Clockwise from top: the classic Dali foil on German skipper Boris Herrmann’s Malizia, a VPLP/Verdier design built in 2015; the more horizontal orientation and long ‘flat’ foils on Hugo Boss 6 were quite different from the more dual-purpose Dali foils on her 2016 rivals like Malizia; with a chine carried all the way forward the bow of Juan K’s Arkea looks dramatic but is an evolution of the scow bow introduced in the Mini 6.50 by David Raison but constrained by Imoca class rules; the contrasting foil orientations on Arkea and Apivia… Arkea’s foils extend such that the shaft becomes horizontal as the tip becomes more vertical while on Apivia it is the tip that provides more lift when extended as it becomes horizontal, with the shaft providing sideforce as it in turn becomes upright; the new Hugo Boss extends the low windage theme of its predecessor and with a better endplate possible between the boom and coachroof. However, HB7’s deck design is all about getting rid of the tons of water that flow over these boats – there is no cockpit to fill up and in fact nowhere for the skipper to do much outside at all except when things go wrong. Will the British skipper even take oilskins?
Arkea-Paprec has a downward-facing
radial path (centre of rotation above the water). Here as the board extends the shaft of the board becomes more horizontal and the tip becomes more vertical and con- tributes more to the sideforce. The proof of this pudding will be in the
eating, and making judgements on the thought process behind these choices would be offering a massive hostage to fortune. One thing is for sure: everyone has a bit on to improve on the Hugo Boss 6, which worked beautifully for a single- handed sailor. To achieve these extravagant geometries
the boards and bearings have got heavier, and that’s no easy choice when elsewhere every gramme of weight is being pared away. Stand by for the Transat Jacques Vabres at the end of October to point us towards who has chosen the right recipe. While not in the same league as the
artisans the videographers have been kept busy. The social media beast has an insa- tiable appetite, but the workload of those engaged with the America’s Cup and Imoca programmes has been increased by the challenge of gathering and then editing the sailing footage. For every 10 seconds of
48 SEAHORSE
apparently serene progress there must be several minutes of less well-controlled flight and no doubt more than a few crashes. In due course there will be a bumper edition of You’ve Been Framed. It’s clear that larger, crewed, fully foiling
yachts are neither for the faint hearted, nor the amateur sailor. At the SailGP Series in 25kt of wind the gaps between the teams in terms of boat speed and uninterrupted flight have been enormous. In a breezy day’s racing at Cowes the F50 fleet saw a capsize and several crashes off the foils that will have left the shore teams with days of work to do ahead of the next regatta. However, the SailGP operation has
raised the game of flight control towards that achieved with devastating results by Emirates Team New Zealand in the last America’s Cup. On the SailGP F50s the wing and board movements use electro- hydraulic power rather than grinders to keep the hydraulic fluid flowing. But these boats are still a complete handful. The racing is great and production and graphics slick, but it must cost tens of thousands of dollars for every minute of racing. In contrast, on the same day the main Cowes Week fleet completed three-hour
races without incident and were probably in the pub by mid-afternoon… while the boatbuilders back in Southampton were only just beginning to unravel the full extent of the carnage among their spectac - ular but fragile F50 foiling cats. Full marks to Team USA for getting back into the contest after a capsize, but the saltwater that filled their boat’s port hull will be infil- trating the electronics for a while to come. I love the foiling, but it can never become
mainstream in boats that one or two people can’t carry down to the water. The systems needed for safe flight are complex, the maintenance burden massive and the robustness needed by amateurs can never be achieved without the boats becoming so heavy that the performance is diminished. Finally, the poor old sailors are under-
employed. For the America’s Cup and Imoca crews the last year has meant time in the gym and on the simulator. And even when the boats have been finally commis- sioned time on the water will be in the gift of the technicians and the structural engineers. Fingers crossed that we get some great foiling racing in the next two years to give payback for the past months of arduous and unseen preparation.
q
MARK LLOYD/ATR
NICOLAS PEHE/DPPI
THIERRY MARTINEZ
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
