News Around the World
So here she is at last. 11th Hour Racing’s Malama is the first Imoca to be built for The Ocean Race; now we wait to see who follows their lead with the number of Imoca entries who have so far gone public for the next race vanishingly small. Indeed, approaching the completion of this interesting Verdier design, the team acknowledged changes had been made to allow the boat also to compete in the next Vendée Globe. On deck Malama looks little different from her shorthanded relations, a tiny, enclosed cockpit, all controls led inside, clean aero treatment. But elsewhere the story is different, including an interior layout a little more suited to a five-man crew… More interesting, however, is the hull’s obvious resemblance to the ‘scow-on-a-skiff’ AC75 that Verdier so successfully co-designed for Team New Zealand’s Cup defence. As on the world’s top AC75, a flat, powerful aft shape combines with a prominent rounded and spray-shedding treatment forward. Notable too that Verdier has not gone full-scow like other new Imocas; the TJV will be fascinating
this improved with the new appendix. The skate wing is the most loaded. The fin is in the middle of
the boat, so undergoes the vertical movements while flying and also those due to pitch, so it has a big loading which is all the time violently changing and sometimes reversing. Now it is necessary to upgrade our other
appendices.The first
cavitations appear approaching 40kt of speed. That said, we press on despite cavitation. It is a bit unpleasant and it prevents us from accelerating as we would like, but above all in the long term it damages the surfaces of the appendices. The challenge is to design and control profiles adapted to our cavitation level without losing efficiency when sailing more slowly. SH: So you are aiming for a high average speed rather than testing the limit of the speedometer! FC: Absolutely. We focus on maintaining a high average speed under extended conditions. We work on the versatility of the boat to hold a 35kt average as long as possible. Similarly the sails have been modified to improve speed in the light air. Sailing through waves the flexibility of the appendages and their deformation under load also have to be optimised to improve the stability and therefore the flying period and therefore… speed. These are new challenges for a sailing boat! I think we’re going to be in flying conditions for 60-70 per cent
of the TJV or at least with only the main hull in the water. When the sea is rough one should not dream, we cannot be carried by the foils full time. It is then necessary to immerse the hull more than you would prefer in order to damp down the motion and maintain stability and safety. To sum up, I would say that if we can hold an average of 35kt for 50 per cent of the race and for 10 per cent more time than our rivals, I should be pleased… SH: Are you often sailing under pilot? FC: It should be noted that the ‘Collectif Ultim’ prohibits the auto- matic control of the longitudinal and lateral attitude of the boat. The autopilot only controls the yaw of the vessel. It is often used when sailing ‘slowly’ but flying in running/reaching conditions out in the ocean the speed difference is quite dramatic between being driven by a human hand and by an automatic pilot. I would say that at the helm (of course during daylight) you can gain 15 per cent of speed… There is more to gain by holding the helm than paying for a new foil (laughs). SH: A word on the other Ultims of the race… FC: I see that the two new boats are already doing well but I think we have a similar upwind speed. Sodebo 3goes very fast at certain times, especially running/reaching in breezy conditions, but she
30 SEAHORSE
does not have our versatility. Actual is light and versatile but seems less comfortable than us sailing upwind offshore. However, racing an Ultim through the ocean is about much more than speed… Patrice Carpentier
AUSTRALIA Distilled wisdom Chris Nicholson’s experience ranges from six Volvo Ocean Races to the Olympics and plenty of Sydney Hobarts. As the Australian selected by Grant Dalton to skipper the New Zealand VOR team Camper in the 2011/2012 edition, this underscores Nico’s qualities as a leader and key communicator – particularly when things go bang in the night. Blue Robinson spoke to him about communication and the contrasts of working with amateur, pro-am and fully professional teams. Chris Nicholson:With something like round-the-cans racing with an amateur crew, it starts well before you get on the boat in terms of organising the crew and the food. Nowadays I see a lot of this is still dumped onto the owners; they get a little bit frustrated with it but are often too polite to complain… until finally they do! A little help and effort and consideration go a very long way here and assis- tance from the crew in terms of food and drinks is always appre- ciated. And that sort of thing keeps boat owners enthused. The other thing is just getting on and off the dock in good shape…
and good humour. This means the owner needs a good person right there, who can organise the crew and the logistics – again so that it is not all on the owner’s shoulders. This is really fundamental stuff here but these are the real building blocks of every good team. Seahorse: The debrief… how important is it on an amateur boat? CN:Quite often this is usually about the personalities onboard, and are they the type of team who want to bother? And are the crew themselves even interested enough? Either way it should all be kept fairly low key. The critical thing
at this level is to have a good idea of the rules. When you observe people not having fun and falling out of the sport, too often this is due to a disagreement with another team on the water, and some- times owners and skippers find themselves in a position purely as a result of bad advice. It is very important to limit those occurrences, which means a clear understanding of the rules when boats meet. SH: Role swapping while training…? CN: Yes – that is quite good for the less experienced crews, and particularly the owner and skipper, to get a firm grasp of all the roles plus it highlights any issues with sight-lines and hearing chal- lenges around the boat. The most important thing here is that people
FRANÇOIS VAN MALLEGHEM/DPPI
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