{"id":61448,"date":"2013-09-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-alumnus-helps-design-winning-americas-cup-sailboat\/"},"modified":"2013-09-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T00:00:00","slug":"uri-alumnus-helps-design-winning-americas-cup-sailboat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/09\/uri-alumnus-helps-design-winning-americas-cup-sailboat\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus helps design winning America\u2019s Cup sailboat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKingston, R.I. \u2013 September 30, 2013 \u2013 In dramatic fashion, Oracle Team USA completed one of the greatest comebacks ever to clinch the 2013 America\u2019s Cup. The final race lasted just 23 minutes and USA won by a mere 39 seconds, but for 溏心vlog免费B站 Andrew Gaynor, the competition spanned more than two years.<\/p>\n


\nGaynor, who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering in 1998, helped design the team\u2019s cutting-edge AC72 catamaran that delivered new speed and excitement to the world\u2019s greatest sailboat regatta. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cThrough the whole design process you\u2019re feeling the competition because you see what other teams are doing,\u201d Gaynor says. \u201cYou\u2019re in this constant competition to design a better boat and that\u2019s where the energy comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nGaynor spent the run-up to the race focused on designing the boat\u2019s wing-sail that catches the wind and propels the boat to speeds of upwards of 40 knots, or 46 mph. Team USA chose to make the sail out of lightweight composite materials, and Gaynor went to work modeling designs, conducting finite element analysis and drawing production blueprints. By the end, the wing-sail was perhaps the most prominent part of the boat estimated to cost more than $100 million.<\/p>\n


\nThe eminence of the race, the sky-high budget and the potentially dangerous speeds kept the design team on edge until the USA boat crossed the finish line on Sept. 25, 2013 just a nose ahead of the New Zealand team.<\/p>\n


\nTo keep the boat together and ensure the safety of its sailors, Gaynor and his colleagues checked and double-checked the design of every component. And even with a seemingly unlimited budget, Gaynor faced challenges that required creative workarounds.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cFor the America\u2019s Cup your limitation is usually time,\u201d he says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how big the budget is; you can\u2019t buy time.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAlthough time may not have been on Gaynor\u2019s side, he had the experience to handle last-minute design changes. The life-long sailor served on the design teams for the 2010 America\u2019s Cup winning BMW Oracle USA team and the semi-finalist 2007 Italian team. He also designed masts for competitors in the 2008 and 2011 around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race. <\/p>\n


\nGaynor says being part of a winning team is surreal, especially because he never intended to find a career in sailboat design.<\/p>\n


\nGrowing up in Connecticut and later southern Rhode Island, Gaynor always enjoyed the ocean. His parents took him sailing on their wooden cruising sailboat and he forged lifelong friendships at the local sailing center. He remembers watching the 1983 America\u2019s Cup on television and his heart sinking when the Australians took the cup from American hands for the first time in 132 years. <\/p>\n


\nAfter high school, Gaynor headed to the College of Charleston in South Carolina, with no plans to major in engineering. In fact, engineering was not even a major. But by the end of his sophomore year, Gaynor realized his love of building and disassembling things could be a career path. He transferred to the 溏心vlog免费B站, convinced by a friend in the engineering program and a member of the school\u2019s nationally ranked sailing team. <\/p>\n


\nGaynor settled right in. He joined a competition to design, construct and race a solar-powered boat. The boat, which took second in the national competition, still hangs in the college\u2019s machine shop.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cAndrew threw his life and soul into the project,\u201d recalls mechanical engineering Professor David Taggart, who served as the team\u2019s advisor. <\/p>\n


\nAt the same time, Gaynor also participated in the Olympic trials for a spot on the United States sailing team. He didn\u2019t qualify and after graduation the dream of becoming a professional sailor faded. He went on to find engineering jobs at Hall Spars & Rigging in Bristol, R.I. designing masts and later at TPI Composites in Warren, R.I., where he worked on crafting the next-generation wind turbine blades and military armaments. <\/p>\n


\nWhen a friend called in 2005 and asked for help designing masts for the America\u2019s Cup, Gaynor left his job to gamble on a new career.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt didn\u2019t make much sense but this was a dream I had,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n


\nEight years later, that dream has become a reality and Gaynor has found a niche in consulting on the design and analysis of innovative composite structures. In 2008, he launched JAG Composites in Barrington, R.I. And he\u2019s hoping that Team USA calls him back into service for the next America\u2019s Cup so he can design an even faster, better boat.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThat\u2019s the fun part of engineering: having the opportunity to design something, build it and then go back and learn from that and apply it to the next job,\u201d Gaynor says. <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kingston, R.I. \u2013 September 30, 2013 \u2013 In dramatic fashion, Oracle Team USA completed one of the greatest comebacks ever to clinch the 2013 America\u2019s Cup. The final race lasted just 23 minutes and USA won by a mere 39 seconds, but for 溏心vlog免费B站 Andrew Gaynor, the competition spanned more than two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61448\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}