Hi folks, I know I said the next blog would come from Walvis Bay but I wasn't aware at the time that I would be fortunate enough to get the chance to find myself 'Reverse planking' on the ARTEMIS AC45 during Saturdays 500 meter speed runs in front of a big crowd lined up on the Plymouth Hoe.

TEAM ARTEMIS SAILING OUT THE MILL BAY LOCK

Helena and I were invited to come and see the action by a good mate whom I had just cycled over the French Alps with. Andrew Palfrey AKA 'Dog' is the sailing coach for Team ARTEMIS and had offered to take us along on the team RIB to watch what for me would be my first ever real interaction with Americas Cup racing of any kind.

ANDREW PALFREY aka 'DOG'. ARTEMIS SAILING COACH.

It warmed my heart to drive around the corner in the perennial search for parking and see all these wing sails standing up unattended and behaving themselves on mooring in the Mill Bay docks. See, the future isn't so scary. The boats look great and the whole rigging/launching process is fascinating to watch. Quite often, the action begins once you bring a wing out of the shed and expose it to the elements. You have to be in control at all times as they leap to life whenever hit by any decent breeze if they aren't angled right.

Anyway, to the chase. After the course racing was over, 'Dog' told me that I might be able to get onboard in the 6th man position for the speed trials. As the breeze was up it promised to be a good ride. Ian Percy joked that he hoped I didn't fall asleep at 25 knots. The truth is that the art of pushing any boat to it's limits is always great fun and many of the same principles apply from the smallest to the biggest. The experience had my full, fascinated attention. I was quickly geared up and jumped onboard at the next interchange. This was just great. What a privelege. They showed me where to go and basically said "you know what to do" (In my mind I immediately thought "sure do, find a bloody good hand hold that I'm confident I can hang from inverted for starters"). So over the back beam onto the very narrow nets I went. The hand holds were there.

I've sailed on a lot of multihulls and am quite familiar with wings already. These wings are fairly simple but still have many of the basic characteristics in the way the make the transition from nothing to everything but can be turned right down by simply pulling the camber out and making them flat. They really are superior in that respect let alone performance wise. The boats are of course very lively. They also pitch around and put the nose down quite easily. This is not to say that they are "going down the mine" into a nose-dive... but they do dip the nose alot.

A COMMON MODE.

One thing I noticed over the weekend is how much these boats with these hulls resist turning. They have very little rocker (curvature in the shape of the bottom of the hull and you can see the amount of water getting pushed around by the transom and the bow as they try and turn around marks. The big, underslung rudders have a lot of power to force the boat around but all this uses a lot of energy and really zaps the speed. Turning these things quickly is an art but when speed is required in a straight line... you best keep the rudder movements to a minimum.

So anyway, the course was right under the Hoe at Plymouth and was marked by boats at either end. Each boat was given a start window in which to hit the line at full speed and commit to the course. As we gybed down to the line, I assumed the position of getting as flat behind the beam as I could and as far to windward as I could whilst still holding onto the 'handles'. It really is a sliver of a tramp just wide enough to lay on... not an inch more. I didn't stick my head up too much but watched the view out the back as we shot along at 25knots. From this angle I got a great impression of the motion of the boat not to mention the opportunity to watch some specific details.

The most obvious thing to me was the amount of speed lost when steering the boat. I believe that the fastest runs are done with the least change of direction of the boat. On these runs all the work, if possible, should be done by the sail trimmers. You want to sail the shortest line between two points and the sooner you commit to this, the better. You also want to hit the line at full-speed obviously. I stuck my head up a couple of times to look forward but really took the opportunity to lay down dead flat, with my hands by my side clutching the net looking up at the wing (Note, this is technically not the proper 'planking' technique which requires the same posture but face down. I kick myself for not taking this one-off opportunity, especially as we flew past big 'YOUTUBE' banners. I'm pretty sure that reverse planking... simply doesn't count). I could see the way the leech was twisted/twisting and watch the peculiar behaviour of the leeward telltales at they interacted with tip turbulence of the 'way forward' jib.

TEAM ARTEMIS IN THE GROOVE, RUN 2.

At the end of the run I could sit up as Terry (Hutchinson, skipper) and the boys turned her around and blasted her back up the course. The spectator boats had a great close up view of the boats and all their antics.

I had to laugh as Terry stalked some guy out there on a J24 (no sails up, tiny outboard clawing at the water in the choppy sea) as he obviously has spent some time in them and has a nostalgic soft spot for them). The guy on the J24 was probably shitting himself as the AC45 went carving by with the crew all staring at him and admiring his boat! 

Our second run was our best although I still reckon we could have hit the line faster. We had great breeze for this one but once again you could feel the boat slow with rudder input. I'm not saying it was easy. It was gusty and they were going for it. All I'm saying is what I believe would be the ideal and fastest way in my humble speed sailing opinion. The speed sensation was still brilliant. If I still get a huge buzz out of it, I can only imagine the thrill for a newcomer to sit in that same hot seat and ride the 'beast'. As these pro's go about their business, you are in no doubt that you are in the "sit down, shut up and HANG ON" position. The show is not for your benefit and they push as hard as if you weren't there.

I lay there and looked up at the crowd on the Hoe as they shot by. It struck me what an amazing view they were getting. There were no bad seats in this house. Plymouth is one of the best spectating venues you could hope for. We weren't lucky with the wind for our third and final run. Our second was our fastest but only the fifth fastest of the day. Small details matter in speed sailing and their are only a couple of seconds in it. I think it is a discipline that every top sailor should be versed in. It's highly relevant to how any boat should be sailed... especially these ones as the race courses are more likely to have power reaching legs in them. 

It was a real pleasure to have this opportunity. I was happy as a pig in s**t out there so a big thanks to the ARTEMIS team for having Helena and I onboard... and a big thanks to 'Dog' for making it happen. It was a slick and impressive display.

The next day, Helena and I went to the next best seat in the house, up on the Hoe with the public masses. It really was that good a vantage point. From there you could see it all, see the gusts coming down and do it all with an ice-cream in your hand.

Mitch Booth provided the only solid commentary whilst the other two missed just about every key point of the racing as they talked crap in the pure interest of meaningless hype.

The highlights from the Hoe were the sound of the large crowd gasping and applauding as the AC45's nose-dived, pitch poled or in Spithills case, very narrowly escaped capsize whilst crew members rained down the tramp (That got the biggest reaction).

The other highlight was watching ARTEMIS start with the gennaker hoisted and sail from third to first in brilliant fashion by gybing inside the leaders at the first mark and rolling them to take the lead by the rapidly approaching Mark 2. The commentators totally missed this brilliant display of planning and execution. Go team!!!

It was great to see Chris Draper and Team Korea push on after righting from a capsize and sail the full course in battle mode AND get another scalp for their efforts by overtaking the capsized GreenCom. Good effort that and once again proof that wings aren't that fragile.

Coutts' last speed run was great as he took on the conditions and straight-lined the fastest run.

Loic peyron bailed out of a run just in time in a big hull flying round up that kept his incredible 'never capsized a multihull' record intact.

The action on Day 2 was great. The venue was great. Sure there are aspects that could be improved but I get the feeling they will be.

The whole experience was great... but I am the converted. 

So now, well today actually, I fly to Namibia to the coal face of the development of what they all might be sailing past the Hoe in in another 20 years or so.

Cheers, Paul.