Leap of faith - Part II

Duncan MacLane and Dave Hubbard continue their technical and performance review of Team Dennis Conner's remarkable but often overlooked catamaran defence of the '88 America's Cup

The first wingsail for Stars & Stripes was delivered to the San Diego compound from Burt Rutan's Mojave facility in pieces. The #1 and #2 elements had their rib structures covered with clear heat- shrink film, bonded to the perimeter with double-faced tape (we were probably the biggest single user of 3-M storm window kits on record). Each of the #3 elements was covered with a light sailcloth sock tensioned over battens and nose formers. Then the flaps were bolted together and attached to the control arms. The final assembly took about three days, went flawlessly and the first sails with the rig were incident free.

Though time was short the team were paying attention to every detail and careful plans had already been developed to handle the wingsail ashore. A custom hydraulically tilting cradle, ballasted to 25 tons, was designed and constructed. A 120ft boom crane was used for launching and lifting the boat onto the cradle. The boat was stored on the cradle, supported on beam chocks. Clamps would be bolted over the beams, holding the platform securely to the ballasted cradle.

To read the remainder of this and many other topical technical articles, please purchase your copy of the March 2005 edition of Seahorse International Sailing available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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