Each boat requires a slightly different approach. The Maxi72 conforms to the IRC rule and the TP52 is a box rule with set para- meters and so the gains that we make, while potentially similar, require a different perspective. Onboard Quantum Racingthis year we have a couple of changes taking place. Primarily Doug Devos and Bora Gulari will be taking over from Ed Baird as helmsmen. The team had success in 2016 with Doug driving, winning two of the three regattas that he helmed. Bora comes to the team from a different background. He is a two- time Moth world champion and represented the US at the Rio Olympics in the Nacra class where he finished a respectable eighth. The Super Series fleet is also a super-tight fleet, and we know that by all accounts these changes will take time and patience to work through, yet racing with new people and new energy prompts reinventing ourselves with ideas. This can only lead to gain. Metres or even millimetres measure gain in the TP52 – winning the first cross with the fleet is critical and so we have to focus on that. Our internal assessment at the end of 2016 was that we needed to improve in three areas: starting time and distance, upwind boat speed and systems reliability.
‘replacement’ boards in case of damage to an AC Class board. I wish I could write all that more succinctly for you, but my head is still spinning from puzzling through the Protocol. Oracle, SoftBank Team Japan and Artemis Racing have been sailing together in Bermuda for months, getting to know the local conditions well. Side-by-side speed tests and practice races have allowed them to measure their progress. Land Rover BAR joined them in December. All these teams will have a test boat to sail against their raceboat.
Groupama Team France and Emirates Team New Zealand will
move to Bermuda in 2017 and will be at a distinct disadvantage: the Protocol does not allow teams to sail or test their AC Class yachts with each other. With the smallest budgets both the French and Kiwis have said they will convert their existing test boats to AC Class compliance (by swapping out the hulls). With only one boat, and the prohibition on co-ordinating testing with a competitor, they will get a more limited reading on their relative performance. Interestingly, if the AC commercial commissioner had announced testing periods last May, as called for by the Protocol, the French and the Kiwis would not be at such a disadvantage. Conspiracy theorists might see something sinister here, but this was probably an oversight.
And what is to become of those AC45s? They will be carefully measured and then raced in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. After that they are likely to be used again for the World Series leading to the 2019 America’s Cup. The AC45 is dead, long live the AC45.
DOING THE (PREP) WORK – Terry Hutchinson
At this writing it is a windy, rainy morning at Cracker Boy Marina in Palm Beach, Florida. We have just wrapped up a week’s training session on Bella Mente and currently we are waiting for the sea state to lay down so we can take the Quantum RacingTP52 off the dock. This time of year is all about setting the foundation for 2017. In both the Maxi72s and TP52s the fleets are racing at very high levels. This is our time to develop the ideas and teamwork to be successful. Coming out of the seasons we’ve had, for both Bella Mente and Quantum Racing the only thing that we know 100 per cent is that we will have to work harder if we expect the same results.
Starting time and distance are based around compass quality. The better the input that Ian Moore (aka Soapy) receives from the starting software the better our accuracy on the starting line. A lower-quality compass affects this dramatically. As a majority of the fleet have already done, we have made an instrument system change to match what is already on Bella Mente. Having Soapy navigate for both teams, the identical systems will allow for a higher comfort level between boats. The net effect we are after is one second behind the line but a confident one second. Upwind boat speed is paramount to success. If we nail the start but cannot match the competition with speed we won’t win – it is that simple. In 2016 Quantum Racingled the way in this department. Yet the fleet had compressed by the end to where Azzurrawon the final event. Our challenge is to assess our weaknesses honestly and, while the last event was only one regatta, we could definitely identify chinks in our armour. The gains here are in flying shapes in jibs and mainsails, sail structure and windage. Our sail designer Brett Jones, along with sail trimmers James
Dagg and Warwick Fleury, lead the continual improvement of the sail programme. In windage world Quantumwent from EC6 ‘bundle’ rigging to Razr carbon rod. Rán Racingand Provezzahave already used this rigging and, while it is fragile, they have had success with reliability. The smaller-diameter rigging should give Quantum Racing an upwind improvement.
When it comes to systems reliability, at this time of year the boat has been completely taken apart and serviced. Under the watchful eye of boat captain Brendan Darrer Quantum Racinggets a full makeover. While reasonably simple on the outside, the boats have complex systems inside. Losing points to reliability is not an option and yet the boat does not get reliable in a day. It is ongoing so, as with any complex machine, maintenance and servicing are key. Bella Menteimprovements come in a different form. The Maxi72 Class is IRC-based so, unlike the TP52 where we have our own set of class rules, the Maxi72 fits under a rating cap. In 2016 the cap was 1.611 and the 2017 cap is determined by the year-end rating change of the highest-rated boat at the 2016 world championship. May sound complicated but it is quite logical and reasonably fair for the fleet.
2017 presents new challenges for Bella Mente. There is a new Botín 72 (overleaf) that will be in the capable hands of Vasco Vascotto and a majority of the Azzurra team, Momowho finished third at the world championship but is currently putting in a lot of effort over in Palma Bay, and Proteuswho was the runner-up to Bella Menteat last year’s world championship. Unlike the 52, in the 72 class, because of the rating consider- ations and factors, even the known changes are not always known! The IRC is quite clever in keeping the rule somewhat of a black box. It prevents us from working to exploit loopholes and yet, when we look at areas to gain against the competition, we apply a lot of the same logic. Unfortunately the pages of this magazine are not the place to disclose all of our Bella Mente secrets. On the TP52 the changes will be obvious but here we need to
SEAHORSE 9
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