the path opened by the New Zealanders but going further, in turn seeking a surprise choice.
Luna Rossa. Small foil target
Foil size was one of the variables in the last America’s Cup: Team New Zealand had smaller foils with less hydrodynamic drag, yet they were able to have the same control in maneuvering that Luna Rossa had with larger foils. All of this resulted in a speed delta that steadily increased as the races went on, thanks in part to the Kiwis’ boat handling, until it touched an unbridgeable gap (almost 5 knots of difference in certain conditions) even in the case where the Italian crew had raced perfectly all the time.
On the Prototype Luna Rossa tried several times the T-shaped, straight foils first employed by the Kiwis, testing different configurations in size and shape. This seems to be the way forward and not the V- or Y-shaped foils seen in the last America’s Cup, but even here it will not be necessary to simply go in the same direction as the Kiwis, but to try to anticipate them with more innovative choices in order to avoid being once again in hot pursuit from a design point of view.
Mauro Giuffrè
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