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Our gal on the spot, Laurie Fullerton, took some shots (along with reader Alan Moore) and filed this report on the Dropping O' The Skirts. The title of this article is not hers! -Ed The Viaduct basin in Auckland had three unveiling ceremonies today with Alinghi, Oracle and Team New Zealand dropping their skirts on their IACC yachts. While the word for Alinghi and Oracle might best be "refinements," TNZ gave the fans something more like "a revolution." Wearing colourful hula shirts and red socks, the design team of TNZ, with Tom Schnackenberg, Mike Drummond and Clay Oliver at the forefront watched proudly as NZL-81 and NZL-82 rose from the water to the tunes of Loyal, a Kiwi national anthem of sorts. The crowd had its first glimpse of the two Hula Hulls, an appendage to the existing hulls of NZL-81 and NZL-82 that are meant to "put out some tough racing, with a low transom and elegant profile we have put together a beautiful, fast boat," said principal designer for Team New Zealand and Annapolis, MD native Clay Oliver. "It is long, elegant, fast. The appendage is integrated and a seamless part of the hull." The "Hula Hull" , is a name officially christened today in Auckland. The Hula must remain seamless if it is to meet the America's Cup class rules that state any contact between an appendage and the hull outside the hollows permitted area violates Rule 16.
"It was our obligation to prove to the measurers that it doesn't touch the hull and we have proved that," said Team New Zealand syndicate head Tom Schackenberg. "In developing the Hula, we are a bit ahead of the curve. We tried to keep it secret as long as we could but if a team had the resources they could build it." It remains to be seen if a query submitted to the International Jury yesterday by a syndicate regarding Close Hull Appendages will be ruled on before the Louis Vuitton Cup finals which begin on Jan. 11. The question of whether the Hula Hull violates America's Cup class rules will likely be debated all the way to February 15. In the interim, the Hula Hull was the sensation on the Viaduct today, and is being called one of the most innovative designs in the America's Cup Class in recent memory.
"It's taken us a long time to do this and we've done our homework," Oliver said.
While both Oracle and Alinghi unveiled their boats, using USA-76 and SUI-64 respectively their unveiling ceremonies seemed to pale by comparison to Team New Zealand's remarkable Hula Hull. While GBR syndicate head Peter Harrison was overheard saying at the Oracle camp, " I don't see anything unusual under the boat," chief designer for Oracle Bruce Farr may have foreshadowed the pending protests when he said, "USA-76 is narrower than Alinghi and TNZ, and we are squarely aiming to minimize the drag. Early in the program we looked at radical ideas but decided not to go that route. We do not have a false hull. We looked at the idea but there were concerns over it. You have to prove to the world that it's legal."
At the Alinghi camp, where the morning's first unveiling ceremony took place, their SUI-64 showed some refinements but like Oracle, "nothing unusual under the boat." However, the team's morale looked so much higher before they saw the Hula Hull. In a very dramatic moment, when Team New Zealand hauled its two boats out of the water to the tune of Loyal, a sort of national anthem in New Zealand, the Alinghi camp watched from the edges of their compound, seeming to lean into the TNZ camp as they heard the song and saw the design. For all the controversy that may come later, it was a truly Kiwi moment showing that perhaps Schnackenberg truly is the wizard and has outdone them all.
Both Oracle and Alinghi must stick with the boats they unveiled today throughout the Finals, but the winner who goes on to the America's Cup may unveil an altered boat. "We tested the idea for over a year and we think it is going to make our boats fast enough so we decided to unveil it twice," said principal designer for TNZ Mike Drummond. " "We've had a great morning and there was a great deal of pride in unveiling our boats today," Schnackenberg said. "It is amazing to see the result of all that energy and how it comes out. I think we have produced a boat that is the essence of our best ideas," Oliver said. - Laurie Fullerton 01/06/2003 |
