ETNZ & Oracle AC72 MKII: Follow the Leader
What you are seeing here is this (click image):
– Images backgrounds are from Oracle & ETNZ Boats #2
– CADs are the same I made for the renders I once published and are both Oracle & ETNZ Boats #1
– ETNZ MKII Hull and dagger/beams positions are a “”Copy-Paste”” of their MK1 Version.
– Oracle MKII Hull has a subtle bow freeboard difference.
– Oracle MKII Dagger Case AND Front Beam positions are a Copy-Paste , without any quote whatsoever, of ETNZ Boats foil/beam position setups.
Oracle will gain structural stiffness moving the front beam forward, and thus they will reduce the scary flex even more.
Basically ETNZ won the design game since day 1. If ETNZ wins the LV and if conditions at the Finals are the ones expected… well you know what is going to happen….
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Images: Oracle MKII: Kitemare (Check his album here) from SA Forums (I posted this combo there first) and ETNZ MKII : Chris Cameron.
My thinking is that the hull differences between this 2 (and also Artemis) are so small that its impossible to know which one is the better. Look at the F18 and Aclass where boats can be very different and still pretty much the same performance. Foils and Wing are probably MUCH more important and there the ETNZ wing looks to be more for acceleration and Oracle should give more top speed (if the drawings that I saw was anywhere close to right).
Foils, I cant even guess, can you ??
Say that it comes down to sailing (even if unlikely):
Just look at Oracle that has got 3 spare super helms . When did you think the name of a spare could be Bundy, Slingsby and Coutts ????????? Ofcourse I adore ETNZ as sailors………. but end of the day you are only as good as your latest result and they did not win in Naples….. but they did moan about being wrong and crashed, which I thought showed a bit of weakness.
Not a big deal at all but that was actually my photo from SA. Thanks for the continued analysis and great website… its a daily must read.
In terms of design i think TNZ has a fair amount to go in drag reduction to get to where oracle is currently at while Oracle seems to have significantly closed the gap on foiling. In addition, one luxury that Oracle has which i think is getting overlooked is that the first 7-9 races in the AC finals all occur during flood tides and the associated calmer wave state. TNZ has to design for both ebb and flood.
Hi Kitemare-
Just updated credits and linked to your original album.
On drag you are right, but as I mentioned many times and after seeing several vids from OR and feedback provided by Dalton, the mark roundings will be critical.
I have a mental image just like the F18 video posted yesterday, and those two designs are a perfect analogy to ETNZ & OR!
Seem to me from these photos ETNZ has a bit more buoyancy forward? would help with pitchpole me thinks
@pblakez
ETNZ will leave OR for dead. They are miles ahead in wing & foil development, althought OR have made gains, they are still a long way behind. Maybe OR will have a faster top speed (Potentially)but ETNZ will be better in every other way.
Oracle had three of the world's best helms in 2003 AmCup, too…
they possibly didnt cheat in Naples, either . . . .
(I'm not serious, just being a bitch !)
a more plausible possible explanation is that perhaps their focus was moving in the direction of the AC72s ?