Construction of this bulkhead is not a trivial affair, as it contains a huge amount of additional reinforcement, so retaining this could save weeks, not just days. How- ever, unfortunately in the process of this dismantling it was not possible to separate the main keel assembly (known as the ram tray) from the bulkhead without further damage. It was decided at this point that had this bulkhead been presented during the original build with this much alteration to the original specification it would have been rejected. As such the same decision was made here and a new piece was built. At this stage I am normally asked why I care – surely we will let the boat back in and simply turn a blind eye, or change the class rules to suit. But if that was the case then why write the class rules in the first place? The reality is (and fundamental to this project from the moment Vestas cleared the reef) the only way this boat will be at the dock in Lisbon is if she is a fully compliant Volvo Ocean 65. If not I will not sign the certificate and she will not rejoin the race. And I have the complete backing of (CEO) Knut Frostad and (COO) Tom Touber in this matter. There is absolutely no point in having a nearly OD boat on the racecourse; that will destroy the fleet and the event quicker than losing a boat. So ultimately we end up with a combina- tion of old and new, rebuilt in the same way as the original boat. It is also the sim- plest approach. The whole VO65 project has revolved around the need for consis- tency from day one. Many people ask me about measurements and tolerances. But the approach is that this is not a measure- ment-driven class. I said from the start that I wanted to get to the stage where none of the build team would need a tape measure. The components are built in tooling that means they have to come out the same shape, and jigs are used so that they will only fit in one place when assembled. This is all great, but it means assembly is driven by a strict process. For example, the soft padeyes that retain the safety equip- ment are fitted using a jig that fits on a lon- gitudinal between the hull and a bulkhead. The longitudinal goes in with a jig between the hull and a bulkhead. The bulkhead is fitted using a jig between the hull and a mould plant, and the hull is laminated against this plant that is bolted into the hull mould. Each step has a fixed sequence. All the Persico team has to do is speed that up and not make any mistakes. Simple… At this stage the list of new components is a lot longer than the list of old. But with- out those old components we would never have been in the position we are – ahead of our best-case scenario with the guys about to crack open the hull mould seven days ahead of the schedule on our cramped office wall. Originally the deck went on with the hull in a jig to replicate the hull mould. As we don’t need the hull tool to build another hull immediately, and the assembly jig is in Hythe, that is one step in the process that has evolved.
32 SEAHORSE
Top left: a new keel tray goes into the replacement Vestas hull shell at Persico; it can be clearly seen (top right) where the old and new deck come together; cutting away (left) starts of the destroyed hull from the salvageable deck; finished keel head (right). Opposite page: the sad wreckage of a grand prix offshore yacht arrives back in Europe
The next milestone will be the official weigh. That is a long way off. We need to complete the internal fit-out and juggle this with getting the branding completed and getting the boat to Lisbon during a busy period… (Coxy has just told us that most roads in Europe are shut to wide loads because of religious celebrations). But there is no way Coxy will be thwarted by some- thing as trivial as religion.
Joking aside, this official weigh will be the most important stage of this process, and if the weights are too high then there is no solution. I will have to turn to all the guys at Persico and tell them that although they have done an amazing job, the task was, in fact, impossible, as many have said. I have absolutely no doubt, though, that no one could have done a better job than these guys. The passion and drive to achieve the goal of getting Team Vestas Wind back in the race have been way beyond what anyone could have asked for. I just hope the numbers are good. But if they are not I will not make excuses or find solutions. If the numbers are too high, you will all know… as we will not have the whole fleet back together in Portugal.
Nothing is indestructible
Blue Robinson talks to Volvo boatyard manager Nick Bice… Seahorse Magazine: What scheduled big stuff did you plan for Auckland? Nick Bice: Throughout the race we have three levels of service: the full service, the partial and a minor service. The full service was in Alicante pre-race, to get all the boats to ground zero. That took place again in Auckland, with the fleet having done roughly half the miles of this race and to prepare for the Southern Ocean. A full ser- vice means pulling every single component apart and putting it back together – sails, keel systems, winch systems, electronics.
SH: Involving how many people? NB: I have 17 in my core team; but in Auckland we had over 60 people, with extra engineers from suppliers like North, Southern, Cariboni and Harken. SH: Issues emerging… NB: Nothing we didn’t expect, which means our planning was OK. The boats are in a lot better condition now than at the start, as we regularly service them and every month they come out of the water, whereas pre-race some of the teams only lifted their boat a couple of times. Plus we have a regular part replacement schedule and follow it rigorously. All the teams knew before the start which parts were going to be changed, and paid for this as part of the entry fee. So if a winch pull is still looking good but it is part of the service schedule it will get replaced. This is taking the one-design concept and applying it to the servicing of the boats. What this means is regardless of budget your boat is in the same condition as the next team’s. SH: What do teams say about the boats? NB: They are extremely strong; possibly this is a double-edged sword as no one has found the limit yet – but that will come, and then we will see some genuine breakages. There are also the usual smaller gremlins which we have mostly ironed out. SH: Padeye and outrigger issues… NB: The most publicised early breakage was Dongfeng’s padeye. Whether that was extra loading by the crew or the padeye having been compromised previously, we don’t know. We saw there was a problem and addressed it by engineering new parts in collaboration with Spinlock and applied them to the fleet. Part of the process was we changed every padeye on every boat for leg 2, as we couldn’t build the new ones in time; then in Abu Dhabi we replaced them with the re-engineered padeyes. SH: Outriggers – is that operator error?
BRIAN CARLIN/VESTAS PERSICO
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