So in a nod to the past where the grinders powered winches the AC50s require manual pumps to power the boat systems.

Ac75 grinding. It is a physically demanding role with a significant impact on a racing yachts overall performance. On an AC75 its the trimmers and flight controller who decide where the power goes using electronic push-buttons mounted at their stations and linked back to the servo motors on the Single and Double True-Clutch assemblies. Although the boats will be foiling most of the time it is going to be incredibly important to have a hull which gets you foiling as quickly as possible Bernasconi says.

Mainsailsoft wing 145m2 - jib 80m2 - code zero 180m2. Nope itʼs not a next generation super bike clutch. Developed by Harken and refined into two new models for the current Americaʼs Cup cycle Harken True- Clutch can handle more than 1000Nm of torque and yet the whole assembly weighs just one kilo.

Terry Hutchinson has been our guest on The Yacht Racing Podcast on two occasions. The AC50s use hydraulic accumulators to power the various systems on the boats like winches and daggerboards. A grinder is a crew member on a yacht whose duties include operating manual winches called coffee grinders that raise and trim the sails and move the boom.

We have placed an e-grinder on the boat explained skipper Ben Ainslie. The AC75 is not expected to be foiling until windpeeds of 9kts while its predecessor the AC50 could sail at four times the speed of the wind at just 6kts of breeze. INEOS Team UK relaunched its first AC75 Britannia 1 in the UK in the first week of June.

The AC75 Class Rule forbids self-tacking headsails and requires that the crew must unload a sheet from one winch and load the other sheet onto another winch during tacks and gybes. They are constantly grinding to pump up the hydraulic pressure that is expended to operate the various parts of the boat. The absence of the big set-piece choreographed manoeuvres such as setting dowsing and gybing spinnakers with 16-man crews has led some to believe that the modern Cup sailor has little to do except wind on the handles.

What is it really like to sail an AC75 every day. In the 36th edition of the Americas Cup the role of the grinder is more important now than ever before. Naval architect Scott Ferguson examines the first-generation AC75 designs.