News Around the World
Pretty hard on François Gabart’s Macif which finished the Fastnet just 58 seconds behind but that’s the way it goes as the world and his wife escort race winner and new outright record holder Gitana 17 into Plymouth. Co-skippers Franck (Volvo winner) Cammas and Charles (Volvo winner) Caudrelier did a magnificent job, especially after grounding on their way out of the Solent. For the Gitana team this was a desperately needed exorcism of several poor years with the Gitana Imoca 60 retiring from the last Vendée Globe early on and their glorious Guillaume Verdier Ultim tri – the first full foiler – crashing out of the Route du Rhum with a catastrophic float failure
FRANCE Only the best While the first new-generation Imocas Charal and Arkea Paprec were battling it out in the Fastnet (Charal of course winning and AK forced to retire due to electrical problems), mid-summer saw other new 60-footers designed to win the Vendée Globe leave the shipyard. We are speaking about the two new Verdier designs, one built by Persico for Thomas Ruyant and the other, Apivia, at CDK for Charlie Dalin. Plus a few days later the new Hugo Boss, a VPLP design built by Carrington Boats. We were lucky enough to visit CDK a few days before the launch of Apivia and speak to Charlie… The differences between the two Verdier designs? ‘Guillaume’s
design for Thomas was basically a potential future Volvo boat that met the Imoca class rules, and with a complete set of plans. We bought these plans with the aim of developing the design for our own tastes. Which is unique because usually when you build a boat the plans come rather “sparingly”. You start building before you know everything about the boat.’ The skipper, 35-year-old Charlie Dalin, has been a top gun of the
Figaro circuit for several years. He also has a Masters in ship science from Southampton University. He speaks the same language as Verdier and the boatbuilders. ‘We worked hard for 16 months on this project,’ he recounts, ‘particularly on the design of the deck. We have built Version N after starting out with Version A! ‘Nothing is left to chance on this boat. Everything has a function.’
The small cockpit is very deep but well protected by a large, solid canopy. Inside the cockpit there are four Harken Air winches all aligned on a central pod driven by a single fore-and-aft grinder. The transmission shafts are all kept very short to save weight.
‘Everything is really close to hand under the shelter of the canopy. I steer inside but have kept a mini aft cockpit so I can steer with my head outside. It will only be used a little, mostly in light air and shifty conditions – the real limiting factor in Imoca is always human capacity and we try to avoid anything that causes unnecessary fatigue. But sometimes if you cannot see the sails and clouds you can make expensive mistakes.’ Charlie has a big canopy but the top is still lower than the top of Apivia’s lifelines! The boat sports a negative-curved deck, for three reasons. First, the area of the bulkheads is reduced (and there are many of them).
18 SEAHORSE
Second, the curve adds ‘free’ stiffness to the deck. Third, it lowers the CoG. I ask Charlie: what changed with the latest Imoca rule? ‘On this
point the rule did not change, we simply optimised. But the big change is that now you can only have four ballast tanks in all: either you prefer the X-configuration (one centre ballast in the front and one aft, plus two side tanks) or two tanks on each side one behind the other. It’s less obvious than it was eight years ago.’ The size of the foils is unlimited in Imoca. ‘We note that the trend
is wide-ranging…’ (he laughs). ‘What has changed about this since the last VG is that you can now modify the rake over a 5° range. This alters the impact of the tip and increases the range of use of the foil. You can rake the foil upwind and straighten it for reaching. It’s much better than in 2016… On a Figaro 3 the rake of the foil can be modified slightly more, but on an Imoca you add the inter- action of the canting keel.’ Not forgetting that on an Imoca the keel (but not the bulb) and the mast are one-design. The foil determines the longitudinal trim of the boat – more
precisely the longitudinal position of the foil is a real unknown because ideally it would have a different position depending on the speed. Reaching, you would like it more aft and running more advanced. ‘We had to find a compromise to make it work. The longi - tudinal position of the foil is the most difficult question to solve at the moment. And it has to be decided early as it’s one of the most influential variables elsewhere. The foil creates more RM, so more drive force but it greatly affects the boat’s trim. Not simple… ‘We are already thinking about a new pair of foils for the VG
because it is the key factor that requires maximum input based on our early experiences. The gains from one hull to another are measured in tenths of a knot, the differences between one foil and another are measured in (several) knots.’ When it comes to speed, Charlie says, ‘It’s not hard to go fast
with an Imoca, the hard part is to slow it down. The big gains are found downwind VMG sailing in big seas but you have to find the right compromise. Our foil is even bigger than those on Sam Davies’ Initiatives-Coeur [Sam’s new foils are also designed by Verdier] for maximum power. But the foil of Apivia is from the same family. ‘Then there are the Dali foils of the last VG, or the family of the 2016 Hugo Boss [the largest foils and tailored for sailing downwind],
CARLO BORLENGHI
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 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
