Technology
Exploit the noise
Taking onboard another Olympic gold medallist never hurt anyone’s business
Between the conceptual model of a new sail design and its real-life performance is a no-man’s land occupied by what Jordi Calafat refers to as noise. Sometimes this separation is wide; other times it is happily much narrower. Either way, it is in negotiating this zone of noise that Calafat finds his greatest satisfaction as a designer. Based in Palma, Majorca, Calafat is the latest addition to Doyle Sails’ line up of top-ranked international sailors who bring a wealth of experience and expertise to what the brand offers its growing list of customers across the grand prix spectrum of sailing. With first-hand experience in the America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, Maxi 72 class, 52 Super Series, ClubSwan 50 and 36 one designs and other grand prix events, Calafat epitomises the Doyle promise that its products are “by sailors, for sailors”.
In similar vein, the Doyle loft in Palma has also welcomed French sailor and sailmaker Antoine Thullier into its service team. Thullier has extensive experience on large offshore multihulls, maxi yachts, TP52s and superyachts. He says joining ‘the world class team at Doyle
58 SEAHORSE
Sails’ is a career highlight. ‘They are the leaders in sailmaking and have built an extremely talented team. It is a great opportunity to grow, sharing everybody’s experience, knowledge and skills.’
Calafat’s approach to any new design challenge is process-driven. Step one begins with a modelling exercise which examines a broad range of characteristics: the mast and how it is likely to behave, hull shape, appendages, whether the boat is likely to be tender or stiff, the type of racing and conditions envisaged. Taking all these factors into account, a theoretical sail plan is generated. ‘Then we go sailing,’ he says. ‘Now we are in real life and interacting with the trimmers. Sometimes the real world is very similar to the modelling, other times the gulf is quite wide, but there is always noise between the two worlds. ‘You might find that the mast does not behave exactly as expected, or that we can be a bit more aggressive in a particular area. That is the second stage towards understanding the noise and reducing it. ‘Now we go racing. This is the moment of truth,’ he laughs. Ten boats charging off the startline
Above: the benefits of Doyle Sails’ latest tech- nology are not just limited to modern grand prix sailing classes.
Stratis mem- branes and Structured Luff tech- nology can deliver
significant gains for any sort of sailing boat. J Class yachts are among Doyle Sails Palma’s regular clients
separated by a couple of boatlengths very quickly reward success, or expose weakness. ‘We see how everything works, whether we need more power, or we need to load the rudder more, if the boat can move into high mode, does it suit the style of the trimmers?
This is the process, dealing with the noise. It is the part I that enjoy the most.’
It is something that began at a very young age. ‘I grew up in Palma,’ Calafat says. ‘My family had boats and I was the youngest of three boys. As a kid, I started sailing Optimists and progressed into Spanish national championships and then international championships. I won the Opti worlds in 1983 and then moved on to 420s and so on. ‘I was always very curious about the sails and their shapes and how they work. One day, when I was still an Opti kid, I was at the sail loft and all the maxis and 80-footers were in Palma for a regatta. I saw these guys come into the loft, carrying these huge bags. They laid out these massive sails on the floor and took out their scissors and started recutting. I thought, ‘This is very cool. I would like to do that.’
CORY SILKEN
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