When Armel le Cléac’h won the 2016-2017 Vendée Globe race he did so wearing all-Musto technical clothing. Time to go for the back-to-back win then in 2020...

For Musto, the Vendée Globe has always been the ultimate proving ground for its offshore gear. Armel Le Cléac'h wore Musto on his way to victory four years ago in the last edition of this non-stop solo circumnavigation. The French veteran will be wearing his Musto clothing in more comfortable circumstances this time as he follows the race intently from the shore. A year ago he raced with Clarisse Crémer in the Transat Jacques Vabre, when together they sailed Banque Populaire X across the finish line as first non-foiling Imoca 60 and sixth overall. Since then he has continued his mentorship of the 30-year-old Frenchwoman about to embark on her round-the-world debut.

Crémer will be one of many sailors wearing Musto in this edition of the Vendée. ‘I feel both anxious and excited! Which I believe is a normal way to feel when you're about to race the Vendée Globe for the first time,’ Crémer comments. ‘My kit bag is almost ready, my new Musto clothes are being branded with my sponsor's name, the next step is to pack them neatly. I was lucky to have a look at Armel's clothes list for the VDG 2016 to make my own list.’ While Crémer is sailing with old-school straight foils, Sam Davies has taken a similar generation boat - around 10 years old - and fitted it with hydrofoils that could put the 45-year-old Englishwoman within striking distance of the podium. There is no doubt that the hydrofoils have lifted the Imoca 60 fleet to previously unimaginable levels of performance. It’s widely expected that this edition will see the winning time driven below the 70 day mark, compared with Le Cléac’h’s winning time of four years ago – 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes. But with the added speed has come a whole new level of discomfort, as Davies explains: ‘You are scrabbling on your knees a lot of the time because you just can’t stand up safely. So one of the early bits of feedback I gave to the designers at Musto was “more padding in the knees, please!”’

There are times when Davies has been obliged to use other manufacturers’ products when she’s been part of fully-crewed teams. But for as long as she can remember, whenever the choice has been hers, Davies always comes back to Musto for her offshore adventures. ‘We spend money on sails, foils, we do a whole heap of development, and when you’re going offshore in an extreme boat, there’s a big human element. If the human isn’t optimised, warm, dry, comfortable, if you’re not achieving those basic human needs, you’re failing in your performance. That’s one of the reasons why I choose to work with Musto, because it’s about performance and making sure my boat goes faster.’ Davies is taking nothing for granted, not least friends and family who are helping out with child care arrangements seeing as she will be lining up against her husband, Romain Attanasio [skipper of Pure, Best Western], on the Vendée start line in November.

Ellen MacArthur is another British skipper who made her mark on the race 20 years ago when the then 24- year-old sailed Kingfisher to second place behind Michel Desjoyeaux. MacArthur was wearing Musto then, and Musto’s latest signing, Spanish sailor Didac Costa, will be wearing their kit when he sets sail on the ex-Kingfisher, now called One Planet - One Ocean. Costa will be looking to better his 14th place in the previous Vendée, an incredible achievement considering his boat was hit by lightning, forcing him to turn around to repair the damage in Les Sables d’Olonne before heading out to sea again, four days behind the fleet. ‘I am very happy to take part in this extraordinary race again,’ he says . ‘Anything can happen during a Vendée Globe but the boat is ready and so am I.’

Boris Herrmann becomes the first German sailor ever to cross the start line of the Vendée Globe. Herrmann’s Imoca 60 Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco (previously Malizia) was the most recognisable sailing boat of 2019 when the team delivered the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic to the UN Climate Summit in New York. Herrmann will be wearing Musto for his circumnavigation, in which he hopes to be competitive with new foils on his 2015 VPLP design.

‘Competing in the Vendée Globe has been a dream of mine for over 20 years and I am honoured and excited to participate as the first German competitor. I feel ready for the race and we have managed to test the new foils and train hard on the boat even during these difficult times. The race means more to me than only the sailing as it also gives me the chance to further our scientific and ocean mission. With our onboard laboratory we will be measuring ocean CO2 throughout this whole journey and doing our bit to contribute to science.’

Below: Sam Davies is a long-term tester of Mustoʼs ocean racing kit whose feedback to the Musto design team informs the ongoing development of the wet weather gear that the rest of us rely on. She endures the ʻfirehose effectʼ so we donʼt have to. And when you notice that your next set of HPX Pro Series trousers have more comfortable padded knees than the last ones, you can thank Sam for that

Vendée veteran Jérémie Beyou is in the Vendée for the win. Now on his fourth attempt, the 44-year-old wore Musto four years ago when he finished third. Now with his supercharged high-speed foiler Charal, Beyou is doing everything in his power to make it first back to Les Sables d’Olonne in February 2021. Victory in a strong Imoca line-up at last year’s Rolex Fastnet Race along with victory in this summer’s warm-up contest, the Vendée Arctique, bodes well for Beyou’s preparations. He is looking to leave no stone unturned in his bid for Vendée glory and believes Musto remains his best option to carry him to victory. Beyou comments on the course that awaits them, saying, ‘all the course is challenging. The first days can be rough, and you really can be surprised by it after three weeks of stand-by in Les Sables d’Olonne. You won't win the race there, but you definitely can lose it… Our boats can sail between 10 and 25kts average boat speeds, so depending on the wind that you catch, you can win or lose more than 300 miles a day. So maybe these last weeks will be the most important.’

With a great offshore pedigree in his own right having completed three Solitaire du Figaros, multiple RORC class and overall victories and skippering a Nord Stream Race team, Musto’s marketing project manager Hugh Brayshaw has been the vital link between the five Vendée competitors and the company. ‘It’s my job to look after our Musto ambassadors and make sure they're getting the right kit for every stage of the race, from the Equator to the Southern Ocean. My degree in technical clothing design paired with my experience as a professional sailor are useful for relaying the feedback from the sailors back to the designers and the development team.’

While the hydrofoiling boats are another level faster and wetter on deck, the latest generation of Imocas have also been designed to minimise the time required for sailors to spend out in the elements. The aterproofing and breathability needs to be as high as ever, but a big push this time around is increasing flexibility, to enable the sailors to move around these bucking broncos with agility and in comfort.

‘In the last race Armel Le Cléac'h really loved the HPX trousers but would often wear an MPX top because it is lighter in weight and he wanted that bit more flexibility,’ Brayshaw says. ‘This time it could be even more extreme and they'll have an HPX bottom and an LPX top which is super lightweight and really breathable. Because the boats are going so fast they don't actually need to change sails that often so they're spending more time moving around their cabins; it's still a bit damp in there so they still need a layer of protection which is why they’re keen on the LPX for a lot of the time. But when they head into the Southern Ocean they’ll be fully into their HPX for the very highest level of warmth and protection.’

While the latest generation of Imoca 60s is very different from the type of boat a typical Musto customer might sail, Brayshaw says the Vendée Globe remains as important as ever to the brand’s principles and ambitions. ‘It proves that Musto is still the best brand to take care of you when you go offshore. We remain fully invested the very pinnacle of the sport and it ensures we continue to understand and deliver what sailors need as the sport progresses. That means all of our customers can be assured that that whatever we do is coming from thousands of miles of testing, acting on the feedback from the very best yachtsmen and women in sailing.’

Musto’s excellent line-up of sailors will need a powerful range of kit to tackle the Vendée Globe through a variety of challenging conditions. Musto’s Hugh Brayshaw walks through the course, with the best garment choices in mind.

VENDEE GLOBE KIT LISTS

Start/ Finish – Bay of Biscay – November 2020 and January/ February 2021.
This spot will see potentially cold conditions, usually wet, wavy and windy. It will certainly provide high adrenaline and action for the first few days, with congestion of the race fleet and shipping traffic being two things to watch out for. There will be plenty of sail changes and manoeuvres as the fleet try and make it into the trade winds, so correct kit choice offering protection from the cold and the wet will make our sailors’ lives much more straightforward and efficient.

HPX GORE-TEX PRO SERIES TROUSER – robust and reliable for mixed weather and foredeck sail handling. The Codura fabric on the seat and knees will certainly be needed to protect again abrasion, tear and scuff.

Above: the first German to enter the Vendée Globe, Boris Herrmann has a brand new set of next-generation foils on his 2015 Imoca – and a full wardobe of Musto kit.
Below: Clarisse Crémer is preparing for her first Vendée Globe in an unmodified 10-year-old boat, but with the winner of the last edition, Armel Le Cléacʼh, as her mentor. Like Armel, Clarisse will be wearing Musto

MPX GORE-TEX PRO RACE DRY SMOCK – keeping the upper body dry from the elements but also highly breathable with unrestricted movement to keep our sailors cool and calm during the mayhem.

The Trade Winds
These are usually reached off the coast of Portugal, allowing some more comfortable sailing downwind in warm airs. Sailors will be looking for kit here that is lightweight yet protective in windy conditions.

MPX GORE-TEX PRO OFFSHORE TROUSERS – A great all-rounder for warmer conditions with Gore-Tex technology, keeping dry from the spray when surfing down the waves.

LPX GORE-TEX JACKET – This jacket is ultra-breathable and lightweight, offering good protection with Gore-Tex, perfect to quickly reach for when needed.

The Tropics
The boats will start to get seriously hot and uncomfortable in the Tropics; keeping cool and protecting from the sun is key here.

EVOLUTION SUNBLOCK LONG SLEEVE T-SHIRT 2.0 – Fast drying, quick wicking and with a unique texture to hold the fabric off the skin for improved air flow, this UPF 50 top is essential here.

EVOLUTION PERFORMANCE SHORT 2.0 – These lightweight, fast drying, stretch shorts with excellent reinforcement will be sure to tick every box in the tropics.

EVOLUTION FAST DRY BRIMMED HAT – These sailors cannot afford to get tired in the sun, all-around protection to keep you focused through the doldrums.

The Southern Ocean
The Roaring Forties into the Furious Fifties, extreme winds, colossal waves and freezing seas are just a few of the challenges facing our sailors on this leg. Team Musto will be glad to have the very best clothing on the market for the very toughest conditions.

HPX GORE-TEX PRO SERIES SMOCK – High protection but with great mobility to foil across the Southern Ocean, this smock is a must. The ProVision hood will allow our sailors to maximise their peripheral vision in tricky conditions whilst maintaining protection too.

GORE-TEX MIDDLE LAYER SALOPETTE – Worn under your HPX trousers to keep you insulated, these mid layers will provide you with the warmth and the breathability needed.

MERINO BASE LAYER LONG SLEEVE T-SHIRT / MERINO BASE LAYER PANT – We know many of our veterans insist that only Merino wool base layers will do, so we make these 100% Merino. All the natural benefits of wool but softer against the skin, comfort when there is no comfort to be had from the elements.

GORE-TEX OCEAN RACER – A light, flexible yet protective and insulating boot, designed for ocean sailing.

HPX GORE-TEX OCEAN DRYSUIT – The best all-round performance product to have in your kit bag when conditions get tough. This garment provides outstanding weather protection for the whole body, using Gore-Tex technology it performs to the highest standards. After all, you could find yourself in it for days on end.

Click here for more information on Musto »

Like many previous advances progress towards greener boatbuilding requires changing the established mindset

The quest to go green continues to gather momentum. From construction to propulsion, the incentive to look for alternative ways to reduce the carbon footprint of our sport is spreading rapidly and discussions around more eco-friendly construction techniques are also gathering pace. However, the underlying development of green epoxies is not new. Composite experts Gougeon Brothers Inc, with whom Wessex Resins formulate and manufacture various products under licence, have been working in this field for some time.

‘We have a very well established bio brand, Entropy Resins, which has been around in the US and Europe for roughly about nine years,’ explains Wessex Resins’ sales director Dave Johnson. ‘It was developed by two scientists who were also surfers and what struck them was that the majority of surfboards were being made out of polyester resin and would have a limited lifespan. There was little they could do to recycle them either.

‘So what they developed was an epoxy that had a high bio base that was sustainable and accredited by the United States Department of Agriculture. The Entropy Resins brand and the technology around it were acquired by Gougeon Brothers who developed it further before scaling the manufacturing process up for higher levels of production.’

Given the close connection between surfing and the natural environment on which the sport depends it was perhaps hardly surprising that this new material struck a chord with surfers. But the appeal spread quickly to other manufacturers who were keen to adopt a more eco-friendly material. From winter sports equipment to furniture such as river tables and even jewellery, Entropy Resins proved successful from the outset.

But in the marine world, proven structural properties are high on the list when it comes to selecting suitable materials.

‘Our Pro-Set bio-based epoxies have been developed from a combination of our experience gained from Entropy Resins formulation work and from the tried and tested Pro-Set epoxy, which has been widely used in boatbuilding for many years in a diverse range of products from the spars for the innovative superyacht Maltese Falcon and the boom and spreaders for Mirabella V, to more than 100 Mumm 30s,’ he continued. ‘This is an epoxy that’s been around for a long time and is well proven.

‘The chemistry includes over 30 per cent bio based content with no loss in structural properties. It is a versatile, durable product that has an impressive life cycle and is available as either a laminating epoxy, an infusion epoxy or as an adhesive. Neither the resin or hardener require special treatment or procedures to use. In fact, if there were no markings on the tin you would be very hard pressed to notice any difference.’

Main picture: Pro-Set bio-based epoxies are a crucial part of Spirit Yachtsʼ efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of their latest model, the Spirit 30, without affecting the durability, strength or longevity of the hull in any way.
Below: Wessex Resins has also been working closely with RS Sailing on their new RS Pulse 58 electric RIB. Again, Pro- Set resin is the key to sustainable production

Given the structural properties and the ease of use, these bio-based epoxies are a good example of why the transition to a greener future is accelerating. With no special handling requirements the benefits are clearly there, but even so, many in the industry believe it will take time for builders and consumers to develop confidence in the advantages that bio based resins can offer.

Like so many areas of modern construction, while any move to bio content is a welcome step forward, technology is evolving continually. And while the materials themselves are important, so too are the discussions around construction techniques as the whole manufacturing process comes under review.

‘We have worked with Spirit Yachts since they started,’ continues Johnson. ‘One of their latest builds is focussed heavily on being as ecofriendly as possible and for this we supplied Pro-Set laminating epoxy for external hull sheathing. The intention is to use Pro-Set adhesives for the structural bonding once the hull is turned over. This new 30-footer is designed to be a very eco-friendly yacht and we have been working closely with the Spirit Yachts production team to minimise the quantity of consumable materials used in the build.

‘We have also worked closely with RS Sailing on the new RS Pulse 58 electric-powered RIB and are supplying our Pro-Set bio-based infusion epoxy to this project.

‘So it is issues like this that are starting to steer the agenda when it comes to choosing the right materials to achieve a green result.’

Little surprise then, that as the green debate continues to spread throughout the sport, any business that uses composite materials is likely to be looking at bio right now.

Click here for more information on Wessex Resins »

The disruptions of 2020 have only increased the opportunities, appetite and scope for the brilliant young Italian engineers at UBI Maior to dream up ever more seductive ways to speed up your yacht...

The global pandemic has stopped or slowed many manufacturers in many industries, but not the team at UBI Maior Italia. Their crew has not only been kept busy with attacking their backlogs in production and working out how to streamline their processes, they’ve also managed to launch a new product that will bring faster and more efficient boathandling to a growing sector of performance sailing.

One positive outcome of the pandemic pause has been to give boat owners, their families and their friends an opportunity to re-connect with sailing, particularly those accustomed to the rush of chasing results in a busy regatta schedule. The restrictions have given an opportunity to refresh our connection to the sea in a slower, more organic way, with fewer crew now a common feature, and when there is racing it is often offered in formats that are shorthanded or at least with reduced crew. Or sometimes not racing at all, but turning the clock back to when leisure sailing was the norm, either out for the day or weekend, or on extended trips cruising.

In many areas this has actually increased interest in boat use, even with the cancellation of the normal regattas, as many have sought refuge from the isolation of lockdowns and restrictions to find freedom in sailing.

Main picture: UBI Maior Italiaʼs stellar reputation for high-performance yacht racing hardware innovation is founded on the success of its Jiber headsail furlers, which dramatically reduce aero drag by furling around a rod forestay rather than a headfoil. The Jiber range has now been extended to include two models for larger yachts, all the way up to maxi size!
Below: the Jiber range now includes hydraulic through-deck versions

UBI Maior Italia is helping meet this demand for a different, simpler kind of sailing by focusing on continued development of a product line that helped introduce them to the performance sailing world: the Jiber line of furlers. More specifically, the extension of the Jiber line into larger racing and cruising yachts that could benefit from the increased performance, reliability and versatility of this state of the art furling system.

The Jiber line’s evolutionary roots lie in the UBI Maior Italia team’s passion for innovation and improvement through clever design, re-design and use of the highest quality, most appropriate materials in fabrication of their products. What we may have believed were hardware items that had been fully developed with no further need for improvement, UBI Maior Italia then surprises us with an introduced new product that finds even greater efficiency in design, utility and performance.

When first introduced a few years ago, the Jiber system represented a huge leap forward with its light weight and versatility. The design uses the rod forestay to link the drum and swivel, and rotates to transmit the torque and furl the sail. The sail can be hoisted up and down, while the halyard tension can be adjusted at any time. The shuttle locks in position and unlocks automatically, guaranteeing faster, safer sailing and easier boat handling. Moreover, eliminating the need for a metallic headfoil saves many kilograms in weight aloft, making a direct translation to improved stability, reduced pitch gyradius and thus increased performance: the weight savings of 30kg on a typical 45ft boat translates to an increase in stability equivalent to having two crew hiking on the rail.

The proven popularity of the Jiber system among both custom and production boatbuilders relies on more than just clever design, but use of high-quality materials in the component parts and versatility in installation styles. Weight and reliability of the top and bottom units are assured with use of 6082T6 aluminium alloy milled from a single block and anodised. Polished 17-4 stainless or titanium is used in critical high-load areas, and carbon fibre or 3D-printed high-performance nylon plastic is used where metal is not needed, all to optimise strength, durability and weight. Bottom drum types are offered as three options: an open drum type for discontinuous furler lines, a more closed wheel-type for use with a continuous line system, and a clever under-deck installation that minimises the on-deck footprint of the system to maximise the available sail area for the headsail. With all types, friction is minimised with use of high-strength roller thrust bearings and caged low-friction Torlon ball bearings.

Jiber’s lower profile dimensions of the top and bottom units allow for larger headsail sail area in the existing space, especially with the under-deck style of lower drum unit installation – this can increase luff lengths by tens of centimetres in a place where the headsail’s aerodynamic efficiency is not compromised by detached flow of leaking air pressure caused by gaps at the foot of the sail.

The Jiber TX line offers the same design and performance features for headstays composed of textile or composite materials, with attachment hardware designed to be suitable for these materials. And those who choose to upgrade from a conventional Nitronic headstay and alloy foil furling arrangement to a Jiber TX system will see the greatest possible gain in performance due to the substantial loss in weight aloft.

Jiber 60 and Jiber 80
Demand for the efficiencies of the Jiber line of furlers has now extended into the larger yacht market, where there is an exponential increase in loads and friction. The team at UBI Maior Italia has met this with two new products in the Jiber line: the new Jiber 60 for fibre headstay systems, along with the development of an even larger line, the Jiber 80.

Until now the Jiber 40 and Jiber 40 TX were the largest options in the product line, and with a breaking load of 17 tons, its use was limited to boats from 45 to 52ft in length with -40 rod headstay sizing or its composite equivalent. The new Jiber 60 will extend the range of application to yachts in the 60-65ft range, a very active area of development, especially among the newest generation of Imoca class offshore yachts where there is the highest pressure for absolute reliability and performance.

The basic design concepts for this larger Jiber line are about the same with some small but important variations. First, there is a shift in use of materials towards even greater optimisation for weight, durability and strength. For example, in the -60 line there is expanded use of 3D-printed PA12 Nylon in nonstrength applications such as the drum covers, and a choice of using more Titanium in the component parts than standard anodised aluminium or stainless steel, with this metal’s dramatic decrease in weight and increase in strength.

Above: Jibers are known for superlative build quality with top and bottom units milled from solid blocks of high-grade aluminium alloy plus titanium and carbon fibre components. Theyʼre also versatile with three different bottom drum options.
Below: this through-deck Jiber 60 on Cippalippa X saves a useful amount of weight aloft while closing the slot between the J1 headsail and the deck

Yet there are also critical design differences that make the -60 even more effective in this size range: in a partnership with fellow Italian innovators at Cariboni, the optional application of hydraulic power to both the adjustable cunningham and furling drum systems. This is an exciting development for UBI Maior Italia to enter a new market where only the legacy suppliers have focused on function without the same passion for reduced weight to also enhance performance.

The luff loads on headsails in this size range are often too great to allow adjustment through halyard tension, so the use of halyard locks is common to help eliminate transmitting this load to the deck and seeing stretch in the halyard itself. This makes particular sense for furled headsails where the sail is rarely removed anyway.

This does, however, necessitate the use of a cunningham to make the adjustments needed to control sail shape. As modern sails have developed to be extremely low stretch in their engineering, the range of adjustment required is small but under high load – a perfect application for hydraulic adjustment, and the UBI Maior Italia team has come up with a clever way to handle this as an alternative to the conventional halyard-tensioned systems in the -60 line.

Similarly, and particularly in the under-deck application, hydraulic power can be applied to the furling function too, and UBI Maior Italia is currently in development with Cariboni for this exciting function as well. Compared with current hydraulic furling systems on the market it is estimated that the new Jiber system would dramatically reduce the weight to half the current product values.

And these innovations for the -60 line are also being developed for the an even larger -80 line, bringing Jiber design and efficiency within reach of the Maxi class.

‘We have the Jiber system mounted on the structural stay of our 160 m² J1 headsail,’ says Edoardo Mazucco, captain of the Vismara-Mills 69 Nacira. ‘We made this choice because the model is designed and built for the high loads which are involved on our boat. It is extremely reliable and easy to use, characteristics that are essential for us, especially on a cruising boat. These features, combined with the modern design that perfectly matches the sporty character of the boat, the minimal need for maintenance and the availability of the whole UBI Maior Italia team in customer assistance made the decision of relying on them, even for the furlers, an absolute winning one.’

Another satisfied customer is Guido Paolo Gamucci, owner of the Mylius 60 CK Cippalippa, a perennial winner in the Mediterranean offshore yacht racing scene. ‘The Jiber system is definitely better-performing than any other furlers I've had on my boats,’ he says. ‘On a light displacement boat such as Cippalippa X, it is the only system that allows you to have the advantage of a furler while keeping the boat's high performance. The usage of soft hanks on furling sails is the real innovative idea for furlers.'

Click here for more information on UBI Maior Italia »

Not so long ago the idea of employing composite rigging on an 81-metre world girdling schooner would have earned you a medical referral. Today it’s the obvious choice, even for Royal Huisman’s biggest sailing vessel

Solid carbon rigging for an 81-metre three-masted Panamax schooner? No problem at all. When Royal Huisman built the world’s largest aluminium-hulled sailing yacht – the Dykstra-designed Sea Eagle II, delivered in July – the standing rigging was custom made by Carbo-Link.

Sea Eagle II is one of the 10 largest sailing yachts in the world and the largest vessel Huisman has ever built. The 90-metre Athena is a bit longer if you count her bowsprit, but in terms of gross tonnage – which for superyachts is the measurement that really counts – the 1,150GT Sea Eagle II is in a different league. Before the build could start, Huisman first had to extend its biggest shed.

The project began back in 2016 when the Taiwanese businessman and philanthropist Dr Samuel Yin commissioned Huisman to build his ideal world cruising yacht. A lifelong sailor with a lot of offshore voyaging experience, Dr Yin already had a Royal Huisman superyacht – the 43-metre cruiser-racer Sea Eagle – when he decided to build something truly exceptional.

The design brief for Sea Eagle II contained plenty of pragmatism amongst the superlatives. The owner’s priorities were eminently sensible: low maintenance, functionality and safety. The exterior design and styling – a collaboration between Dykstra and Mark Whiteley – is sleek and purposeful, yet sensibly understated, resolutely modern but destined to become a classic.

The same philosophy extends to the rig. Sea Eagle II carries a mighty 3,500 square metres of upwind canvas split between seven sails: three fully battened mainsails with generous amounts of roach, two staysails, a yankee and a blade jib. It's a practical configuration for a vessel of this size, giving a 60-metre air draught that allows her to slip beneath the Bridge Of The Americas at the western end of the Panama Canal and circumnavigate the world in warm weather while similar-sized sloop-rigged yachts are obliged to lower their masts or make an 8,000-mile detour. The choice of a schooner rig might be informed by practical considerations but it still produces enough power to achieve more than 20kts on passage.

The carbon masts, roller-furling booms and deck hardware, including 34 winches with working loads of up to 18 tons, were built by Royal Huisman’s sister company Rondal and designed as a fully integrated sailing system with the emphasis on simple, effective sail control for the crew of 13. A stand-out innovation of Sea Eagle II’s rig is a hydraulic crow’s nest on the mainmast, which guests can ascend to enjoy an amazing view.

Doyle supplied the sails and worked closely with Rondal, Dykstra and others to ensure optimum fluid and structural interaction between all three masts across an extensive variety of sailing load cases – a complex task given this yacht’s ability to set any combination of up to eight different sails, fully hoisted or partially furled, on her three masts at any time.

Carbo-Link supplied a bespoke CL Solid: Round rigging package including two forestays, three sets of continuous lateral rigging and two triatics. The backstays were supplied in Kevlar at the client’s request. ‘The rigging for Sea Eagle II’s foremast is among the largest continuous lateral yacht rigging solutions we have built with cable diameters up to 55mm,’ says James Wilkinson, business development manager at Carbo-Link. ‘But that’s still a relatively small cable cross-section given the stiffness requirements.’ Indeed, the design engineers had specified stiffness of up to 435MN and working loads of up to 125 tons. ‘That’s more than enough load capacity to easily carry 10 double decker buses, or a blue whale!’ Wilkinson explains.

An important part of continuous rigging at this size is the vertical/diagonal intersection. Titanium spreader bends are fully integrated into the cables at pre-determined locations to interface with Rondal’s specially designed spreaders, allowing efficient load transfer into the rig and visa versa. The rigging is fully solid in this area, with no transition of intermediate fibres or bonded joints and fully engineered to support the joint when rigging is bent or unloaded in leeward sailing cases.

Even these massively strong cables are effectively just a midrange product for Carbo-Link, which builds enormous solid carbon cables for civil and industrial engineering applications. ‘Liebherr has been using our CL Solid crane pendants since 2003 for many of their cranes,’ Wilkinson says. ‘The largest of these reaches a maximum hoist height of 220 metres with a maximum load capacity of 350 tons.’ The cable terminations and raw carbon fibres are different but in structural terms the key difference between these crane pendants and CL Solid yacht rigging is that the former are seriesmanufactured in standard sizes while the latter are designed, engineered and manufactured on a bespoke basis.

‘The same technology has been developed and tested for stadium roof applications,’ Wilkinson says. ‘We have a number of those projects in the pipeline with working loads of up to 500 tons, using a thimble-less spherical bearing termination. The cable diameters are in the 100mm range.’ If a yacht three times the size of Sea Eagle II is ever built, the technology to rig it already exists.

Despite the size of these rigs, the deck interfaces take advantage of Carbo-Link’s integrated cable terminations. The cables feature shimmed pin terminations which interface with custom shimmed titanium toggles. ‘This shimming allows a useful adjustment range if and when required within a neat, simple package,’ Wilkinson says, ‘though the mast configurations were modelled accurately resulting in a relatively fixed, reliable rake position and subsequent cable lengths.

‘Our fully integrated cable fittings result in a lightweight and neat aesthetic interface to the toggle. There are no threaded fittings in the chainplate configuration, so maintenance and long-term service is minimal and cost effective for such large components. Threaded turnbuckles may well have ended up larger, heavier and would have needed more thorough service and maintenance as a result of the large loads applied to the threaded parts.’

Like all CL Solid cables, Sea Eagle II’s rigging package was designed, engineered and manufactured at Carbo-Link’s hi-tech factory near Zurich in Switzerland. It’s GLcertified, of course, but far exceeds that standard, built to a higher specification in an AS9100D aerospace-certified facility. The CL Solid rigging was fully cured and finished at the factory and delivered by regular freight train to Amsterdam.

‘We have a train loading bay right next to our factory that allows any composite solutions up to around 80 metres long to be efficiently loaded,’ Wilkinson explains. ‘We manage all of the logistics in collaboration with Switzerland’s famously efficient train operator, SBB, so we can deliver our rigging almost anywhere in Europe and even further afield through a well-developed, organised and efficient transport network.’

Above: Carbo- Linkʼs fully integrated cable end fittings result in a lightweight and neat aesthetic interface.
Below: the standing rigging for Sea Eagle IIʼs massive schooner rig was dressed to each side of the 60- metre masts in just 45 minutes at the Huisfit shipyard in Zaandam with technicians from Carbo- Link and Rondal in attendance. These 55mm CL Solid round cables have working loads of up to 125 tons. The cable terminations are elegantly simple with shimmed pins and custom shimmed titanium toggles

The final stage in the delivery, from a rail terminal in Amsterdam to the Huisfit shipyard in Zaandam, was a short hop on a barge. ‘It’s a simple and efficient delivery for a project of this scale, saving both time and money in on-site logistics,’ Wilkinson says. ‘Carbo-Link technicians were present for the unloading and loading of the train and barge, and also for the dressing and stepping procedures. One side of the lateral rigging was dressed to the 60-metre masts in just 45 minutes.’

The final stage of commissioning Sea Eagle II’s rigging was the simple, routine task of vibration damping. Vibration can affect all types of rigging, or any cable or rope under tension and exposed to airflow, due to a phenomenon known as vortex shedding. It doesn’t affect all yachts and cannot be pre-empted at the design stage due to the unpredictable behaviour and interplay between a vast array of different factors when the mast and rigging is assembled in its real environment.

‘The variables include cable tension, cross-section, shape, length, deck and mast interface configuration, deck construction material and stiffness, mast stiffness and dynamic behaviour, wind speed, angle, density, varying weather conditions, and more,’ Wilkinson says. ’It is impossible to guarantee that any type of rigging will not vibrate. All dynamic loads and inservice system configurations must be taken into account to determine the likelihood of vibration and the necessary solution if required.’

Carbo-Link has invested years of R&D in vibration mitigation and has invented a straightforward solution that has proven to be effective, requires no special skills to implement and can be done by a yacht’s crew in a couple of hours. CL Dampers are discreet, lightweight devices with precision-engineered internal chambers, which simply clamp around a solid carbon cable and prevent it from vibrating. A crewman is hoisted aloft to identify which cable is driving the vibration in the rig, simply by grasping them in sequence until it stops. A CL Damper is then clamped to that cable, about a metre from the mast interface, and slid up or down until its damping effect is complete.

‘Some yachts endure vibration unnecessarily, a quick phone call to us and a simple task for the crew could solve it immediately,’ Wilkinson says. ‘CL Dampers will work on any type of carbon rigging – we’ve even made some for one of the teams in the current America’s Cup.’

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