{"id":26811,"date":"2016-11-17T13:33:13","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T13:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/?p=26811"},"modified":"2016-11-17T13:33:36","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T13:33:36","slug":"jimmy-spithill-and-crew-pushed-to-brink-during-mission-to-fly-on-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/2016\/11\/jimmy-spithill-and-crew-pushed-to-brink-during-mission-to-fly-on-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Spithill and Crew Pushed to Brink During Mission to Fly on Water"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What started in ideal foiling conditions out of New York on Saturday, Nov. 5 turned treacherous for some of the world\u2019s best sailors, who had to fight vicious winds and unexpected conditions over 66 hours and three nights during a 662-mile (1,065km) open ocean flight over water.<\/p>\n<iframe  id=\"_ytid_41683\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6-DXEzfPaxU?enablejsapi=1&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&rel=1&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe>\n<p>\u201cWe went from pushing the boat for performance\u2026into survival mode,\u201d said Australia\u2019s Jimmy Spithill, the ORACLE Team USA skipper who is a two-time America\u2019s Cup champion. \u00a0\u201cI wanted to push myself mentally and physically further than I\u2019ve ever gone before because the America\u2019s Cup next year will be tougher and harder-fought and more unpredictable than anything I have ever experienced. \u00a0It was exactly what I needed, to really test myself under extreme conditions. It\u2019s only then, when the stress and fatigue levels climb so high and you need to make the right calls as a skipper, that you push yourself and your development. Ultimately, this will help me be a better sailor next year when the America\u2019s Cup is on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Led by Spithill, the Team Falcon crew included Shannon Falcone of Antigua; Rome Kirby of Newport, Rhode Island, USA; Tommy Loughborough of Singapore; Cy Thompson of the Virgin Islands; and Bermuda\u2019s own Emily Nagel, a member of Team Bermuda in the Red Bull Youth America\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n<p>On the 46-foot <em>F4<\/em>, Team Falcon faced a complex stretch of ocean that turned treacherous, affected by the Gulf Stream and always-changing Atlantic currents. The adverse weather, and unpredictability of navigation and communication in the open ocean, added to the challenge of managing the boat\u2019s finite energy supply.<\/p>\n<p>The result of an eight-month engineering collaboration, Team Falcon sailed on the first-ever 46-foot hydro-foiling catamaran that was specifically produced for the open ocean. The boat reaches extremely high speeds and lifts off the surface of the water, literally hovering a few feet over swells on innovative foils.<\/p>\n<iframe  id=\"_ytid_59542\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iwDW7dmbWdg?enablejsapi=1&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&rel=1&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe>\n<p>The mission had been postponed several times by a hurricane, gale force winds and other nasty conditions. When the weather window opened, the crew left from New York \u2013 which in 1870 became the first U.S. city to host the America\u2019s Cup \u2013 for Bermuda, where the 35th America\u2019s Cup will be held in the summer of 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Born from the vision of Falcone, an open ocean adventurer and former teammate of Spithill and Rome Kirby on ORACLE Team USA, the mission set out to prove that sustained foiling in the open ocean on a multi-hull is here for the avid sailor and adventure seeker \u2013 powered by wind, innovation and efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>On departure, light winds quickly filled into a nearly ideal westerly flow of 15\u201318 knots (17-20mph). \u201cFoiling out of Manhattan all the way to the Gulf Stream was awesome,\u201d said Spithill. \u201cIt really proved this is the way forward in terms of performance and development. If the weather had stayed as forecast, we would have had a very fast trip to Bermuda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team reached the Gulf Stream Saturday evening, but the headaches came Sunday morning when a new low pressure system formed rapidly. As the team departed the Gulf Stream, they reported 25-knot winds (29mph) and 2-meter waves (6.5ft), both well over projection. The F4 eventually reported winds between 35 and 40 knots, with 6\u20138m (20\u201325ft) waves. Safety remained the top priority, so minimal sails were deployed and progress was exceptionally slow. As had been the case for 24 hours, there was nowhere to go but toward Bermuda. When the team arrived early morning on Tuesday, Nov. 8, conditions remained fierce.<\/p>\n<p>Spithill\u00a0said, \u201cThese were the biggest waves I\u2019ve faced in a multi-hull and hopefully don\u2019t ever have to experience again. \u00a0Given how big the sea state was building and predicted to build, it was very concerning. Being responsible for the crew and boat, I knew we were going to be in for a long 48 hours. At night we didn\u2019t have a moon, so it was very difficult trying to get through this. Some of the waves were breaking, which made it very challenging and extremely dangerous, and we had a few close calls at night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/flyingonwater.redbull.com\/flyingonwater\/p\/1\" target=\"_blank\">RedBull.com\/FlyingOnWater<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What started in ideal foiling conditions out of New York on Saturday, Nov. 5 turned treacherous for some of the world\u2019s best sailors, who had to fight vicious winds and unexpected conditions over 66 hours and three nights during a 662-mile (1,065km) open ocean flight over water. \u201cWe went from pushing the boat for performance\u2026into survival mode,\u201d said Australia\u2019s Jimmy Spithill, the ORACLE Team USA skipper who is a two-time America\u2019s Cup champion. \u00a0\u201cI wanted to push myself mentally and physically further than I\u2019ve ever gone before because the America\u2019s Cup next year will be tougher and harder-fought and more unpredictable than anything I have ever experienced. \u00a0It was exactly what I needed, to really test myself under extreme conditions. It\u2019s only then, when the stress and fatigue levels climb so high and you need to make the right calls as a skipper, that you push yourself and your development. Ultimately, this will help me be a better sailor next year when the America\u2019s Cup is on the line.\u201d Led by Spithill, the Team Falcon crew included Shannon Falcone of Antigua; Rome Kirby of Newport, Rhode Island, USA; Tommy Loughborough of Singapore; Cy Thompson of the Virgin Islands; and Bermuda\u2019s &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1442,1445,1443,1444],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26811"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26833,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26811\/revisions\/26833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}