Contents February 2017 FEATURES
28 Not so chilled in Barcelona A good result for offshore sailing emerges from an unnecessarily messy process. ROB WEILAND
32 Risk management Volvo Ocean Race-winning navigator SIMON FISHER discusses the strategy implications of the routeing changes being made for the next race with BLUE ROBINSON
Complex
It is rare that one man or woman changes a sport; the odds are miniscule when looked at in the context of how many people are engaged in sport as a whole. Few sports have undergone wholesale change at the instigation, wittingly or unwittingly, of a single athlete. So the way in which Paul Elvstrøm influenced the sport of sailing is genuinely remarkable. The phrase ‘raising the bar’, like ‘hero’, is much debased today through over-use, but a few do raise the bar; Elvstrøm is not the only sailor in recent history who did that, but he was the first… and then he just kept doing it. That was what made the impact so immense, he did not ‘just’ take dinghy sailing to a higher level, and win four gold medals, he raced in many different classes and broadly he dominated them all – sometimes from a cold start. The only area where from the outside he appeared to struggle was with large, complex organisations such as during the occasional flirtation with the America’s Cup. Possibly he applied himself so rigorously that compromise, or lack of focus, in others was hard to understand; he would not have been the first sportsman in that situation. But while Elvstrøm made it all look easy (‘horribly easy’, says a contemporary), we know now that it was not always easy. Like other highly successful sailors, and other sportsmen, Elvstrøm was clearly not always as at ease on the inside as he appeared. Only later in his career did he admit to the nerves that often afflicted him at regattas. Some will claim that such feelings of sometimes acute discomfort can heighten the senses and improve performance; but most would rather not have them, thanks very much. But it does make the mark that Paul Elvstrøm leaves on sailing that bit more extraordinary still
COVER: Jonathan Eastland/Ajax
34 Active ride MARK WISS and BILL FAUDE talk AC50 powertrain, foil and wing management with JAMES BOYD
44 Twenty five years of
progress? – Part 2 ANDREW MACFARLAN of Red Bull concludes that while one-designs play a valuable role it is the development classes that keep sailing interesting
48 La petite Anglaise PATRICE CARPENTIER was perhaps uniquely ‘positioned’ to revisit the special story of ELLEN MACARTHUR and a remarkable Vendée Globe
51 Function not fashion BRETT BAKEWELL-WHITE did not create his ‘new’ 98-footer to shock, rather as a pragmatic solution to complex problems. IVOR WILKINS
REGULARS
4 Commodore’s letter MICHAEL BOYD
7 Editorial ANDREW HURST 8 Update
Summer 1948 and something of significance is happening down in Devon. Something of significance is also about to hit the Maxi72 fleet; give the ‘small’ guys a chance, says RODNEY PATTISSON, those foils are indeed priceless, JACK GRIFFIN reminds us and TERRY HUTCHINSON has been getting out his spanners and those rusty cans of WD40
14 World news
Those crazy Frenchies, COVILLE on a (serious) roll, Agincourt revisited, the AC50 ‘sailing challenge’, (quite likely) the most important new high-performance small boat since the 49er… Plus keeping the rain out in Key West (at long last). IVORWILKINS, BLUE ROBINSON, PATRICE CARPENTIER, ANDREW MCDOUGALL, DOBBS DAVIS, DEAN BARKER
24 Rod Davis
– Damn the torpedoes We have set a new course for the America’s Cup – for now at least we must stay with it…
26 World Sailing – Positive outlook
Incoming president of sailing’s world governing body KIM ANDERSEN is clearly up for the job!
30 ORC column Big mountain, small molehill, but Mr Chairman STAN HONEY stayed on top of it all (somehow)
38 TechStreet Faster reaching, ship to shore, there are (good) alternatives to carbon fibre and the Melges 40 makes its dramatic entrance onto the world stage
54 Design – Time for a truce? GINO MORRELLI is one of a number of leading multihull designers concerned that things are getting more than a little out of hand
56 Seahorse regatta calendar
58 Seahorsebuild table – Rockin’ (all) around the world The Fast40+ class now has a new fanbase… a long way from ‘home’. BRETT BAKEWELL-WHITE
63 RORC news EDDIE WARDEN-OWEN
87 Sailor of the Month Two gentlemen of influence… and ability
The foils we know, also the scow and the telescoping keel fin, to retain maximum draft at all cant angles. But once more it’s the Mini 6.50s that have pulled together the technologies, got them working in unison… then shown that this remarkable class is again ahead of the curve with yet another area of innovation that is now bubbling away: the reefable wing sail
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88