Americas Cup 37: Alinghi Red Bull AC75 ‘BoatOne’ launched
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Photos Alinghi RB / Americas Cup.
Americas Cup 37 Alinghi RB
All teams launching their AC75s to compete for the 37th Americas Cup. Lsst week after receiving the news of the Alinghi RB and knowing Gonzalo Redondo was working with their design team we asked him to describe a bit his involvement this new radical looking AC75:
Gonzalo Redondo:
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“The launch was a very special moment for the team, and that the boat is behaving in line with expectations. It sets an important milestone and raises the spirit of the team, which is great but was affected, and still is, due to Gautier’s passing. Gautier was our lead sail designer, but most importantly, a really nice human being.
Of course there is a learning process, but it confirms that many of the assumptions and approach seems to be in the right direction, with an ability to take off in the lower range expected in Barcelona. Tomas Ruiz, from D3 Applied Technologies, is leading the CFD department and is the developer of the VPP tool, so he has a degree of responsibility there. I have free myself from those duties and it is nice to see him perform. My role has more to do with aero & hydro shapes design and development, from hull to appendages or whatever it takes.
It was an impressive effort by the whole team and I very much enjoyed the design process of the boat sharing shapes, crazy ideas and always challenging the process with Marcelino, Sam Manuard and RBAT. Nonetheless, I think it’s worth underlining the work of people like Steven Robert on structures and Jean Marie Fragniere leading the yard. They have have carried a heavy weight throughout the production process.”
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Report below sent by Americas Cup Media.
Barcelona April 16, 2024
SWISS LAUNCH A BEAUTY OF DETAIL
Today was the official launch at the team’s beautiful base in the heart of the Port Vell with Chiara Bertarelli, daughter of Ernesto, cracking the bottle on the foredeck and naming the boat that the whole of Switzerland hopes will regain old glories and win the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona later this year.
To the sounds of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers ‘Don’t Stop’ (the team song) blasting from the on-base speaker system, the Alinghi Red Bull Racing family came together to celebrate the first launch and another milestone in their journey.
Co-General Manager Silvio Arrivabene welcomed everyone saying: “When we launched BoatZero more than a year ago, we couldn’t even see the top. Now we’re at the last camp, and we’re going for the summit.” True words. The team’s learning curve has been vertical but logical with great decisions taken along the way and a real intensity to everything they do. The resultant design speaks volumes for the overall programme.
Be in no doubt, this is a beauty from Marcelino Botin and his design team, working with many facets of the Red Bull sporting stable, including Red Bull Advanced Technologies, to achieve an overall package that looks racy fast and a slightly different direction from the progressive designs we have seen from Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. The eye is drawn to detailing all over the boat, yet tricked by the cut away cockpit that has the distinct effect of shortening the length and making it feel light and nimble. This looks like a boat that deserves to be pushed hard around a racetrack – and that’s certainly its fate over the coming months.
Detail is everywhere from stem to stern. The pronounced spray chine, the likes of which we have seen before on IMOCA and VO70 designs, runs immediately and pointedly off the bow and kicks off an in-the-water profile that screams fast flight with the fine-entry bustle/skeg broadening to a considerable radius by the transom being the only intersection whilst in displacement under sail. On the foredeck, the bumps that will form a tunnel or perhaps even a ‘Venturi’ effect for the jib are remarkably noticeable in the light of the day and lead logically to a low-profile bow leading back to the super-aero cockpit.
More at https://www.americascup.com/news/2981_SWISS-LAUNCH-A-BEAUTY-OF-DETAIL
