Yachting news from around the world and around the corner

Photos: ©Guido Trombetta

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Isola d’Elba, 21/06/2009

Storm with whirlwind strikes Isola d’elba. Hundreds of boats sinken or scattered over the beaches. One skipper is still missing in the sea

Photos: ©Guido Trombetta/SEASEE.COM

I was in Isola d’Elba for the wedding of my sister (finally a weekend without shooting boats!) when during the night between saturday and sunday a really strong storm has stricken the Island. For less than an hour winds up to 100km/h, whirlwinds and heavy rain has unleashed their power: many boats sank and many other were scattered over the beaches. Sadly a skipper is still missing. On the following morning I went for a walk on the beach and this is what I saw: One big boat hurled against the rocks in front of a house, another one, even bigger, grounded some meters further. On the beach there were rubber dinghies everywhere, pieces of the boats and dead seabirds.

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Alinghi Engineers Team Up With ANSYS for AC33 Build.

June 23, 2009 by admin
Filed under Americas Cup, Europe

ANSYS, Inc, a global innovator of simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes, today announced an agreement to serve as an Official Supplier to Alinghi.

Alinghi is relying on both structural mechanics and fluid dynamics simulation technologies from ANSYS to perform system-level vessel design and analysis.

Kurt Jordan, Alinghi Engineer said:

“The team used structural simulation tools from ANSYS extensively in the development, design and optimization of every aspect of the winning yacht for the 2007 America’s Cup campaign. The real starting gun for the Cup begins years before the actual races. During design, construction, and on-the-water optimization of the yacht and systems, the major factor leading to success is the efficient use of time. Every decision, such as the extent of prototyping and testing, has strategic implications on our most precious resource: time. The ability to use and trust our engineering simulation tools while moving from virtual design directly to systems on the water – with minimal or often no intermediate prototype or testing steps – gives us an essential advantage over the competition. For these reasons we have selected ANSYS as our exclusive supplier of engineering simulation solutions.”

Alinghi’s success partly depends upon arriving at a capable design that will outperform competitors under uncertain environmental conditions. Solving multiple classes of physics problems by using the integrated solutions from ANSYS will empower Alinghi to achieve this feat quickly and economically.

Jim Bungerner, Alinghi flow simulation engineer:

“We have been given a few months to design what we believe will be the fastest sailboat of its kind in history. We are pushing the limits and going where very few have gone before as far as boat structures, hull shapes and sail design are concerned. Because of this push, and because we do not have the luxury of time and cannot afford to be wrong, we have no choice but to increase our reliance on our simulation tools. We are confident that a very fast boat will be the end result of this collaboration with ANSYS,”

Alinghi’s goal is to build the lightest, strongest boat possible. The team will use ANSYS fluid dynamics simulation primarily on the hulls, appendages, sails and masts.

“With the sheer size and speed of the class of yacht we’re designing, the loads have become enormous. We need to have confidence in our simulations, because if something breaks people may be hurt. We also need our shapes to be optimal for fluid drag and lift purposes, so while the structural engineers want everything to be shaped like an I-beam for optimal structural properties, the fluids people want everything to be streamlined and skinny.” Bungener added.

Dipanker Choudhury, VP of corporate product strategy and planning at ANSYS Inc:

“Alinghi now has the simulation tools it needs to optimize strength and aerodynamics in its push to defend the America’s Cup. As Official Supplier, we stand behind them as they marry the athletic challenges of sailing with their ability to design and engineer a highly capable vessel.”

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Volvo Ocean Race Stopover Economics – Stockholm

June 23, 2009 by admin

The Volvo Ocean Race continues to deliver huge economic benefits to its stopover ports. Whether this says more about the promotional muscle of the organisers or the latent demand for yacht racing by spectators it is hard to say – perhaps it is a bit of both.

Despite the overall winner having already been decided, the race for 2nd place has given the closing stages of the race another chapter of drama. Sunday’s in-port race saw Telefonica Blue come back from being stranded high and dry on a rock a week ago to winning the day, making the last leg count.

“So many people,” said Magnus Olsson at the end of the in-port race, the skipper of Ericsson 3 waving at the hordes. “There are millions.” Not quite, but the Stockholm race village is on course to beat its forecasted footfall targets, according to the provisional figures belonging to Ola Åstradsson, the port stopover manager.

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Photos: ©Bruno Cocozza/SEASEE.COM

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(Credit: Image courtesy of University at Buffalo)

Ice Sheets Can Retreat ‘In A Geologic Instant,’

Study Of Prehistoric Glacier Shows

ScienceDaily (June 22, 2009) — Modern glaciers, such as those making up the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, are capable of undergoing periods of rapid shrinkage or retreat, according to new findings by paleoclimatologists at the University at Buffalo.
See also:
Earth & Climate

The paper, published on June 21 in Nature Geoscience, describes fieldwork demonstrating that a prehistoric glacier in the Canadian Arctic rapidly retreated in just a few hundred years.

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This post is tagged Alinghi AC33, Guido Trobetta, Isola d' Elba, Melges 20, mike perham, Ran, Sea & See, Seaway Blog, volvo round the world yacht race, yacht sponsorship