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Displaying items by tag: Andy Claughton

#AmericasCup - Emirates Team New Zealand suffered a high-speed pitch-pole just moments after the start of their America’s Cup play-off semi-final with Land Rover BAR on Tuesday (6 June), as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

But how did such a disastrous mistake happen? Land Rover BAR’s chief technology officer Andy Claughton shares his thoughts with Yachting World’s Elaine Bunting, suggesting a split-second error in assigning the NZ team’s daggerboard controls to the ‘cyclors’ that power its hydraulic systems, rather than the helmsman.

While that strategy has given the team an edge over their competitors in terms of fine control of ride height in lighter conditions, Claughton says the tradeoff was plain to see in their capsize in winds just below the 24 knots average limit.

Commenting more broadly on all sailors' performances in Bermuda over the week, Claughton also questions the “high-stakes dice rolling” format of concentrated short-course racing, which presents “a danger that you don’t give enough time for the cream to rise to the top.”

Hear more of Claughton’s comments HERE.

Published in America's Cup

Shipyards

Afloat will be focusing on news and developments of shipyards with newbuilds taking shape on either slipways and building halls.

The common practice of shipbuilding using modular construction, requires several yards make specific block sections that are towed to a single designated yard and joined together to complete the ship before been launched or floated out.

In addition, outfitting quays is where internal work on electrical and passenger facilities is installed (or upgraded if the ship is already in service). This work may involve newbuilds towed to another specialist yard, before the newbuild is completed as a new ship or of the same class, designed from the shipyard 'in-house' or from a naval architect consultancy. Shipyards also carry out repair and maintenance, overhaul, refit, survey, and conversion, for example, the addition or removal of cabins within a superstructure. All this requires ships to enter graving /dry-docks or floating drydocks, to enable access to the entire vessel out of the water.

Asides from shipbuilding, marine engineering projects such as offshore installations take place and others have diversified in the construction of offshore renewable projects, from wind-turbines and related tower structures. When ships are decommissioned and need to be disposed of, some yards have recycling facilities to segregate materials, though other vessels are run ashore, i.e. 'beached' and broken up there on site. The scrapped metal can be sold and made into other items.