the same boat, Ben Ainslie replied that they had changed the rig, sails, rudder, horizontal stabiliser, foil wings and control systems. Bruno followed up by saying the boat looked different. Ainslie
chuckled and said, ‘Yes, we were ahead of another boat. Haven’t seen that before.’ The Ineos designers had clearly found improve- ments and Ainslie said they produced 10 per cent more speed in mid-range conditions – a huge jump. Their shore crew had burnt a lot of midnight oil over the holidays. The following day Ineos looked equally strong in light air. American Magic’s shore crew faced a far more daunting challenge
after the team’s capsize in a 30kt gust while trying to execute a tricky tack and bearaway at the windward gate. The boat jumped clear of the water before crashing down on its side. The impact punched a hole in the hull between two transverse frames and the longitudinal frames. Thankfully no one was injured but when they righted the yacht the foredeck was awash and it was clear the boat was taking on a lot of water. Race committee boats, Auckland fire squad and coastguard
vessels and chase boats from the defender and other challengers all rushed to make sure the crew were safe and then to keep the boat from going to Davy Jones’s locker. They wrapped a jib around the hull and an inflatable slide around that, to plug the hole. Sixteen pumps worked to empty the hull enough to stabilise the boat for a 10-mile stern-first tow back to the team’s base. The entire hull was immediately ultrasound inspected to identify
delaminations. The electronics were destroyed; all new wiring was needed. The Foil Cant System (FCS) was destroyed and will be replaced by the FCS from Boat 1. Fortunately the hydraulics lines appeared to be undamaged; no hydraulic fluid escaped into the Hauraki Gulf or the harbour. All the other teams offered moral support and physical assistance. It remains to be seen if Patriot will make the starting line on 29 January. Fingers crossed! When the AC75 was announced the animation optimistically
showed that a capsized yacht would be self-righting. For the previous two editions of the Cup the racing rules disqualified a capsized yacht, so there would be no hesitation in having tenders immediately start rescue operations. Even though the AC75 was touted as self- righting it would have been sensible but inconsistent to disqualify a capsized yacht. American Magic had to inform the race committee that they were retiring before their race was awarded to Luna Rossa. Let’s hope there are no more capsizes, but if there are you can safely bet that the yacht will not self-right and carry on racing. The AC75s are awesome racing machines. They sail upwind at
over 30kt and downwind in the high 40s. The apparent wind angle is about 15° both upwind and down. The design teams appear to have given each syndicate a competitive yacht. The sailors man oeuvre and joust with each other with equal parts skillfulness and fearlessness. We are in for some very exciting racing!
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VENDEE GLOBE – WHAT A RACE! – Patrice Carpentier At the time of writing these lines the boats leading the fleet were only a few days away from the finish line at Les Sables d’Olonne. Apivia, skippered by Charlie Dalin, was first in the standings judged on distance to the line, but 250nm to the northwest Louis Burton on Bureau Vallée had decided to take a longer course north in an effort to be the first to benefit from strong westerlies generated by the passage of a new front. Charlie Dalin is an excellent racer and has occupied first place
in the race several times but he has to manage his latest-generation Verdier design whose port foil is partly disabled. This may be a reason for his choice to follow a route closer to the wind, slower but a shorter distance to the finish, with the added possibility of later tacking onto port so he can rely on his starboard foil which is still in good shape. By the time you read these lines you will already have the answer to whether his choice was successful! Louis Burton showed both great talent and determination through-
out the race, where he had his share of problems. The latest was when he had to climb to the masthead several times in the shelter of Macquarie Island to restore full use of his mainsail. The operation cost him a lot of time but the skipper from St-Malo made an
Race 1 in the Prada Cup and the story of America’s Cup 36 is tipped on its head as Ineos UK finish 80 seconds to the good against much fancied American Magic. Gone were the clunky, slow-looking (and it turned out floppy) cranked foils we had watched failing to lift the boat out of the water before Christmas. Everything else was new as well, aside from the hull, since, as we have now been properly schooled, those boxy sections are not as sticky as they look… Ominously, by the second beat the confidence had already become palpable and the onboard comms a masterclass in winning a ‘huge’ race without raising your voice
incredible comeback to the head of the fleet by fully exploiting the qualities of his Verdier/VPLP design which under the name Banque Populaire, and in the hands of Armel Le Cléac’h, won the last VG. The boat has hardly changed since then except that Louis has
made the foil rake adjustable, as is now permitted by the Imoca regulations. Now he has an excellent round-the-world boat, a proven sailboat with foils of moderate length but adjustable in incidence. Yannick Bestaven’s boat (Maître Coq, the former Safran 2) is
the same generation and comparable to Bureau Vallée except that the foil rake is locked in. That didn’t stop 48-year-old Yannick, who is a tough guy, from making the break before rounding Cape Horn and then stretching his lead in the South Atlantic to more than 450nm… until he bumps into a windless zone and sees his competitors coming back further east and overtaking him. Yannick lacked wind, but his sails were also now in poor condition, as he later admitted to explain his recurring speed deficit. But we have learnt that Maître Coqis definitely very fast when the wind is blowing! Attacking the ascent of the Atlantic with a boat at full potential
is the priority expressed by all the sailors. Not all of them admit their weaknesses, as Yannick has, but there’s no doubt that in the end few boats are at 100 per cent of their capacity. The German sailor Boris Hermann welcomes this aspect… and
it shows. His boat, the former Gitana, is the same generation as Bureau Vallée and Maître Coq, but she has the latest big foils designed by VPLP and used them to quickly catch the leaders reaching across a flat sea up the Brazilian coast. The second latest-generation Verdier design (Apivia is the first),
driven by Thomas Ruyant, also sailed the whole race among the front row despite a port foil that had to be significantly amputated less than three weeks after the start. Thomas was 100nm away in the wake of Apivia on 21 January and was also waiting for some portside surfing (on her good foil) towards the finishing line. Unfor- tunately for them the weather suggested that gybing will be on the menu for the last sprint towards Vendée… Writing a few days before the finish the five top boats fit in a
handkerchief on the scale of a round-the-world race and after 25,000nm sailed. It’s impossible to pick the winning three and even less easy the right order with the finish in ‘virtual’ sight. In the history of the Vendée Globe we’ve never seen that! The debate does not end there. The extraordinary Damien Seguin,
who has only one hand, was in fifth place on his very old daggerboard Imoca, Groupe Apicil, designed by Finot. He chose to stay east of the leaders. If Damien managed to pass through the high he would find himself in a favourable position closer to Les Sables, and could
SEAHORSE 15
STUDIO BORLENGHI/ALEA
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