News Around the World
Radically different solutions: the Manuard-designed Imoca scow L’Occitane (above) is visibly narrower than Kojiro Shiraishi’s VPLP designed Charal sistership DMG Mori (inset) and with a more rounded overall shape. But the most important distinction between the boats is the spoon bow on Armel Tripon’s Vendée entry, which lifts the bow pushing into waves and, even more beneficial, cushions landings when the boat drops off the foils, as it will many thousands of times sailing around the world. High averages win long races
uncomfortable boats on the planet. The boat and the skipper are assaulted on all sides. ‘The only way to exist at sea is to lie down on a bean bag with
your head towards the bow. They drive the boat lying on their backs and looking behind, that’s how crazy it has become.’ These are not just academic grumbles. Verdier cares deeply about
the people competing in this race. ‘I worry all the time they are at sea,’ he admits. ‘If something bad happened to them I honestly think I would have to give up working on these projects.’ As for the notion that we will see foiling systems applied to cruising
yachts, he expects there will be people who want to explore this idea. But clearly it is not for him. Which brings us back to the little Farr yacht moored outside. Pack
the family onboard, pull up the sails and head for a secluded bay. No need to worry about foil pressure differentials and super-cavitation at 50kt. Bliss. Ivor Wilkins
FRANCE Thomas Ruyant, skipper of Linkedout, will, like all the other foiler skippers, spend most of the Vendée Globe monitoring not only performance and navigation data but the general state of his boat from the many sensors monitoring the deformation of his foils, the compression of his mast and numerous other ‘critical’ parts of his very fast vessel. This highly technological dimension ultimately broadens the focus
of human performance onto the sailor’s ability to multiple-task constantly and efficiently for 70 tiring days at sea. It is indeed the skipper who will have to decide hour by hour, day by day, the intensity to put into his way of sailing, by matching his efforts to go faster with the physical tolerance of the boat and, as the race continues, the steadily decaying safety margins left in the equipment. Thomas, one of the race favourites, says: ‘We expect this Vendée
Globe to be quite different from previous ones. We all know we can manage these boats around the world, but it is up to each of us to choose moment by moment where to put the performance cursor according to the new requirements of these complex and heavily
22 SEAHORSE
instrumented machines where every element is critically connected with another. Knowing in real time the impact of given sailing con- ditions, speed and sea state on the vital portions of the boat influ- ences every decision about how to navigate and how hard to push… ‘The new foilers come from four different architects. These per-
sonalities have solved the task differently in how much emphasis they place on different conditions, so at certain times we expect one of our boats to be faster – or slower – but not so different perhaps around the world. These Imocas display huge differences in perfor- mance depending on the angle and the force of the wind, for example. ‘So I think the Vendée 2020 is wide open, and not at all
predictable. Each skipper will have to choose his route according to his own boat’s intrinsic qualities. We will not follow the same courses, we will not choose the same wind angles, we will never look for exactly the same conditions. It will be necessary to be more intelligent than ever to find the optimal conditions for your own boat, and to know how to be opportunistic to take full advantage of it and make differences. ‘This is where the human will still be more important than the
technical components we talk about so much, knowing how to be good, in the right place and at the right time. In my opinion, this is where the outcome of this new Vendée Globe formula will be played out, in the ability of the sailor to integrate immediately with the low-pressure ‘trains’ in the Great South. With the ability of our foilers to catch the ‘front of a front’ and to run with it until it is exhausted, it is possible to open the huge gaps that will finally determine this round-the-world race. ‘The sprint of the first 15 days following the start will decide
everything else. The Great South, depending on damage incurred and surviving the first exhausting few days, is a long game of patience with the low fronts. Stay ahead of the fronts without ever getting too far ahead and risking becoming entangled in the weather ahead. Enjoy that the sea has not yet been disturbed by the passage of the lows to run at full speed, to increase the frequency of very high-speed bursts and widen the gaps. ‘Having said all that, sailing up the Atlantic is not the easiest part of the course. There can be huge upheavals after the Horn. It can
ELOI STICHELBAUT/DPPI/IMOCA
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