Under ORCi the numbers are still in the
ballpark for the High Performance79 but definitely less favourable as the crossover moves to above 13kt. If you use triple- number or even performance-curve ORC scoring this should be a bit better, but gen- erally it confirms what we see on the water with ORCi giving canting-keel designs a slightly harder time than IRC. But, as the delta is now not too dramatic, I expect that over time this effect will reduce in ORCi.
Conclusions Our CFD and VPP studies give us a pretty clear picture of how our concepts com- pare. The Maxi79 should be a successful concept with proven competitiveness over more than 10 years in the slightly smaller Maxi72s. Racing inshore against the Maxi72s with a decent start you will have a good chance of beating the others by getting ahead and then sailing your own race, while being rated pretty much the same in terms of speed vs rating. On the other hand you miss what makes
racing in the 72s so thrilling, being in the same box with a few other boats, fighting for every centimetre and with minimal rating calculation necessary after the race. So if you really want to go in this direction why not stay within the Maxi72 box as there is still the chance of extremely tight racing? Also, if at some stage a second wave of owners come into the fleet, the class as a whole could bounce back. Following the Ultimate79 direction is
quite hard to judge based on our studies. Yes, you are the fastest boat on the course and you will be first boat crossing the line in any race. But it is the most technically demanding and most expensive solution. It is impossible to win anything on cor-
rected time with this concept as the Maxi79 as well as the High Perfor- mance79 will pretty much always beat you. Going for line honours might work in a few offshore races, but frankly even this only works out if the usual 88-100ft sus- pects stay at home. So generally speaking for handicap racing the extreme Ulti- mate79 is too heavily penal ised by existing rating systems yet at 79ft is still too small to go for line honours. The High Performance79, on the other
hand, shows good potential to compete successfully against pure racing concepts including the Maxi72s. It will have to be raced as hard as the Maxi79 to do so, but the numbers clearly show it is possible. The main point is you can do this with a
two somewhat less aggressive concepts. This comes as no surprise – it is simply a confirmation of race results we see around the world where line-honours 100-footers almost never save their time on handicap. On the other hand, the High Performance concept shows very close outcomes on corrected time vs the Maxi79. Under IRC the crossover is pretty much where you want it for a single-number
50 SEAHORSE
rating, crossing the X-axis at around 11kt TWS. This 11kt, in a single-number rating environment, is near the neutral spot. What does that mean? In general if your
performance crossover is in this range, and the deltas are generally quite linear, you can modify your rating ‘neutral point’ to shift the strength of your boat up or down the wind range – basically rotating the delta curve around the X-axis intersection.
yacht that is not just for racing but a very fast daysailer and weekender. We believe our studies demonstrate that with the High Performance79 you can combine the best of both worlds. Combine these features with the fact
that under existing Maxi rules no one can outperform you by just going longer (you are already at the top end of the range) and the overall package offered by the High Performance79 with its versatility is a very smart concept that ticks a lot of boxes. q
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