Left: a sailor’s yacht designer, Juan K is rarely happier than racing his Star boat. The Argentine has designed Olympic gold medal-winning boats in both the Star and Finn classes – with one exception all of the Finn sailors competing in Rio in 2016 were racing the all-conquering Juan K designed and Devoti-built Fantastica. Ericsson 4 (top left) was the second of Juan K’s three Volvo-winning VO70s, sandwiched by ABN Amro and Groupama. Above: Juan K’s second Imoca was for Bernard Stamm – following the massively powerful and for a solo skipper quite challenging to sail Pindar/Hugo Boss. Stamm’s boat proved quick at times but was lost in a winter storm in the Atlantic
Wide ranging SH:You left the TP52 scene once when you collided with the rule back in 2006. Is the class still of interest? JK: Yes, the truth is I would have loved to have done more in that fleet. Actually, we were about to make a new boat this year for the Bronenosec team but in the end they failed to get the necessary budget. I have good memories of my later experi-
ence with Team Origin – we made a very fast boat in 2010. Nobody from the team had any experience in the TP52 class and my only previous boat was Mui Mui, in 2006, and she never got a chance to compete due to the problems with the rule! Origin were lying second all season but could not com- pete in the final event, finishing up fourth. SH:How do you rate the experience? JK: The MedCup always had a high level of competitors and in 2010 it was dominated by Team New Zealand; I believe we did a good job given our inexperience. In addi- tion, TNZ are a great, great team – when they later appeared in the Volvo Ocean Race they were very tough to beat. Working with TNZ is a luxury that unfortunately I have not been able to enjoy. If you face them you have to do very well to win, if you are with them you have to do very badly to lose. SH: Juan, we’re going to gybe. You worked for Bénéteau, designing the First 30 in 2010,
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and recently for Nautor’s Swan with the ClubSwan 50… is it very different to work for a shipyard than for a private team? JK: Yes, there is a lot of difference, but there is also a difference between the concept of these two shipyards. Bénéteau are who they are and they have a specific philosophy, I learned a lot working with them. But ultimately while you can agree on the concept of a ship, in the end they will always do what they want. It is a kind of David’s fight against
Goliath – you cannot innovate much because the boats have to meet clear economic criteria, the number of con - struction hours, the materials and so on; it is very difficult to make a light boat. When you assume that limitation the margin of creativity is very small. The Swans are more custom boats and
for another type of customer. That allows you to introduce more new ideas thanks to their different production system. In fact, the ClubSwan 50 is, I think, going very well, and according to what I hear it has had a nice impact on the market at that size. But this project would be impossible in the context of a shipyard mass-producing boats. SH: But it must be influenced by being designed for racing? JK: On the one hand, yes, but I think it is more a human issue. In large corporate
structures it is rare that there are people who take risks – when they make decisions they always cover their backs. The notion of taking risks and trying to convince the rest of the corporation is very unusual. Nautor’s Swan’s owner will assume certain risks and that allows this type of work to be easier. Shipyards like Bénéteau and Jeanneau are victims of their own success – they are inevitably constrained with little space for bold new thinking. SH:Have you thought about designing a cruising sailboat with foils? JK: (Laughs) Hardly, because the ability to foil is directly proportional to the boat’s weight. The notion of flying is a new pillar in the world of yachting. Although some people think that there is a before and after, in terms of ‘everyone will be foiling’, they are 100 per cent wrong. Believe it or not, there is still yachting that is not foiling! It is not going to gobble up traditional sailing! The notion of foiling – which is not
necessarily the same as flying – is very limited in the sport, especially for the mainstream Corinthian fleets, in terms of both the technical level of the sailor and for the weight of most boats. I do not think there are too many family cruising sailors who have carbon boats and are willing to sacrifice their refrigerator, air-conditioning, heating and so on. Only then could you begin to think of a foiler-cruiser… but that is called a racing boat! A boat with toys is incompatible with foiling.
q
RICK TOMLINSON
MARK LLOYD
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