Maverick flashes her DSS credentials beating out of the Solent at the start of the 2017 Fastnet. That particular offshore adventure would not prove a high spot in the Welbourn design’s otherwise illustrious racing career. The first serious offshore DSS design has scored impressive results on classic courses including the Middle Sea and Transatlantic races and now the Transpac. Next stop Hobart 2019
Our boat speed could be as much as
2-3kt different but with the same numbers on the wind instruments… throwing out all of your so carefully refined polars. The Maverick has stages of speed jump
from hull speed to planing to foil assisted to full foiling (not flying) and these jumps are significant, a couple of knots at a time. Putting this into perspective, with just a few knots of wind change we could be cruising at 12kt or 18kt which makes quite a difference to our mental health! If we could run our race again then
undoubtedly we would have run bigger spinnakers and even a longer bowsprit to lower the number when you get onto the step and foil. With high-speed foiling, or just foil-assisted yachts, having large downwind sails is generally not the smart thing to do in an all-round offshore envi- ronment. Smaller, flatter sails tend to have more value than cramming on area… unless VMG running in 12-18kt of wind, in which case it could be a good thing. It’s a gamble because if the wind is a few
knots higher then smaller VMG sails are very likely to be faster, as once you are on the foil the ability to drive around a range of wind angles to keep the boat flying is very desirable. However, you still need to get there and if the wind is not quite enough then you would do anything for more sail area… then once you have it you don’t need it any more! Something of a paradox and something that keeps heads scratched within the sail development group at Doyle Sails, who do an excellent job of looking after our special little boat. It would generally also be interesting to
look at an optimisation programme and see what more could have been done. We were
44 SEAHORSE
no doubt somewhat relaxed/overconfident/ perplexed (pick your preferred option) after winning the SoCal 300 outright a few weeks earlier, at one point being in front of the excellently sailed Reichel/Pugh 66 Alive, a yacht that thrived in the Transpac itself finishing runner-up in Class 1. Tactically – especially in such a tactical
ocean race – life becomes interesting with the extra speed options one has relative to more traditional designs. But the basics still apply: pressure is always good, get too close to the high and it’s all over before it begins. The race breaks down into legs where
initially you sail in light air from the start to the synoptic breeze from the north. The next phase is the slot car leg where you go JT, FRO, A3 and then you get into the VMG section which takes you to the finish. Of course it is a bit more complicated than that! We probably got over-excited by the
reaching section and spent too long sailing with the A3 where we would have been better bow down with an A2 but pressed on the DSS foil. Offshore we really need a cableless A3 similar to the one we have on Wild Joe now she has the DSS fitted. Average speeds are easier to maintain and the trimmers get an easier ride. This is where we could have done better but hind- sight is a wonderful thing and the sailing was fast and fun and we were getting warmer every day. As newbies we did our homework and did not disgrace ourselves. This longer course reminded many of us
that ocean racing has nuances, experiences and emotions that you simply don’t get on a coastal or harbour races. The ‘digital detox’ is an additional bonus in a world where it’s ever harder to get away and for that alone it’s worth doing. The full moon,
the lack of light pollution, sailing down- wind in shorts at over 20kt hour after hour with good mates; it’s tough to beat that. Having done my first Atlantic crossing
in 1989, which now seems a long time ago, I was looking forward to turning off my phone more than ever before. Certainly there is a clarity of purpose which you have when sailing with a small team across an ocean, but there is more to it than that. You communicate. It’s an extraordinary
thing, you actually do not wait for some- one to stop looking at their latest social media faux pas or ‘essential and life- changing email’ which has to be dealt with immediately. People look up and outwards rather than downwards and inwards. Going sailing for an afternoon does not do this, people carry phones in waterproof cases to tweet their mark rounding. In the words of legendary BBC radio commenta- tor John Humphrys… get a life. You look people in the eye, listen to
what they have to say, talk race tactics, talk speed gains, talk shit. You connect with your team, people you might have known for years or not at all before the start, but you make a bond, something shared, some- thing unique, particularly in this world. I have never been so struck by this. After a few years in the Mediterranean
where Maverick twice had first in class in the Middle Sea Race, first in class in the RORC Transatlantic and a shocker in the Fastnet, she then went to race Newport to Bermuda (where she was put into a class of two) followed by Transpac. Now the road trip continues as this remarkable and remarkably well-travelled little yacht makes her way to Sydney for the Sydney to Hobart… and many more adventures. q
WATERLINE MEDIA
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