| Spain. Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team designer Harry Dunning talks about the America's Cup |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, 11 April 2006 | |
|
Harry Dunning: Harry Dunning worked for seven years in the design office of Bruce Farr and Associates where he was a part of the design team responsible for Tag Heuer (1995) and Young America (2000). During this time he developed the methodology for America’s Cup projects. In 2003, Dunning was a senior designer in the Design Group responsible for Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes boats USA 66 and 77. Dunning has been instrumental in the development of many of the most innovative racing yachts of the last 15 years, including winners of the Whitbread Round the World Race and most other major inshore and offshore events. Dunning now leads the Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team Design Group, which brings together designers, scientists, and engineers who between them have experience in more than 20 America’s Cup campaigns. Do you expect to see big differences in the new boats in 2006? This time around the boats will be grouped more closely under the rule to start with? I think that we will see considerable innovation and refinement with small and moderate details of the new boats, but I do not expect big differences in shape and configuration with respect to the boats we saw during the 2005 ACT season. Any other forecasts for 2006? The design and sailing teams have worked hard on our first new boat and we are very optimistic that it will be a considerable improvement over ITA77. We look forward to seeing her perform well in the 2006 ACTs. And in 2007? Can we already tell something about the 2007 generation boats? The new boats that we’ve seen and the 2005 ACTs suggest that the developments in the class are more evolutionary than revolutionary. My earlier statement about major innovation only in small and moderate details will, I think, be valid through the 2007 season. What will the boats be like for the next Cup? We live in a very innovative period for racing yacht design. Several decades ago course records for major ocean races could easily stand for several years or even decades. Nowadays they seem to fall every season. This is a testament to rapid performance improvements of the latest generation of sailing yachts. These improvements have come about for several reasons including widespread use of high tech materials, the adaptation of high performance dinghy techniques and design concepts into larger vessels, and the gradual replacement of speed constraining rating systems like the IOR and IMS by more performance friendly systems like IRC and box rules like the Transpac 52. The bottom line is that we are in the midst of a performance revolution and some of these technologies should be incorporated into the next Cup. How you see the last changes in the AC rule? It looks like they're lessening the ability to push boats into the "corners" of the rule… The biggest change is that the size of the “box” for the boats has become extremely small for the 2007 series. This has narrowed the playing field considerably and decreased the range of basic design parameters which need to be explored. In the past the weather has always played an important part in the starting point for designers…what about Valencia? The weather is of course critical. Our weather analysis has all been coordinated by our team meteorologist. Our approach, as far as the design work is concerned, is to augment the data available to all teams with data and analysis of our own. This data is then statistically reduced and worked into the VPP analysis. Major design decisions are based on this analysis. Increasing the downwind sail area was seen as a way of increasing the chances of overtaking downwind… There is more downwind sail area and the boats are generally lighter than last time, so the offwind legs could be slightly more exciting. Deeper keels and lighter rigs… Yes. The combination of these two will help the boats perform slightly better upwind and maneuvering. No canting keels, no hulas, no kites… Not this time. Maybe with the next rule. What about the two new boats for MLCT? There is not much we can say at this stage. Our model tank work, CFD, and VPP analysis suggest that they will be substantial improvements over our existing boats, so we are all very eager to get them sailing. Would you agree with the statement that the new rule favours Alinghi? I’ll leave that to somebody else to worry about. In your opinion the current ACC design has reached its limit? Could you elaborate on that? Earlier in this interview I pointed out how restrictive the ACC rule has become. As a consequence there appears to be little opportunity for bold innovation of the kind that we are seeing in other fleets. How would you describe “the perfect campaign”? Early start, unlimited budget, team harmony, great management, designers, and sailors, and, of course, victory. How relevant is the money to the America's Cup? It cannot be argued that it is very, very important. Money buys more research, equipment, and the best people. But Alinghi showed in the last cup that it is possible to dominate the event without necessarily having the biggest budget. The bottom line is that money is critical, but past a certain threshold the most important ingredient is talent. As a yacht designer, where does the America’s Cup rate in your career? The America’s Cup is always a high point for any yacht designer because the research budgets tend to be higher than for most projects, but significant design budgets are becoming more common for other high profile projects as well. Volvo ocean race, large canting keel maxi yachts, and even smaller yachts are now being designed using techniques and technologies that were formerly used exclusively for America’s Cup design work. Technically speaking, what has changed the most since 2000 in the AC? Many improvements with the current fleet can be traced to new materials and our better understanding of how to use the materials which were available in 2000. And what has changed in your area? On the design side we now have faster computers, better CFD and tank testing techniques and better validation of these tools because we have had more opportunity to compare their predictions with actual on-water performance. Conner….Vascotto... how creative can the dialogue be between designer and skipper? Both Vasco Vascotto and Dennis Conner are extremely talented, likeable individuals who have had tremendous success as racing yachtsmen. Both have a tremendous desire to win. Their opinions and advice during the design process is a crucial component for developing a successful boat. Conner, Onorato... two persons so different but with the same “insane” passion... Dennis and Vincenzo are similar in some respects. They are both incredibly driven to succeed and proven winners at the highest levels of our sport. But their personal styles are quite different. Dennis is very much an informal Californian whereas Vincenzo embodies the best elements of European style and refinement. They are both great people to work with. Every team has its own approach... how would you define the one in Mascalzone Latino? Our team is a very close. There is great cooperation between the management, shore and sailing teams. This is quite different from some other campaigns that I have been involved with where the design group functioned very independently from the rest of the team. But I feel that our current approach is the best. It allows the design team to incorporate the many good ideas generated by others in the organization. The resulting atmosphere is very productive and will allow us to close the gap between ourselves and some of the more established yet organizationally dispersed teams. http://www.mascalzonelatino.it/ |
|
| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 April 2006 ) |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|