News Around the World
An old shipmate of the editor from the days of Patrick Morvan and Jet Services, Marc Guillemot (left) signed off his long Imoca 60 association with sponsor Safran after the Rhum. Meanwhile, Imoca winner François Gabart (right) confirmed that his Macif has now been sold on to make way for a new 100ft trimaran…
Meanwhile, the team itself has been continuing its design work and the sailing squad has been honing its skills in events around the world. Recently, a core group held a six-day training camp in foiling Moths up in the seclusion of the Bay of Islands. The connection between these little singlehanders – just about small and light enough to pass as hand luggage – and the scale of America’s Cup catamarans might seem tenuous, but there is much to be gained from the mini-rockets.
The sailing group gathered for intensive Moth sailing under the critical gaze of Australian designer and coach Andrew McDougall, described by Ray Davies as the ‘godfather of the Moth class’. There were broadly three goals to the exercise. In the immedi- ate sense, the group was training for the Moth worlds in Mel- bourne in January, so focusing on speed and technique and polishing racing skills were important. In the broader sense, the group was relating the foiling aspects and sailing angles to America’s Cup foiling catamarans. And, in the even wider sense, they were using the opportunity of a training camp atmosphere to gel as a sailing group and lay the foundations for the next Cup campaign. ‘It was great to be with the guys in a relaxed environment and talking about all sorts of stuff from sailing these things to the way the next Cup is taking shape,’ said Dean Barker. ‘It was a very good team-building exercise. To be out here smoking around in these little boats is really cool.’
The format comprised lots of drills, doing tight figure-of-eight circuits with plenty of close-quarters tacking and gybing, plus racing and speed testing followed by off-the-water reviews. ‘We were lapping up as much information as possible,’ said Ray Davies. ‘Peter Burling has already won a Moth world title, so he was also able to give us a lot of help and advice with boathandling and technique. There was lots of brainstorming…
‘And over the week we saw huge improvements. Everybody was very excited. In terms of the America’s Cup, it is very relevant. Being foiling boats, Moths sail through the water and wind at similar speeds and angles to the AC45s. Your decision making has to be very similar. You have to be aware of how gusts travel across the water when you are doing 30kt or more. Moths and A-Class cats both provide huge learning opportunities for America’s Cup teams. They both keep you focusing on speed.’ Wing trimmer and multiple A-Class world champion Glenn Ashby explains: ‘The whole foiling side of things – the balance, the helm loading, the foil loading – is definitely applicable with the big cats. That’s why a lot of the teams are encouraging this type of sailing.
‘This is quite important going into the future. The understand- ing of how things work, so you relate well to the designers and the technical and theoretical aspects. These are key issues for the campaign. The amalgamation of the sailing and design teams is one of the most important factors of being successful.’ With Bermuda promising less wind than San Francisco, the design
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challenge will be to produce hulls that actually perform well in displacement mode and to come up with solutions that will have the boats up on foils further down the wind range than before. Andrew McDougall’s work in Moth design could be particularly relevant, as his new-generation foils have focused on earlier lift- off in light air. ‘His designs are now taking off in 5-6kt of breeze, whereas before it was more like 7-8kt,’ says Davies. Immediately following the Bay of Islands exercise Davies and Barker headed to Melbourne, where they stayed with Glenn Ashby and trained together on the venue for the Moth worlds. ‘That is going to be very interesting,’ says Davies. ‘There are about 150 entries, including five from ETNZ, five from Oracle and five from Artemis. There is a good atmosphere at these events. It is more open and sharing than at the America’s Cup, with everybody next to each other in the dinghy park. But inevitably it will be a bit like a mini Cup with all the guys there…’ Ivor Wilkins
SPAIN A toast to Alex Pella
The Barcelona skipper has written a golden page in the annals of Spanish oceanic sailing by winning the Route du Rhum in the Class40. The first ever victory of a Spanish sailor in a major shorthanded event was also achieved with no sponsor and with the skipper footing the bulk of the bills for the race. Of course, credit must be shared between a very special team. Tales 2 is the Class40 owned by Gonzalo Botín, designed by his
brother Marcelino. Completing the team are Ximo López’s boatyard Longitud Cero, Antonio Piris as project manager, Juan Meseguer managing the sail programme, and Luis Guervós taking care of the electronics. A dream team and a friendly and passionate story that allowed Pella to make ocean racing history. Seahorse: When did you think that the race was won? Alex Pella: Once I could extend my gap beyond 80 miles I began to believe that it could be possible. But it was not just the gap but my self-confidence that was very high. I felt great and I was absolutely confident in the boat’s performance. But all the time I was also remembering that to win I had to finish the race. SH: But for sure you suffered some down moments? AP: The low points arrived much too soon. Right at the start I suffered a problem with the rudder ‘fuse’ (that allows the blade to lift following an impact) and I fell to the back of the whole monohull contingent. I suffered some nerve-wracking minutes but fixed the problem and then I relaxed and concentrated on being able to sail really fast until Ile d’Ouessant. Then – and still during the first night – both the Solent jib and the wind instru- ments failed. It was a horrible feeling after two intense years’ prepar- ing for this race. I managed to partially fix the electrics and also had enough spare material to repair the Solent… after a long and frustrating wait while I dried the damaged area. SH: How did you rationalise those early setbacks? AP: Going down the Portuguese coast I said to myself that the race was long enough to still play out well, as others would also make mistakes. However, my creed became very clear… ‘There would be no more errors on Tales.’ So no more mistakes, be confident in both the boat speed and myself and patiently await my opportunities. SH: And those were indeed the last big problems… AP: This boat is fantastic. After the TJV we decided to modify the keel position, moving it aft to optimise for downwind conditions rather than upwind and reaching. The bow sits higher downwind now and the boat sails faster and is also steadier when you press hard. It was the correct change to make. We also improved the autopilot software. The only shame was I could not afford any new sails for this race. So far the Rhum has cost me per- sonally some €40,000 and, for sure, that is not peanuts for me! SH: What about those final few hours… AP: Probably the most stressful time in my life! Forty-eight hours
OLIVIER BLANCHET/DPPI
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