First semester
Project manager James Dadd reports on the first use of the VO65… and on class plans for the future
It is now over three years since Knut (Frostad, Volvo Race CEO) announced the bold move to strict one-design racing for the Volvo Ocean Race, and three months since the first such race concluded. As the project manager of the VO65 fleet it
40 SEAHORSE
was a challenge that I relished, and from which I have learnt a great deal. As always with a project of this type and size there are things that you would do differently with hindsight. But now is not the time to look at that, now is the time to look at whether the move worked and what the next steps should be.
Over the course of this race I believe that the vision has been demonstrated as an overwhelming success, but have the boats themselves lived up to that and what can we do to make them even better for the 2017-2018 edition?
The first, and most important element, is that this is not just a one-design class,
but a manufacturer-controlled class, and that manufacturer is independent of the competitors and appointed by the Volvo Ocean Race. It is also hoped that there will be more boats on the line in 2017, so more have to be built.
Buying a new boat must not be seen as a prerequisite to getting on the podium next race. So any updates we consider have to be applicable to the existing seven as well as any new boats in exactly the same way. For this reason we are considering building all of the new boats the same as the originals, and then having a fleet-wide upgrade closer to the start of the next race. So what would those upgrades be? That
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