News Around the World
Stuart Jardine (inset) with an early GRP Flying Dutchman in the 1960s, when at the start of Great Britain’s ascendancy in the class Jardine won four consecutive national titles before switching to the Star class which he raced at two Olympic Games. After a period in the IOR Ton Cup classes, Jardine switched to the J/24s in which he would invade Brittany each Easter for the Spi Ouest regatta, often returning home with his weight in oysters piled into his boat… a traditional Breton prize. Finally came the years of dominating the fiercely contested XODs (above) where many feel Jardine’s record of eight Captain’s Cup triumphs is unlikely ever to be bettered. A fine yachtsman, but Stuart Jardine’s real legacy is the literally thousands of youngsters he mentored and supported along the way
was not easy to begin with!). Maybe at the end I would have taken a little more risk if I was still behind the old record, or there was an opponent if I had been in a race. I never really took my foot off the throttle… but while maintaining a reasonable approach to risk. SH: What is the major difficulty managing such a machine alone? FG: These are large boats (32m long, 24m wide) that require great effort during manoeuvres and sail changes. We manage four large headsails: the J0 (gennaker), the J1 (the jib), the staysail and the heavy-weather jib. Another danger is the real risk of capsizing, even if it has never happened before with an Ultim. Every moment you must be ready to ease the sheets. The most critical moments are when the wind suddenly rises from 10 to 25kt under a squall, as happens in the Doldrums; an increase of just 15kt, but on an Ultim this means you must reduce sail very fast. You are sailing quietly under full main and gennaker when a squall hits, suddenly you must react quickly and not make any mistakes or you will capsize. SH: The TJV showed little difference between most of the Ultims… FG: It’s strange, because in the TJV we were better than Banque Populaire sailing upwind and a little slower running, especially in 20-25kt with a messy sea. While during the Course des 24 Heures (a few month earlier) Banque Populairewas better than us upwind… It proves we have made progress (laughs)!! Another 1 or 2kt of speed, when you are talking speeds over
30kt, means there is always a lot to be gained by constantly retrimming the settings according to the sea and wind conditions. There is always scope to learn more about setting sails and appendages. It’s exciting! Our problem (SVRwent back in the shed after the TJV to repair and reinforce the forward beam) is we have little time to sail and progress before 7 January. We had to come up with more ideas to improve so now we are always in the simulator. Overall, we do not worry with Tom about the skill level, just the optimisation of the boat. The competition will be intense. SH: What about your previous boat, Actual (ex-Macif)? FG: Macif remains very efficient VMG sailing, anything before we reach a maximum RM. Beyond that SVR Lazartigue is definitely better. The old Macif is also a lighter boat: which makes her more manageable when there are weather transitions to manage. SH: Are breakages still a major concern on such ultra-fast boats?
28 SEAHORSE
FG: Breakages and also wear. Losing the use of a foil can cost you up to 40 per cent of the potential of the boat. You can also break pieces of foils, control systems, damage a foil… We’ve noticed at the end of our long races that the foils’ surfaces have started to deteriorate. Even small imperfections can slow the boat by five to six per cent. The causes of wear are various: from hitting micro- objects to the vibrations caused by cavitation. The design of the foils is always a compromise – taking into
account these problems of cavitation. The phenomenon is due to our high speeds and does not concern only foils. To take off with SVR we need more than 20kt of boat speed. In the TJV we were flying 80-90 per cent of the race. We’ve never flown so much and it is likely this RWR will be very much sailed in flying mode. SH: So some new speed records!! FG: I think the outright 24-hour record of 908nm (37.84kt average) held since 2009 by the giant trimaran (40m) Banque Populaire V, then skippered by Pascal Bidégorry, can be beaten. I imagine my own solo 24-hour record will quickly be beaten because the new boats are faster, able to reach 40kt and to hold that speed for long periods, even singlehanded. In our team the dream is to achieve 40kt for 24 hours (960nm in 24 hours), or with a crew one day reach the 1,000nm wall! 27kt was my average speed in 2017 all the way around the planet alone on Macif. Seven years later in the Arkéa Race an average of 30kt is perfectly achievable. SH: What do you think of the Ghost Mode allowed during the race and especially the possibility of making a technical stopover (contrary to the Vendée Globe regulations that prohibit it)? FG: I don’t think about it very much because AIS is mandatory onboard and is picked up by the satellites. So we can know at any time the position of an opponent via the internet! The reason to allow the technical stopover is there are only six boats at the start and boats are required at the finish… Let’s not forget this race is a colossal technical and human challenge. In addition, the obligation to remain stopped for at least 24 hours should deter the wealthiest teams from establishing a pitstop strategy. That said, the least costly stopover if one is needed could be Brazil, which we approach quite closely on both the descent and ascent of the Atlantic. Patrice Carpentier
ALAMY & JARDINE FAMILY ARCHIVES
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