nice quote dick, I like it…
I agree that that monohulls are slow and “not exciting” to the untrained viewer, unless waves are breakingover the hull, rails in the water… but it is what it is… some that love sailing still love the lumbering beasts even when the winds are light…
granted i’d love to get my hands on moth…
Well Marc about the only excitement left in mono-hull sailing these days is the Volvo which starts Oct 29th http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/race.html
Even these boats have been reigned in… The 2011 rule has really swung too far away from extreme and push the limit for my liking…
Watch out for Puma… They have been very quiet.
I will be gunning for Abu Dhabi and Sanya as they are sailing with the masts I help create! Just finished a 27hr day and the Team Sanya rig is on the way to Alicante.
Based on HEW’s suggestion, I moved the three posts regarding on-line racing to their own thread.
See SAILING SIMULATIONS thread and posts in GENERAL DISCUSSIONS.
Dick Lemke
Moderator
This is very true!..
One reason is:
There are estimates that for one days sailing the yacht will need a minimum 3 - 5 days for maintenance, repairs and alterations. So 30 days sailing is optimistic!
Just in…
Expect another big team announcement soon…
Bertelli’s Luna Rossa team with Ben Ainslie as skipper is the rumor ? …oh la la, if true … this will be a powerhouse team.
Have you relocated to Italy yet Jim ?
Not yet… 
I need the offer of a lifetime to pry me from the job I have at the moment.
Interesting interview with Dean Barker, doesn’t mince his words either …only bluntly honest.
Great questions like:
[i]Do you think it was entirely necessary to move up to the 72 for the real deal in 2013, or do you think a successful Cup could be staged in the 45?
If Oracle was so committed to keeping costs down for AC34, how could they then go buy four AC45s while the other teams have only one? What’s ETNZ’s position on this?
If ETNZ knew what it knows now before you signed up, do you think you guys may have given this next one a miss?[/i]
read more … http://sailblast.blogspot.com/2011/10/dean-barker.html
The wheels are in motion with Prada making a financial commitment statement, only the AC application needs to be submitted and accepted 
Coutts steps off the boat http://www.americascup.com/en/Teams/ORACLE-Racing/Latest/News/2011/10/ORACLE-Racing-Coutts-crew-change-for-San-Diego/
I guess I am at a loss to understand how a single-handed monohull sailor knows tactics for high speed multihulls. Somehow I don’t often see/find where sailing on one type of boat easily translates to a different and more widely radical one. Kind of like saying that if you can race/win in a motorcycle grand prix, you would also make an excellent F1 driver - or vice/versa!
Dean Barker does not seem to do too bad a job at it 
but after all Dick …they are professionals, thats what they get paid to do
Yuuup on tha point, Alan.
F1 drivers have been known to cross back and fourth between Rallying. I think Kimi Raikkonen Is a good example.
“Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 and Emirates Team New Zealand have signed a cooperation agreement until 31st December 2012 which includes full access to all ETNZ design and performance data for this period. The hulls for the Luna Rossa AC72’ will be built in Italy and all other elements will be built in New Zealand in close cooperation with Emirates Team New Zealand”
From http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/News/2011/11/Luna-Rossa-Challenge-2013/
Aren’t you suppose to build your own boat, in your country, to be a challenger? Maybe it changed for AC34th?
I understand the DOG only calls for hulls to made in country or orgin, Prada are making the moulds for their own boat in Italy and then shipping them for completion in NZ and ETNZ will use the same moulds for making their hulls in NZ.
This collarboration agreement certainly helps close the technology & experience gap on OR with Prada & ETNZ testing their boats together … I wonder if OR are sharing all their development data with Artemis ? …some how doubt it, poor bastards will be left out in the cold.
Talk is that OR are trying to take Ben Ainslie off the market by buying him into their team so that Prada don’t get their hands on him … trust he’s not that stupid !!
Cheers Alan
The moulds will be built in Italy. Most likely by Persico as Luna Rossa have a relationship with them from the 2007 campaign…The generally accepted rule is that the 1st skin in the mould has to be completed in the country of origin… That coincides with the issuing of the hull number by the ACRM which makes it an official AC 72
Then you are free to complete the hulls where you like.
There is no information sharing by Artemis or Oracle for that matter and I have to be fairly conservative on sharing here, always conscious about biting the hand feeding me.
Oracle are particularly quiet… No one I know has heard much from that camp.
One other thing - You can build the wings anywhere you like…
An interesting interview here: From : http://sailblast.blogspot.com/2011/10/observations-from-guys-changing-34th.html
How do penalties do work?
Stan Honey, Director of Technology for the 34th America’s Cup (AC34): Once a penalty has been assigned, whether it’s a limit penalty or whether its S-P tack penalty, the computer assigns a penalty line which is two boat lengths behind your boat and that penalty line is moving at ¾ the theoretical speed of your boat and you have to slow down until that penalty line overtakes you. The reason that penalty line is moving at ¾ of your speed is to give you an incentive to pay it off quickly. The idea is to keep you in the race so if a penalty hurts you, you’re still in the hunt, which keeps the race exciting and interesting. Plus, to have these boats do circles if it’s windy is just too frightening!
John Craig, Principal Race Officer (PRO) for AC34 : It’s taken the teams a long time to get used to the penalty system incurred by the new electronic boundaries. “They would, say, it’s saying 80 meters then two seconds later I was done,” - yeah, you were doing 30 knots! It’s been a process and I’m happy to report there are very few limit penalties anymore. We really are able to keep the guys in the box.
(…)
But what’s the most interesting thing about this whole project is what happens in the morning just after the skippers’ meeting (as an example of how the data is used). Mike Martin (Director Umpiring and Rules Administration for AC34) replays the previous day’s penalties on a screen and all the teams talk about them. What’s fascinating is it’s completely non-confrontational because there’s never an argument about the facts - the discussion is about the rules. Someone puts their hand up and says, “Yeah, I own it,” and in some cases it’s the umpire who’ll say, “Yeah, I called that wrong.” It’s fascinating how friendly everything is and there’s never a dispute about the facts.
What info do the competitor’s have?
SH: The competitors don’t get anything during the race. The idea is to keep the competitors in the same test of skill that we all are at - they have to judge when they’re in the 3-boat length circle, they have to judge the starting line, when they do or don’t have an overlap etc. And they know whatever they do, whether they get it right or wrong, the umpires are going to make the right call so it’s a better test of skill. That was Russell’s vision and he’s been batting very high on those kinds of decisions.
How does this all scale up as far as the 72s go?
JC: That’s the million dollar - the multi million dollar question (LOL) - the 72s - take 3 of the 45s and stack ‘em beam to beam and that’s a 72, then take 4 of the mainsails from the 45 and that’s a 72 mainsail. There’re a lot of people spending a lot of time in design rooms right now trying to figure it out.