Update
Above: in action and in the computer. In the end the experimental new multiple headsail arrangement devised by the Warrior Won team working with Stu Bannatyne and Doyle Sails did everything that was hoped of it, moving the tack positions to weather to open up enough of a slot to keep the airflow moving over the extra sail. An overall Transpac win… that’ll do nicely, thank you very much
score picket fences (1,1,1). A consistent starting formula, good speed and boathandling reminded us all that consistency is key. In the second half of the event Alegrecooled off and Harm Muller-
Spreer’s Platoon picked up the consistency ball and kept rolling it. Averaging a 3.3 to win the shortened series by 2pt over Alegre and 5pt over Quantum Racing. As I do my 3am debriefs I can’t help but feel the ball is slowly rolling in the correct direction, yet you can also see the time off the water as a hindrance. The good news is I love racing and time on the water is required so great to enjoy the job. From Menorca the TP52s and the SuperSeries head to Palma
Mallorca for the final event of the season and the class world championship. At this writing 8pt separate first through to sixth in the season championship. So cool to see that most likely the winner of the world championship will be the season champion as well. All to play for and without question great to be in the hunt with our best racing in front of us. Other happenings: at this writing the America’s Cup is in an ‘inter-
esting spot’. A strong hometown push to defend the event in Auck- land waters while the pressure on the defender to make sure that they have enough financial resources to defend properly wherever the venue. Quite honestly I have no idea what that number looks like for a team who are living out of their own homes and operating in a ‘home’ environment. I know when I race my own boat at home it is a heck of a lot cheaper than when I travel, and I enjoy sleeping in my own bed. But I am sure I am missing something! I am also sure there is plenty left in the venue decision… as I
have said in the past there is no easy pathway here but as all our gear is still in Auckland we hope not to have to pack up and move. But as we know hope is not a strategy! For American Magic we will continue to quietly chip along getting organised and pacing ourselves
Andrew Just to prove that us old farts do read your splendid journal, while not understanding much of the high-tech stuff, could I just point out that there is one minor mistake in your article on Uffa Fox (issue 501). Having grown up living 100 yards from Charles Currey, I
learned to sail in a Duck- ling, taught my children to sail in a Duckling and am still the proud owner of two Ducklings. Could I point out that the photo on p53 is a Dinky and not a Duckling! Kind regards Robin Bromley-Martin
18 SEAHORSE
for when the event is defined. Nobody said it would be easy! Standing by in Hardwick, Massachusetts on the eve of Parents’
Weekend. Fortunately Aden is nailing it with his studies and doing Mom and Dad proud!
THE SEARCH FOR SPEED – Mal Parker Warrior Won is a Judel/Vrolijk Pac52 launched as Badpak in 2017 and bought by Chris Sheehan in 2018. From the outset owner Chris Sheehan and boat captain Collin Leon assembled a great team. Chris was clear about his intention to do everything we could to win offshore races. The team has a very open-minded culture that encourages questions about how we can do better and make the boat faster, while respecting budgets and time constraints. After cancellations of the Newport-Bermuda 2020 and Caribbean 600 in 2021, the 2021 Transpac started to become a major focus. As one of very few predictable downwind races around – we looked at how to improve our performance whenever the spinnaker was up! Why does every modern raceboat have a bowsprit? There is little
doubt it’s the best solution for a TP52 on a short windward-leeward course, but changing to a regular spinnaker pole for offshore racing still has advantages in some conditions.
Conventional pole – some upsides l Squaring the pole back opens up the sheeting angle and adds a lower mode in some conditions (ie sailing in current). l Less drag upwind, particularly in high wind and waves. Downsides l Cost. Additional structure around the mast, jockey poles, new shorter luff spinnakers and so on. l Complexity. More crew needed on deck for sail changes. Longer set-up times. l Loss in spinnaker luff length. After weighing the pros and cons the decision was not to change
back to a spinnaker pole! But was there anything else we could do to go faster? Could we add more sail area than our competition at minimal cost, without buying additional new sails? After some cre- ative thinking (and rule compliance checking) the answer was ‘yes’. Trends in sailboat racing come and go, and it was time to bring
something back. Tacking a staysail to windward is not a new idea (think Volvo 60), but to my knowledge is rare on modern monohulls except from time to time at the top end of the IRC fleet. There is probably good reason for this. First, padeyes add weight; weight that is carried around all day long with no benefit unless being used. The big question: VMG sailing, is the AWA simply too far forward?
A Fairey Duckling!!!!
I decided to dig into our historic data on apparent wind angle/speed at VMG angles. This suggested the project was worth a try.
SHARON GREEN
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