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HRH The Princess Royal launched Wight Lightning (and apologies for those who have spotted us referring to her as White Lightning or Wight Lightening).

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Last week saw the launch of GBR Challenge's 'Wight Lightening and Ted Rogers had these thoughts on her likely performance
Unfortunately, at most it will be several hundredths of a knot faster or slower than every other ACC boat. That is, it'll do 14 knots downwind in a hurricane. If you can keep it from folding it in half or losing the rig. Long, narrow, and heavy? Would anyone ever seriously use the words "short", "wide", or "light" in referring to these boats? Somehow the design challenge inherent in a skiff, or a multihull, or an Open class boat seems far more interesting and rewarding than spending 50 million dollars in pursuit of a couple hundredths of a knot.

Yes, the prospect of spending 'x' zillion dollars on R&D and then missing a shift in a crucial race, seem quite ludicrous too.

After reading the results from the Congressional cup one reader felt:
These results again indicate that GBR Challenge May's match race training in the Farr 52s is critical - should we not get Ed Baird employed by the challenge as the match racing coach to help whoever is going to steer the new boat ? We could also wheel out the old guns (Smith, Law etc) to raise our game.

A very good point. GBR Challenge have been ruthless in their policy of keeping the 'old guns' out, but to bring them in in this role I think could be very beneficial to the team's match race skills while also having the potential to generate publicity.

Duncan F. Wood writes on the subject of Canards in the Americas cup
Canards have been around on aircraft since the beginning of manned flight. Likewise, many naval architects have experimented with them over the years, with some success on commercial vessels. Race cars of various designs use variations of canards with great success, so it is a natural for AC boats to give it a try. My feeling is that, much like the more successful aircraft applications it will require the precise control of a computer to take full advantage of them. Any leading control surface, car. aircraft, boat, spaceship or otherwise requires such precise control that a human is not capable of reacting fast enough to take full advantage of the technology. For sure, we will see much experimentation with canards, but success will be limited until computers can be used to monitor and control them.

See page two for your feedback on the Jules Verne Trophy and the maxi cats...
See page three for your thoughts on Around Alone...

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