Netflix Americas Cup documentary

There is a book about the Aussies winning the Cup. Born to Win John Bertrand as told to Patrick Robinson. Very interesting read. They made the mystery of the keel the big thing, but also they were recutting sails overnight to suit the expected wind for the following days racing
 
ridgy said:
Why did winged keels then die out. Discuss.
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I’m sure it’s more complex than this but, broadly, AC design focused on different areas: multihulls*, wing masts and sails, foiling hulls.

*including the 1988 instance of bringing a gun to a knife fight with a monohull challenger being mismatched against a multi- defender.
 
ridgy said:
Why did winged keels then die out. Discuss.
Click to expand...
There are some benefits but also plenty of drawbacks with wing keels.

For race boats it is often not so much about optimum efficiency, but instead optimum for the particular rating rule. The keel worked for a particular rule, 12 metre, at a particular time. But these were heavy and not particularly fast boats.
For speed, narrow fin with torpedo bulb (some with small winglets) are more efficient, swing ballast keel with twin daggerboards even more so - but again use depends on rating rule assessment.
As noted, for fastest speed foiling is massively better.

For cruising boats can help when want shoal draft with reasonable performance. But more expensive to build and less effective than a deeper fin keel. Also sometimes more difficult to clean / antifoul.
 
I always thought the way that the New York Yacht Club hung Dennis Conner out to dry after Australia II won in 1983 was pretty disgraceful. Terribly bad sportsmanship on their part; Conner came so close to winning it against what was clearly a much faster boat.

I was very pleased for him that he gave the NYYC the biggest “up yours” possible by regaining the Cup in Fremantle 4 years later… under the burgee of the San Diego Yacht Club.
 
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