Paul Cayar
Rob Weiland
Taking off
Just before Christmas Roberto Lacorte, of Mini Maxi SuperNikka fame, and designer Mark Mills announced their new project: an AC75-style Mini Maxi-sized foiler capable of coastal racing; however, unlike the AC foilers, the boat will also sport a fixed bulb-keel to satisfy Offshore Special Regulations stability rules, an unavoidable
complication to improve positive stability. I guess the choice of a fixed keel is to not overcomplicate the
already complicated. The keel in flying conditions will add a bit of drag over AC concepts but you may indeed appreciate the feature when toppled over or racing in drifting conditions in displacement trim with both foils out of the water… Roberto Lacorte likes speed – his other hobby is racing a Dallara
P217 at events like the Le Mans 24 Hours with fellow drivers Andrea Belicchi and Giorgio Sernagiotto of Cetilar Racing. Of course an owner and a designer taking inspiration from America’s Cup and Vendée Globe boats is not a surprise nor a first, but it will be inter- esting to see how this project slots in with the rules governing yacht racing and if so how boat and racing work out in practice. Maxi racing is no stranger to boats of wildly different performance
potential competing at the same starts for the same trophies but unfortunately also not to boats hitting each other, so for sure ever increasing boat speeds, and consequently ever increasing speed differences between boats, are something to keep an eye on… if not to regulate for. Rating very different craft and then claiming the racing is or will
be fair can only be met with a smile. Adding ‘non-Archimedean sail- ing’ to the rating menu will be entertainment value for most and
36 SEAHORSE
heart-stopping irritation potential for some – but at boat owner level this could be the other way around and potentially discourage par- ticipation levels if the two are allowed to race for the same trophies. Every dog has its day progressing towards allowing birds into the
mix. Non-Archimedean sailing represents a bigger step than, for instance, rating canting-keel against fixed-keel boats. Racing boats to their full potential is difficult. I feel racing tech-
nically more complicated boats against more straightforward boats therefore generally favours simpler concepts, as complexity in itself does not get rated. That is, if all boats are raced in the same way, by humans. With computers permitted to take decisions and actually trim and/or helm the boat this will be different. Fly by wire, is it permitted? Is it desirable? Possibly unavoidable? Racing Rules of Sailing 52, Manual Power, reads: ‘A boat’s stand-
ing rigging, running rigging, spars and movable hull appendages shall be adjusted and operated only by the power provided by the crew.’ This is often modified in class rules and/or event notices so that
ram and winch systems as well as moveable appendages like trim tabs, DSS systems, water ballast and canting keels, powered by forces other than manual, are permitted if these features are declared on the boat’s rating certificate. In my humble opinion this does not automatically include that boats are permitted to be ‘flown by wire’, in the sense that a computer taking input from a boat’s sensors instructs the rams, motors and so on to trim rig, sails, appendages and whatever else can be controlled. If not expressly permitted by further rules, instructions shall then
be initiated by a crew member, not by a computer, whether by actually pumping a ram, turning a winch handle, pulling a sheet or control line… or at least by pushing a button.
SAILING ENERGY/AMERICAN MAGIC
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