Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Technology is driving the ancient art of sailing-fast sailing. In the Pacific waters near San Diego, where the America's Cup sailing trials begin next month, the force of the wind is being calculated every 7.5 seconds on the sails of a prototype racing yacht. With the help of his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, William Koch hopes to win the America's Cup next May the same way he has dominated maxi-boat racing-through technology. "MIT taught me the scientific method," said Koch recently. "Sailing has been pretty `seat of the pants' in the past, but in order to win now, technology is really important. What we lack in experience we can more than make up for in technology. Some syndicates are managed by yacht designers whose criteria might be that the `boat looks fast.' A boat could have a sleek look and not be that fast. We're taking a purely objective look." When Koch applied the same MIT technology he hopes will win him the America's Cup to his maxi-boat racing efforts, he found that a basic rule of thumb-that lighter is better in maxi racing-was in fact contrary to making the fastest boat. His Matador2, which has run away with the World Championship the last two years, is 20 percent heavier than any other maxi boat. In fact, it was the intense attention from all the other America's Cup syndicates in his smashing successes that convinced him to make a try for the Cup himself. He asked MIT ocean engineering faculty member Jerome Milgram, a well- known yacht designer, to head the design team for his syndicate, America3 (Cubed). He also enlisted faculty members, graduate students, alumni and staff to do research on the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics of sail, keel and rudder. Professor Milgram, a developer of computational procedures for predicting sailing performance, heads a design team of 10 people, whose research, sponsored by America Cubed, includes writing software to determine the efficiency of sail force distributions on the boat and velocity prediction programs. "All of our hull shape research and hydrodynamic research has been done at MIT," said Koch. "The hull form that's coming out will be an MIT hull." Perhaps the true shining star of MIT's contribution is the "sailing dynamometer," a test boat developed to measure sail force. "It is cutting-edge technology," said Professor Milgram, "because no one has ever been able to measure sail forces in situ accurately before." Although all the syndicates, domestic and foreign alike, do tow tank testing, sail testing, computer modeling and programs to predict hull speed, only A3 has a method of measuring real world sail force. "We're the only people in the world who can do that," Koch said. "We can change the sail shape and then measure what effect that has on boat speed. We can measure pretty exotic and far-out sails." The sailing dynamometer, originally developed by Professor Milgram for Koch's maxi boat racing effort, consists of a frame set within the hull of the test boat. (The test boat is 42 percent of the size of Koch's actual boats, the Defiant and the Jayhawk.) All rigging is attached to this frame, and has six load cells, or transducers, attaching the frame to the hull. The transducers measure net aerodynamic forces and moments acting on the sail in different conditions and relay the information into onboard computers eight times a minute. When the information is plotted on a graph, projections can be made for sail performance for the bigger boats. MIT and Koch's technological expertise is further enhanced by use of Digital's supercomputer, a Vax 9000, housed at MIT. The computer time is being provided to Professor Milgram's MIT research project by Digital, one of A3's primary corporate sponsors. The A3 America's Cup campaign budget is $40 million, $25 million of which comes from Koch and private foundations, and $15 million from corporate sponsors and private donations. The IACC (International America's Cup Committee) has come up with an entirely new rule, or formula, governing the design of America's Cup racing yachts. Gone are the days of the aluminum-hulled 12-meter yachts. Newly arrived is aerospace technology, in the form of the lightweight but strong carbon-fiber hulls and kevlar sails. The single most stunning difference from the "twelves" is the mast height and sail area. The new masts are 110 feet tall (12-meter masts were 86 feet) and the sail area of the main/jib has increased from 2,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet. The spinnaker sail area is now 4,500 square feet compared to 2,500 square feet for a twelve. Five tons lighter and highly maneuverable, at 75 feet the new hull design is 10 feet longer than the 12-meter yachts. The waterline length is 57 feet, rather than 45; the beam is 18 feet, rather than 12; the draft is 13 feet, rather than nine, and the displacement is 45,000 lbs., rather than 56,000 lbs. The IACC boats are being designed for the light air in which they will race in San Diego, where Bill Koch's America3 will square off against arch rival "Team Dennis Conner" in January, when trial races begin to determine who will defend the America's Cup. The races to determine who will challenge for the America's Cup are called the Louis Vuitton Races. There are nine foreign syndicates vying for that role. Koch, a relative newcomer to sailing, says he became "infatuated" with the sport in 1984, when he bought a sailboat to cruise on. "I drove my wife and friends crazy, setting up destinations and then sailing there as fast as possible." He switched to racing. "But when I talked to a bunch of yacht designers about what makes a boat go fast, I got some really strange answers. No scientific answers." He knew there was a better way from his experience at MIT, where he received his bachelor's (1962), master's (1966) and doctorate (1971). "When I was at MIT, I took a course taught by my advisor, Ray Baddour (now professor emeritus of chemical engineering) that opened up a whole new way of looking at things for me. The course was Qualitative Chemistry but what it really taught me was how to think in fundamental terms. We had to write essays on things like, `why can you ice skate?' or, `why do you get legs (visible streams) in a glass of wine?' What is the fundamental principle? We had to explain things qualitatively. This taught me a very fundamental point of view. Suddenly other courses became easier after that." (Koch was awarded the Hunneman Prize for outstanding originality in chemical engineering as an undergraduate.) "The other person at MIT who had a big influence on me was my basketball coach, Jack Barry. He was brought in when the team was a losing one. He reorganized the team around everyone's weaknesses, and was very big on teamwork. When I was at MIT there was a real emphasis on individual academic performance. There were very few group efforts then; they didn't emphasize teamwork. The basketball team emphasized teamwork. I'm trying to show how you can bridge that gap." One of the reasons the Japanese have done so well, Koch thinks, is that they understand teamwork. "We want to show that American technology is extremely competitive," Koch says. The Koch team includes several Olympic medalists in sailing and some of the world's best sailors. And it's an unusual team of sailors. It has one woman, Dawn Riley; a former NFL tight end, Larry Mialik, and a black model, Art Price, among others. Professor Milgram believes the A3 team is very competitive. "We have the technological edge over Team Dennis Conner. We have at this point better knowledge about sail aerodynamics and appendage aerodynamics," he said in a recent interview. Ocean engineering graduate student Donald Peters works with Dr. Milgram to figure out how to take measurements from the sailing dynamometer. He does sail force descriptions for use in the computational codes which are used in conjunction with the velocity prediction program. "I get an immense kick out of the whole thing," Don chuckled. "When I came to Jerry looking for an assistantship, I never expected to be whisked into the hottest naval architecture project around." Out in San Diego, A3 staff members Eric Steadman, an aerospace engineer and sailmaker, and Bruce Sutphen, a veteran sailor, sail Amphetrete, the sailing dynamometer, daily. Along with all their onboard computer and gear, they have a cellular phone to contact their compatriots at MIT and solve problems on the spot. "The reason we're in the boat, not a wind tunnel, is the other elements we need to factor in, such as the variation of wind speed with height and the unsteady motions due to sea waves," Steadman said. "It used to be," said Steadman, "that sailing was more of an art. Sportsmen, athletes, seat-of-the-pants sailors would compete. Now they need to mesh with highly trained engineers and scientists. It's really about getting both groups to have respect for what the other has to offer. "This is a unique engineering environment where doing a job as well as you can is the goal," said Noah Eckhouse, a research specialist in the Department of Ocean Engineering, who writes software to predict velocity. "It is a pure engineering challenge."