News Around the World
Watch this space… The latest-generation 18ft Skiff sailplans take the concept of the fat-head main plus steeply angled top batten to yet another new level. It is only the one-design nature of the current 18ft class that’s preventing these rigs going higher still to allow parallel-sided high-aspect mains similar to the latest A-Class rigs (next month). A great place to play with batten technology as well…
of the sport in Australia have been singularly disinterested. SH: Do you think there is a bit of fence-sitting, waiting for you to succeed – or not? BM:Absolutely. We will embrace anyone who embraces our project and would love to see the sailing community really take it on and want to be a part of it. SH: The 18ft Skiff series offered brilliant high-performance training programmes – the early 49er regattas were crushed by the skiffies. What response have you had from the top guys this time? BM: From the likes of Nathan Outteridge, Iain Jensen, Glenn Ashby, Phil Robertson, Luke Parkinson, plus the boys from the UK – Paul Campbell-James, Ed Powys, they have been phenomenal and their support has been fundamental to our well-being. They have embraced what we are about – Nathan will tell you
he was inspired by the 18-footers, and what has been wonderful from our point of view is they are acknowledging these machines are out of this world – and that has been important. Also they realise from our 18-footer days what we are setting ourselves up to do with our coverage for the general public. We got into the general public zone big time with the 18-footers, and we will this time too. SH: And the schedule moving forwards? BM: This project is about creating an international circuit. This design breaks down into six pieces for container shipping. We are starting with the five events in Australia in 2018 and are talking to overseas venues about international events. We are very keen to explore every conversation that can get us to an international SuperFoiler Grand Prix tour as soon as we can. SH: The America’s Cup is moving into a new foiling era. Your creation is not exactly a 75ft foiling monohull but at under-8m it sits well within the parameters allowed for training boats for the next Cup… BM: I think the number of current AC sailors here sailing is telling us something. I was interested to read an article recently on the best vehicle to train for the new AC foiling monohull, developing skills and getting to understand how that all works. If you were looking for a project to hone those skills and against other boats, seems to me this machine is right up there… Blue Robinson
26 SEAHORSE
USA (Actually) getting to Bermuda In an effort to give offshore navigators the tools to evaluate for themselves what lies ahead, the Cruising Club of America (CCA) recently organised an informative symposium on Marine Weather and Sea State Analysis and Forecasting in the run-up to this year’s Newport-Bermuda Race. The one-day event had an impressive turnout of 200 attendees who ranged from those clearly new to the craft to grizzled veterans interested in keeping up with the technology. Chief organiser Frank Bohlen is a meteorologist who has been
providing study material to Bermuda-bound teams for many years, offering links to the latest information sources from governmental agencies to academic centres sharing their models with the public. The big variable in the Bermuda race is of course the Gulf Stream,
which transverses the course at 2-5kt either in straightforward patterns of east-northeast river-like flow or broken into turbulent eddies where the position and velocity of the current are much less certain. What is certain is that every navigator for this race spends long days and nights studying the patterns in advance of the start – in times past it was quite common for big teams to take an aircraft out for some last-minute information on ‘the stream’. But it was the weather rather than the stream that was the big
story in the last race in 2016, when famously – or infamously – an enormous segment of the fleet decided as late as hours before the start not to sail the course in fear of damage and/or discomfort due to a forecast model that suggested a storm ‘may’ be building in the race area. Race managers and forecasters alike were not certain enough
in the forecast to postpone and so, as is traditional, they went ahead on schedule and let each team decide for themselves. As ocean racing crews have been doing since the sport began. The hardiest teams (sic) went for it, including Comanche who
promptly set a monohull race record in conditions that were at times perhaps challenging but never remotely perilous, along with a crew of teenagers who were the second monohull to finish on the ‘40ft tiny’ High Noon. In contrast, and after months of preparation for sailing in conditions where there was a real risk of water on the deck, the
FRANK QUEALEY
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