Once again Charal was one of the first teams to launch a new design for a new Vendée Globe cycle, the extra lead time allowing them space to risk exploring a radical alternative solution to achieving level flight – given that an Imoca relying for lift on an angled keel fin plus a single immersed foil invites comparisons in balance with a two-legged stool. As 1997/98 Whitbread Race winner Paul Cayard observed during the last Vendée, dragging your a**se around the world with the bow in the air is not a good look for a modern sport
when the level of stress requires the crew to slow down and black when something may have given way and mandates an immedi- ate inspection. Malizia also chose to invest heavily in
data acquisition; there are about 60 sensors spread over the bottom of the hull (30 on each side) plus many on deck as well. This increase in focus results directly from want- ing to prevent a PRB-style catastrophic failure: knowing the compression loads in the deck allows the crew to always keep within a safe operating range. ‘It’s also about building a knowledge base,’ says Manganelli. ‘Each outing brings additional data, and this gradually leads to either vali- dating or going against a design hypothesis.’ Should specific areas require reinforce-
ment the information gathered by the sensors should allow work to be carried out in a preventive manner rather than following a breakage… whether in training or, worse, during a race. This type of moni- toring is commonplace on America’s Cup boats as well as on big multihulls, but it’s still not the norm in the Imoca class. Apart from when it comes to the foils… ‘Financially, it’s not a massive investment
relative to the cost of a campaign,’ explains Stephant, ‘but it’s costly in terms of man- hours to first rig the whole system, then to analyse all the data which requires a dedi- cated person.’ From Gurit’s perspective it’s nevertheless a no-brainer given all the advantages such knowledge brings: being able to evaluate choices that were some- what empirical and to know precisely at what percentage the boat actually operates. ‘Even as we speak,’ says Manganelli, ‘I’ve logged onto the Malizia dashboard
56 SEAHORSE
[during The Ocean Race] where they send data in real time… Looking good!’
Material concerns Beyond sheer performance the class – and to an extent the sport as a whole – is work- ing on its sustainability credentials which naturally raises a lot of questions for materi- als experts such as Gurit. ‘It’s an important area of development,’ says Manganelli, ‘and our impression is that there is plenty of low-hanging fruit still to be picked.’ The team concedes that there can be a
cost in terms of weight, which they can quantify and share with the designers who then evaluate trade-offs. Yet if the Imoca class decided to take a further step in this direction (a question of political will) at its disposal there is already a range of existing solutions. ‘It’s about materials but also very much about build techniques and processes,’ Manganelli continues. ‘But imposing a proper, class-wide con-
straint would level the playing field and generate genuine, interesting progress, unlike isolated efforts to integrate a few kilos of bio-materials here and there as we see today,’ says Poidevin. Concretely, simplifying the ingredients
list would be a good start (reducing the number of different pre-pregs, for example), as well as thinking about alternatives to carbon fibre where possible. Going towards less energy-intensive
processes (lower cure temperatures) as well as limiting the number of moulds that are disposed of after one use are other avenues, according to the Gurit team, who acknowl- edge that their expertise should inform that discussion with the intention of allowing
the class to make fact-based choices… should it decide to legislate. As Stephant points out to emphasise the
feasibility of such measures: ‘Class40 races are as exciting as Imoca ones, despite the absence of exotic materials.’ One question at the heart of this discus-
sion is the discrepancy between sailing’s image as a clean sport and its material real- ity: will there come a point of lesser accept- ability from the public’s perspective (and therefore the sponsors) due to the environ- mental impact of the build phase? Technology’s evolution already makes it
realistic to envisage ‘hybrid fibreglass/ carbon infusion boats which in less than a couple of Vendée cycles could be as fast as today’s Imocas,’ says Manganelli. ‘But the real issue is how progress is
defined: is it about shaving two days off a round-the-world race or halving the associ- ated emissions?’ An interrogation that reaches far beyond our sport… which in the meantime promises us many more epic moments.
The Gurit Imoca team Nico Poidevin and Yoan Stephant: engineering and project lead. Gregor Borstnar, David Thompson, Simon Everest and Thomas Basset: engineering design and FEA. Thomas Grinsted, James Ledingham, Vittorio Mostosi: FEA. Sergei Kuzmin, Robert Horne, Douglas Mullins, Lauren Rutherford, Mark Saunders, Tim Smyth: 2D and 3D modelling. Paolo Manganelli: technical guidance and final sign-off…
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