Sunday 17 March 2013

America's Cup update, Glenn Ashby of ETNZ on his job of wing trimmer

From the following Sail-World article:

http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Americas-Cup:-Confessions-of-a-Wingman/107542

Glenn Ashby describes his job as wing trimmer on Emirates Team NZ's AC72 as a bit like driving a truck.

The multiple A-Cat world champion, Olympic Silver medalist, and former Tornado cat world champion, is talking a really big truck with a 32-speed gearbox as it traveling up and down a series of hills and turns.
The driver, he says, must always think ahead, two or three moves ahead. And that’s what he does on board the AC72.

Glenn’s changing gears (adjusting the wing trim) almost constantly. Either driving a truck and trimming the wingsheet, or with the hydraulics, so there’s never a time when he’s not thinking, looking for the breeze ahead and changes in wind patterns – thinking about the next gear change to achieve best performance.

The wing is set up differently for different modes – upwind a low fast mode or high, slower mode for instance. Racing downwind, the wing set up has a huge influence on the boat’s performance and must be used accurately with the front sails, making for dozens of small adjustments throughout the leg.

read more here

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