News Around the World
Make or break time… literally. We had big hopes for the Ocean Fiftys when they first broke cover as the Multi 50 class. Starting from the premise that Orma 60s were the greatest grand prix boats of all time, then the newer 50s seemed to promise much of the same excitement but at a smaller size that reflected the performance improvements since the Orma fleet destroyed itself in the 2002 Route du Rhum. The slightly smaller boats are fast and spectacular, and this year’s debut Pro Sailing Tour was a great success. But so far longer ocean races have meant too many capsizes and too much gear failure. Hopefully for this TJV they are ready… they need to be
Charlie Dalin, Apivia (2019 TJV winner with Yann Eliès)? Seahorse:Do you always think of this incredible finish at Les Sables d’Olonne. You are the first to cross the line but you are ranked second behind Yannick Bestaven who is credited with some extra time after diverting to help a competitor? Charlie Dalin:My ‘Vendée Blues’, yes, I think about it. I had to finish another 2h30 before Yannick Bestaven. So obviously I think about the lost time… But it only gives me more desire to win races! SH:Recently you won the Rolex Fastnet in August and then the long race of the Défi Azimut in September. CD:When I saw the routeing the day before the start of the Fastnet I never thought I would really do it… but the closer we got to the start the more obvious our radical southern route became (Apivia did not tack back onto port until Alderney), to the point that the risk would have been not to follow it. The (very large) gap that separated Apivia from the boats that
followed at the finish in Cherbourg was much more than can be put down to the speed of Apivia. Although she is a fast boat! Then in the long race of the Défi Azimut we were 75nm ahead of the next boat… Then we stopped in the ridge and the fleet caught us up. We popped out in front, then we moved away again… so I guess, yes, we are also quite fast. SH: What changes have been made since the Vendée? CD: New V2 foils were delivered last year just in time for the VG but we did no development because of Covid. After the Vendée we made our first tests sailing with a V1 on one side and a V2 on the other. It soon became apparent that the boat was doing better with the V2. Mainly reaching, thanks to having more righting moment. At the start of the Fastnet, in the western Solent before Hurst
Castle, the sea was still quite flat and the current carried us along. In 25-30kt of wind we were successfully flying upwind at between 14 and 18kt of speed! Certainly not as close to the wind as the others but they were only doing 11kt… We started like that and I think some others maybe did it a little bit later. At the Needles we were almost 2nm ahead of the second
24 SEAHORSE
boat. Beyond the contribution of the new foils progress has been made on the sails, notably the addition of a new J2. We also worked on aero drag and optimised endplate effect, installing a deck sweeper beneath the boom. You should know that from 20kt of wind the apparent wind speed reaches 40kt on deck and anything that can cut drag is welcome (remember that Apivia already had an enclosed cockpit but with two small outside helming positions). SH: Are you in favour of adding an elevator on the rudder (banned in Imoca) as Louis Burton demonstrated on Bureau Vallée? CD:We’ve known for a long time that it works, without trying it. With Guillaume Verdier we had fun putting a rudder equipped with an elevator on the simulator. We had seen that it was flying… Imme- diately it makes me envious but then I ask to see how it works on a choppy sea. Yes, on Burton’s video the boat looks stable; yes, she is beautiful and goes fast but... Burton’s demo was shot on a completely flat sea. Inside the class we discuss what could be the best system to
improve the stability of our Imocas in flying mode. One solution would be to add a further standalone appendage exclusively ded- icated to managing lift and keep the rudders as they are. The central appendage having an elevator would be retractable. This would allow you to go back to a ‘classic’ mode when necessary. And, if you break off the appendage, to continue sailing as before. It will certainly go faster and be more stable but it brings new
constraints in the structure and reconsidering the reliability of the boat (as was the case on the flying Ultims). The ‘third leg’ will come one day, for sure (read Antoine Mermod’s statement on this subject, below), but it is again necessary to think things through without for- getting that the key event on the Imoca circuit is the Vendée Globe: a race lasting three months without the possibility of a pitstop… SH: How about the new TJV course this time? CD: It is longer and harder. When the finish was in Salvador in Brazil you would come out of the Doldrums sailing upwind, then it would become reaching and even VMG at the end, perhaps with a gybe when you reach the coast. Now it’s upwind/reaching until Fernando
CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
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