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Radical hull: years of testing
AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Team New Zealand spent two years designing the radical hull appendage it revealed this week, principal designer Clay Oliver says. The design was rigorously tested and refined by the team, before being examined and certified by the America's Cup measurers. Oliver says the idea of the hull appendage, which "makes the boat seem longer to the water," came when trying to figure out a way to create a lower transom. "I picked up the rule and started studying it hard, reading it over and over. It says that 20 percent of the volume of the boat can be appendages, and that's where the idea came from," Oliver said. The design team stress that the appendage, code named hula, is not a clip-on, a false bottom or a second skin. "It took us a few months before we decided to build a model of the hula. It took a few more test sessions before we developed the final shape we liked. "At the same time we were working on the structure so that it was a rigid piece and it was never touching the hull," Oliver said. The hula, however, does have drawbacks. Water flows through the gap between the hull and the appendage, creating extra drag and the whole rigid assembly adds extra weight. Most observers believe that it will give the defender the best advantage in stronger winds, but might make the boats vulnerable in light airs. One America's Cup skipper who will be looking on ruefully at the contribution that Oliver has made to the Team New Zealand campaign will be "Mr America's Cup," Dennis Conner. Oliver, 51, who was born in Rhode Island, U.S., had his first America's Cup experience with Conner on two successful Stars & Stripes campaigns in 1987 and 1988, before moving on to work with Sir Michael Fay's unsuccessful New Zealand challenge in 1992. He worked on another unsuccessful Kiwi campaign in 1995 with Chris Dickson's Tag Heuer Challenge before joining up with Team New Zealand for the successful defence in 2000. He studied naval architecture at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where most effort is concentrated on warships. After five years at sea on a U.S. frigate he went back to the academy to teach leadership skills before leaving to start up his own design practice.
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