It’s not all bow up and flying along with Arkema 3 – this is still a very powered-up 22ft boat that as its sailplan grows in efficiency and power is relying more and more on foils to make use of all the grunt. Still at an early stage in development, the soft wing is already working well and a quick glance is enough to see that there is a lot of performance still to be unleashed once the aerodynamics are cleaned up. It is important to bear in mind here that VPLP and Chantier Beneteau are two of the growing number of companies now investing significant time and money into bringing a reliable soft wing rig to market
6.50m beam ‘in the widest configuration’, not to mention that with the weight of the appendages and the structural changes she would probably fail the class stability test. ‘We could easily meet the rule if we
have to,’ says Raison, ‘but it’s not our aim: the goal is not to race, but to get as much information as possible about true flight. ‘But ultimately our whole team knows
that we will need to find a way to control all of the appendages electronically if it is ever to work as we want…’
And… Other teams are also working. Or think- ing. Simon Koster removed the L-shaped foils of his Mini 888, but kept the moving foils on the rudders as they did a nice job of reducing pitching. He is now looking for the budget to instal a ‘classic’ DSS, ie a single horizontal blade, 3m wide (the maximum allowed by the rule). Designed by Hugh Welbourn, the new
appendage will be fitted to the boat in collaboration with Mer Forte. ‘The foil will be guided by rollers when moving in and out,’ explains Olivier Mousselon, ‘with a single-command in/out. Simple removable wedges will then allow us to test different angles of incidence.
34 SEAHORSE
‘But let us not forget that moveable
bearing planes on the rudders also allow us to play with the trim of the hull itself.’ One of this team’s other challenges is
finding a way to allow such a long foil to extend as far as possible while keeping a sufficient portion internally to support it! The architect-racer-builder Etienne
Bertrand, creator of several Minis including the Ofcet Mini-series, has been recruited by German skipper Jörg Riechers. The creation of Riechers’ Mini 934 was entrusted to Magic Yachts in Tunisia – who now also build the hulls for Wally Yachts. Launched without foils, due to deadline
constraints, 934 has since gained appendages designed by Martin Fischer – GC32 designer and lead designer at the Groupama AC team. ‘We too journey in pursuit of flight,’ explains Etienne Bertrand. Fischer expects Mini 934 to soon be lifting at just 6kt of boatspeed, and fly consistently across a flat sea from 12kt upwards. ‘Although for now we are still using the
Imoca approach,’ adds Etienne, ‘since we know that it will rarely be possible to fly steadily at sea. So we are seeking drag reduction through partially lifting the boat, controlling the incidence of the foils
and the bearing planes on the rudders.’ Strictly speaking, it’s really more like ‘skimming’ (a famous game played on a small board on the beach in just a few centimetres of water).
Finally (for now) The American Jay Thompson, who helped Conrad Colman prepare for the Vendée Globe, recently found the damaged hull and deck of a 2009 Verdier-designed Mini down in Brazil. He brought it back to Etel, near Lorient, and is now giving it some new foils also designed by Guillaume Verdier. ‘One reason why I bought this boat is that, with a hull that was already “open to the air”, it was much easier to carry out necessary structural changes!’ Verdier has not given us any details
about the new appendages as the concept is not yet complete. ‘But it’s not very hard to fly a boat, the hardest thing is to achieve stable flight,’ he said. ‘On the Mini 6.50 a mechanical servo
system with a wand is not allowed; in fact, the Moths are only allowed to use these systems by special exemption from World Sailing, since in yacht racing any form of automatic piloting in three axes (as in aviation) remains forbidden.
FRED AUGENDRE
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