5 Elements...

While technogeeks definitely eat up everything the America’s Cup has to offer, the truly technology-obsessed will always obsess far more over the real cutting edge of sailing. That’s the class that first gave us wings and wave-piercers and so much other tech we see today – the C Class.

Weymouth continues to provide plenty of entertainment and information, things like terminology, and a look at how skilled some of the C-Class sailors are. Here’s a little from ‘blunted’ on how Team Canada name bits and pieces of their wing:
“…we have a lot of new lines on the boat and their names change each week, I am just happy we can agree on what to call the different parts of the wing, even if it offends your delicate ears or those of Mr Smith. And to be clear, I believe sailors were working with airfoils a long time before those airmen types were.

“E.g “Foil Pranger” , “Slat retract,left side” Slat deploy a droit”, “rudder up force line” (This is a big cause of confusion when you say “put rudder on” as the I-14 guys on the team think that means apply rudder down force, while the more foiling inclined think “put rudder on” means apply rudder up force) we end up sorting out the different interpretations while swimming about picking up bits of broken wing after a failed bear away….

“Slat trip line, 5th element mouse grinder engagement line, plunger retract a gauche, plunger deflection line, slot adjustment, slat adjustment, curve foil keeper, straight foil arrestor. Yes we have been channeling Lindsay Cunningham a lot lately.

“It never ends really. Eventually it’s just “Hey Fredo can you un-cleat the black line before you come over here please?”