NB: Yup. It’s such a performance gain using the outriggers… but the harder you push, the closer to the edge you get. The outrigger height is adjusted manually and we set clear parameters; go past these para- meters and the outrigger will break. The breakages we have seen are either from them being used beyond the parameters and dynamic loads we don’t know about – or teams simply pushing too hard, we will never really know which it is. SH: Plenty of learning there… NB: Sure. And some of these guys may never have sailed with outriggers before. SH: Rigs? NB: Teams are bending rigs a lot more than predicted – some teams more than others – which could mean issues. Nothing is inde- structible and the teams still need to manage their own risk. With a rig failure like Dongfeng I am sure that we will go back through the data and see what caused it. But within the parameters the rigs are designed for they are incredibly strong. SH: What about Itajaí? NB: Scheduled service is taking place, with anything reported from leg 5 factored in (Dongfeng is a special case). We have a good system; crews send a job list from the boat, shore managers put that job list into a smart-sheet, which generates reports to the suppliers so everyone can prepare prior to the boats arriving. It’s important the teams use the process, otherwise boats turn up and we don’t know what we are dealing with. SH: How are they managing such tight sail inventories?
NB: Very well. With no sails added in Auckland we are seeing new sails coming onboard in Brazil. There are four replace- ment sails and at this stage we think this strategy has worked well; we are confident teams will make it round without major sail issues. Of course there have been little rips, but there has generally been a good reason why that has happened. SH: Are some boats managing their sail inventories better than others? NB: Yes. Abu Dhabi look after their sails very well indeed. It is clear they don’t drag sails or sail bags across the non-skid deck at all… some teams do and it is readily appar- ent. Don’t forget they have only 11 sails to get around the world so they have to look after them. This is driven by the wealth of knowledge on Azzam – particularly with sail guru Phil Harmer. SH: A couple of halyards went on leg 4? NB: A couple of jib locks went. Basically the spigot on the end of the halyard goes up
into the lock which sits on a fork, and the way the boats are being sailed is loading that spigot in a different orientation to what was thought. There may have been too much movement, point-loading that spigot, so Southern Spars re-engineered the lock, inserting a Nitronic 50 sleeve, so the spigot could not move and you now rely on the soft strop for the orientation of the halyard. SH: What have you learnt from Vestas? NB: Everyone saw the images of the boat on the reef – the structure taking that pun- ishment is a huge credit to all the designers, engineers and builders. Any other boat would have been ground to a pulp. Vestas is basically now my second project… SH: Has it raised any suggestions on modifications or placement of safety gear? NB: Definitely on placement of safety gear. An example is we moved all the safety gear away from the stern. Yes, they went on a reef and took out the back of the boat, but if you broke a rudder and the stern flooded you would have trouble accessing your safety gear, so we moved it all amidships. SH: Generally… NB: We’re not there yet, Blue. We all dread a crew overboard situation – but the crews are in better shape with these boats. They are a lot safer with the big coachroof, they are safer on deck with a good bit of rocker. I don’t think anyone has really nosedived yet, certainly compared with a Volvo 70. I think crews are in the best shape they have ever been, apart from 1974 when you went round in a Swan 65 with a roast dinner at night and a nice bottle of red wine.
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