The biggest keelboat regatta in America… take a wild guess?

For the past 10 of its 22 years, Sperry Charleston Race Week has seen its popularity explode as more and more teams from the US and beyond have discovered the unique pleasures of springtime racing in a historic city known for its ambience of charm and its southern hospitality. After several years of very rapid growth, the combination of an attractive destination, excellence in event management, consistently great sailing conditions and a time-efficient format has all contributed to this event becoming the largest keelboat regatta in both North and South America. No wonder entries now reliably exceed 250 boats – divided into multiple one-design and handicap classes.

And then of course there are the beach parties… Charleston in the spring is a magical place: mild weather, Southern hospitality, history and culture, and azaleas in full bloom helped prompt Travel & Leisure magazine to name Charleston the ‘No.1 Destination city in the US and Canada’ for the past four years straight (Charleston was upgraded to No.1 Destination city in the world for 2016).

A wide variety of housing styles – from a newly renovated luxury hotel on site to rental houses on the beaches nearby to discount motels – are readily available for Race Week. With connections to all major airline hubs, in one stop Charleston is reachable from nearly anywhere in the world, which is why there’s been a noticeable increase in international participation as the event has grown. Accessible, affordable, enjoyable… that usually makes for an attractive offer.

Another attractive feature is a convenient, centralised venue: at Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina – a key event supporter – there is space for entries and support boats plus the commute to the inshore race areas rarely exceeds 20 minutes. The casual racers in the Pursuit Class actually start and finish at the marina itself as they enjoy racing once a day on courses set in and around the harbour. The larger and faster boats have a little further to commute to an area just outside the harbour, where they can enjoy deeper water and the steadier winds of the coastal Atlantic.

Most one-design entries from around the US trailer their boats here, those who come from overseas either chartering locally or shipping to Charleston. Because of the timing and easy logistics, those coming from overseas with their own boats can participate at Race Week either at the end of a winter tour of the big events further south – and still ship out for their own summer season – or use Race Week as the beginning of a summer of fun as the fleets and favourable climate gently migrate north.

Regardless of where they come from and on which race area they compete, all participants pass alongside the shoreside venue where nightly seminars, live entertainment and daily awards are all held under the palm trees on Charleston’s immaculate sandy beaches. Meanwhile, a convenient race village gives sponsors and vendors a chance to meet and greet… and share the day’s stories in an open-air setting where plenty of food, music and libation contribute to evenings of serious fun to complement each day’s serious racing.

And how serious is the racing? Enough to attract the top talent in popular one-design classes such as the C&C 30s, J/70s, J/80s, J/22s, Melges 24s, Melges 20s and Viper 640s. Multiple races per day over four days mean 10 races or more, giving excellent bang-forthe- buck and testing skills through a range of conditions that can vary from nice to nuclear.

And a unique feature of Race Week is that it’s not uncommon to see top racers from these classes and elsewhere – such as from the Volvo Ocean Race, the Olympics, and the America’s Cup – walking the docks, out on the racecourse and in the sand each night…

‘We are fortunate to have a great venue, enthusiastic participants and a great history of partnerships with our supporters,’ says Randy Draftz, chairman of Sperry Charleston Race Week. ‘We listen to everyone – sponsors, sailors and industry members – to harvest the best ideas and use them to continue to improve our event. With some new classes coming in 2017, the new hotel completed and other new features we look forward to another great week.’

So put 20-23 April 2017 in the diary. An event as good as this in Charleston really is a bit special.

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The contrasting clothing demands of an America’s Cup multihull crew and a Vendée Globe skipper are meat and drink to a good R&D team

Offshore…
The coming year is a big one for round-the-world racing, with the Vendée Globe reaching its climax at the start of 2017 and the Volvo Ocean Race kicking off at the end of the year. Musto is closely involved in both events, with three of the big Vendée names opting to partner with Musto for their three-month solo circumnavigation. Musto is also the official clothing partner for the Volvo, with a number of crews choosing to wear Musto for their own nine-month adventure around the planet.

One man who knows both events better than most is new CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, Mark Turner. It was Turner who ran Ellen MacArthur’s Vendée Globe campaign in 2000 when the diminutive 24-year-old finished runner-up at her first attempt on the solo classic. MacArthur was wearing Musto then and Turner has worked closely with the British brand ever since.

‘I think from a technical perspective Musto has been the most consistent performer,’ says Turner. ‘If you want to know you’re going to be protected in the best possible way in an offshore environment, you will never go wrong with Musto. And I think any sailor would agree with that. There are plenty of other products, obviously, so there are choices, but the one brand that you know from an offshore perspective that is going to give you at least as good, if not better, than anything else, is going to be Musto.’

Turner says the kit Ellen was wearing was very good, but that things have moved on apace since then. ‘The development since has just made everything lighter, more flexible and more comfortable. In the old days it felt like you were putting on a straightjacket sometimes, especially as it was still probably wet from the last time you came off watch. It used to be a bit of a mission to put your kit on, especially if you were by yourself in the Vendée. Now you see people wearing offshore gear that for its light weight and flexibility we would have considered to be inshore wear a decade ago.’

In the 2016/17 Vendée three of the French favourites – Jérémie Beyou, Vincent Riou and Armel Le Cléac’h – are wearing Musto. Competing in his third solo circumnavigation, the 40-year-old Beyou has won the Solitaire du Figaro three times. But he has yet to finish a Vendée and the Maître Coq skipper will be looking to put that right at his third attempt.

Riou, a former understudy to the legendary Michel Desjoyeaux, won the Vendée at his first attempt back in 2005, so the PRB skipper knows what it takes to top the toughest of podiums. But arguably the favourite is Armel Le Cléac’h, runner-up in the past two editions and meticulously prepared for this one. ‘For me those two second places were very different,’ says Le Cléac’h. ‘Eight years ago, my first Vendée, I ended up second with a lot of luck. Many of the boats ahead of me failed to finish, which opened up the way for a podium.

‘But four years later it was another kind of race because I was racing for victory almost until the end. So that time it was disappointing to be so close but to miss out on winning. So this year there is only one goal: to win. Being second again, or any other position, would be a failure.’

The 39-year-old skipper of Banque Populaire is one of the best-prepared sailors in the world and for his three-month solo circumnavigation he plans to leave as little to chance as possible. He is very comfortable with his choice of Musto to keep him operating at the highest level for the 80-odd days that he’ll be at sea.

‘For my first Vendée Globe I wasn’t yet working with Musto. I had an arrangement with another company, but I was still using some of Musto’s outer layers because for me they were the best-performing option, offering the highest level of waterproofness for a challenge as tough as the Vendée. Then when I started working with Banque Populaire back in 2011, during the build-up to the last Vendée, that’s when I started working closely with Musto and I have been happy with our partnership ever since.’

A Vendée skipper has to cope with the whole range of climates and conditions, from the stifling heat of the tropics to the unrelenting chill of the Southern Ocean. ‘For a long time Musto have been at the forefront of using different layers to deal with changing temperatures,’ says Le Cléac’h. ‘The layering system was already working well for me in the last race and the products have continued to improve since. This time I have no worries about comfort racing around the world.’

While Armel Le Cléac’h will be at sea for over two months Franck Cammas and his America’s Cup team get to sleep in a dry bed each night. But while AC clothing demands are very different to those of a Vendée Globe skipper, the challenge for the clothing supplier is just as big. The technical clothing worn by today’s AC crews must obviously always remain waterproof, but it must do so while offering maximum flexibility to conserve energy plus physical protection against high speed impact. Not an easy balance to strike...

And inshore too…
The Vendée Globe is all about energy preservation, keeping the skipper as dry and comfortable as possible for the 80-day ‘journey’ around the world. In the America’s Cup the races are just 20 minutes long, and the technical challenge for Musto – working with Franck Cammas and Groupama Team France – is quite different.

Cammas explains some of the challenges onboard a foiling AC50 as it hurtles above the surface at up to 50kt. ‘Wind chill is no longer a problem because the materials in modern technical clothing are now so good, although noise in the helmet is an issue,’ he says.

‘But breathability is critical as the guys on the boat are working at around 400 watts’ physical output, so we need the body to be working at a comfortable temperature and not to overheat through exertion.’

It’s some measure of how the Cup has changed that teams are now using the same language as Tour de France cyclists, where 400 watts of physical output is the typical number being generated by only the world’s very best road cyclists. ‘In a 20-minute race the crew are operating at an average of around 400 watts, but with peaks of around 630 watts for 30-second bursts,’ says Cammas.

Aside from the typical demands of the sailor for high levels of waterproofness and breathability there is the new requirement for impact protection. Foiling is still a new science and the boats can spin out with little notice, sometimes resulting in nosedives that can bring the boat to a dead stop from 30kt in the blink of an eye. If you can imagine going from 30 to zero in a car without a seatbelt, then you have some idea why impact protection is a priority.

Musto has been working hard with Cammas’s team to develop impact protection that can be inserted into neoprene garments. ‘We need body protection pretty much everywhere,’ says Cammas. According to Musto design manager Shane Rhone, the company’s latest AC50 outfits feature 16 impactprotection pockets: one for the spine, one for the coccyx and two each for shoulders, elbows, forearms, hips, knees, shins and upper side thighs. ‘We now use D3O, which is recognised as one of the best impact-protection solutions on the market,’ says Rhone.

‘D3O molecules in their raw state flow freely when moving slowly, but on shock the molecules lock together to absorb and disperse energy, before instantly returning again to their flexible state. Contrary to what you might expect, the greater the impact, the more the molecules lock together and the greater the protection.’

Cammas is pleased with developments. ‘The crashes are hard and they hurt so we need the protection, but we also need to be able to retain movement and flexibility. It’s a difficult challenge but it is interesting working with Musto on this new problem.’

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Many of the most elegant developments in composite racing equipment historically emerge from the fastest small boat classes. A relatively young UK group of carbon specialists are currently showing how it’s done…

As the development of modern dinghies and yachts continues to progress so sailing speeds increase and fleets become tighter. Gains are harder to find but arguably more important. As well as reducing hull weights, increasing righting moments and improving foils, another big chunk of performance gain has been achieved through rigs and sails. An area that has been ignored, until recently, has been the sail batten. This is probably due to the small gains available vs larger speed gains available elsewhere, but every small gain is now critical.

Moth rigs have evolved a lot over the past 5 years as upwind speeds increase while the need for power downwind is always there. Given the limited sail area on a Moth, 8.25m2, there is a big trade-off between upwind and offwind performance. High upwind speeds produce high AWS numbers, resulting in a very overpowered boat that requires depowering quickly. But turn the corner and maximum horsepower is needed to go low and fast.

Membrane sails are now produced with almost zero broadseam (panel shaping) and only luff round. We then rely on the battens to do most of the work of pushing the sail shape and camber into the desired position. The biggest gains we have made over the past year have been through carefully working with each batten individually, adjusting stiffness and taper position, to achieve the flying shape we want.

Ultimately a shape compromise has to be made downwind vs upwind. Sails have all been driven towards upwind shapes, though on a stiff rig the high luff round allows them to gain depth once controls are eased.

Tapers in Moth battens have been pushed forward to allow the batten to hold straight in the exit which in turn holds the sail straight, keeping the leech as flat as possible. As we move up the sail the battens generally get softer and the taper moves aft – this is all to help the sail round up when controls are loosened downwind.

Customised Composites have led the way with this development, working with sailmakers and sailors to provide a reliable, light product to the specification that we need to deliver all-round speed.

We have also seen ‘trickle-up’ in 2016 with our Fast40+ Invictus using a set of carbon battens from the company. The top three battens of a Fast40 main get plenty of impact and odd loadings with the runners, especially in the pre-start. The battens have proved reliable and incredibly light compared to carbon battens of the same stiffness from other sources.
Rob Greenhalgh

Customised Composites
The team at Customised Composites have been working with the best racing teams around the world to develop a range of carbon sail hardware that is not only durable, but also tailored to specific class and sail design requirements. The idea of a batten is a slight paradox – few other products require a predetermined, controlled stiffness, while being as flexible as possible in order to ‘pop’ or tack under load.

Above: Originally created for and then tested to destruction in the Moth class (above), these tiny 10mm carbon battens not only support the leech of the sail in the normal way but also have the additional task (below) of forcing shape into the sail itself using the luff cam system that was first developed for windsurfing. Note too the canting rudder gantry on Rob Greenhalgh’s boat (above). Sail depths in the class are increasing and with that so does the challenge of building a batten that is stiff enough to be fast but flexible enough to be tacked quite easily

It is a commonly held view that carbon battens, and other sail hardware, are easily broken and generally chosen for aesthetics; this was indeed true in some early products. But, with improvements in materials and manufacturing, it is no longer the case – in classes such as the Moth it is now simply not possible to achieve today’s optimal sail shape without the use of specialised carbon battens.

Our work with Moth battens has led to many wider developments. We now produce a range of battens that feature very aggressive tapers over a short distance along the batten. This allowed us to control and develop the stiffness of specific parts of the battens, permitting draught position and the amount of shape in any part of the sail to be accurately controlled. With these battens we can effectively position the shape of sail however the sailor wishes, tailoring it for different wind strengths and sailing conditions.

Most sail designers will specify batten stiffness using an EI formula, where E is the Young’s Modulus of the material used and I represents the moment of inertia of the shape being examined. Current Moth sails require an EI of 10-15 to support the leech of the sail, from a 10mm wide batten. This cannot be achieved using glass battens without making a batten that is thicker than it is wide, so causing the batten to try to rotate within the pocket; such glass battens are also significantly heavier, not ideal in a boat that is trying to fly.

Due to the fixed foils all the modern Moths are launched in a capsized state, which as the boat enters the surf can, if not controlled correctly, be very destructive on the sail hardware. Some manufacturers continue to produce carbon battens using outdated resin systems, which in turn produce a batten with a relatively low E value and a structure that does not offer a particularly good bend radius.

We have experimented with a number of resin systems and manufacturing techniques before settling on our current solution, which allows the front end of our carbon battens to be bent through almost 180° without failure. We manufacture our battens from HTS pre-preg carbon-fibre unidirectional fabrics, achieving the desired engineering properties and physical dimensions through careful control of the shape and thickness of each individual ply, rather than machining down to the desired thicknesses post-cure. This method allows us to retain continuous fibres on the outside of either side of the batten, helping to prevent splintering and splitting through continued flexing and maximising durability compared with a typical machined product.

Our laminates are cured at around 150° under 5 bar of pressure to ensure a consistent void-free final product. This overall improvement in laminate quality has led to huge improvements in the bending characteristics. This is measured as a bend radius – the smaller the radius the batten can bend around without failing the better. We found in testing that we can improve the bend radius by around 20% through improvements in manufacturing techniques. The past two seasons in the Solent have witnessed the explosion of the Fast 40+ fleet – light, stripped-out racing boats all of which sport long (3m draught) keels with large bulbs and lightweight rigs. These exciting boats are most easily described as a smaller TP52, though they can deliver relatively higher performance.

The formula has produced a growing number of 40-42ft racing boats that are very fast upwind and can plane downwind at 25kt or more.

With the development of this type of yacht has come the requirement for higher aspect ratio rig design with large roached jibs and mainsails. This has generated an additional challenge for the sail hardware as the interaction with running rigging becomes far more dynamic.

All of the development work we have been carrying out in the dinghy classes has been translated directly into the Fast 40+ fleet and the battens we first developed for Invictus, who won the final round of the season using our latest battens. These were developed to match the EI and the bend characteristics of the current glass battens while reducing the weight of the sail. Today’s Fast 40+ mainsail designs require four full-length top battens to support the large roach and deliver the desired shape. The three lower battens are very simple, but the top long battens have taken experimentation, trying different taper ratios and stiffnesses to identify the optimum solution.

Invictus is now using a full set of our carbon battens and we have been able to save 2kg from the top four battens alone; on a 10m lever that is a significant amount of free extra righting moment. To get the full benefit of a modern sail you require a similarly modern batten to support it. Are we not now at the point where carbon battens and other hardware such as headboards and clew plates should be standard fitment on any serious raceboat?

Paul Roberts, CustomisedComposites

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Of many changes being made for the next Volvo Ocean Race it is the dramatic alteration to the crew format that is likely to have the biggest influence on the results. Blue Robinson talks wholesale revamp with Sam Davies and Sophie Ciszek of Team SCA and 2014 winner Ian Walker

Seahorse Magazine:What were your thoughts when you heard of the proposal from Volvo on the different crew ratios permitted in the next race?

Sam Davies: I was aware this was in the pipeline as I had spoken to Knut Frostad and Mark Turner at the Yacht Racing Forum in Geneva last winter, so I have had time to reflect on it. I know Knut and Mark have been considering it since before the end of the last race and initially I wasn’t so sure, as we had such a great team with SCA which was the second all-female crew I raced round the world with. Both crews promoted professional sailing for women, encouraging others to do the same. It was an honour to sail with such a talented group on SCA, with Olympic and world champions in the team; we finished third in the inshore series and won a leg, but we struggled with offshore experience.

Boathandling in the Southern Ocean is all about experience, the big loads and dealing with the inevitable wipe-out situations. Every single crash we did was a first for us, whereas the guys have done it all so often, during the VOR and on the big private campaigns on the offshore circuit that are hard for us to access – and if we do get onboard those boats we have no responsibility. Whenever it gets tough and decisions have to be made, it’s not women onboard who are making the calls. So on reflection, yes, I’m really pleased with what has been done for the next race.

SH: How will the male crews respond…

SD: To begin with there will be sacrifices and compromises. The guys will have to take a step backwards as they will have to understand they will be sailing with people who are less experienced than they are used to. Even though we raced the last VOR, we still have less experience than these guys, but they know they are going to have to select good women sailors to win the next race. So the more the guys help us progress the more it helps them win. Initially it will be tricky, and the guys will get frustrated at the start of this process, but soon this will be normal…

SH: Reactions from other SCA crew?

SD: I haven’t spoken to all the team, some of them were already working hard to continue with the Magenta project – with the same crew. If that had happened Mark Turner might have had less pressure on him to push these new rules forward. Mark wants women in this race, he wanted what we achieved on SCA in 2014/15 not to be wasted. Some of the girls will be disappointed as SCA was a great team and we learned so much. We could feel how much we were improving but I don’t know if the outside world saw that. There is so much more potential we didn’t get to see had we raced again with the same crew. Of course we would do things differently, but I can tell you we would be up there with the results.

SH: Sophie, what are your thoughts?

Sophie Ciszek: For me it has all been positive, especially here in Australia where I sail with a group of guys on Ichi Ban. They’ve all been encouraging. It brings a new focus onto the race. I see it as a bit like the under-30 rule – the more experienced guys have no choice but to take on these younger crew and try to teach them everything they know with their years of VOR experience. This is largely what has kept the race alive, with the younger generation coming through to then take lead roles onboard. I think that was an enforced rule that worked; and to get women more involved is another good solution with similarly beneficial prospects. There was only so much we could learn off each other in the last race, so to have the chance to be sailing alongside the guys will be awesome in fast-tracking female sailors to gain more serious offshore experience.

SH: Surely a mixed crew is also more advantageous to potential sponsors…

Sam Davies: Absolutely, and that is the value of the VOR. It’s not just getting PR about your company, but it is the closeness to a company. At every stopover we held pro-am races with lots of guests coming onboard. So they raced on or visited the boat, spending time with the skipper and crew – that is unique in sport. In motorsport the guests can’t touch the car let alone get in it, or race it, so sailing has that extraordinary advantage. Plus of course there really aren’t single-gender corporations now – there are quotas to include women, and that parallel was missing in the VOR. Sponsors see that. The more we can maintain these parallels and make it interesting to sponsors the more we will continue – and the better the sailors will get.

SH: Having skippered a VO65 around the planet, which combination stands out?

SD: Firstly, it’s great to have the option to not have the same combination or number on every leg, especially with the legs being radically different next time. There are legs where it will be an advantage to have more people and legs when it’s better to be light. The squad system we used on SCA with two spare people resting we know works well; we didn’t have reserves, we had people rotating because the VOR is so gruelling and the stopovers are so short. So hopefully it won’t be just one girl per team but a mixed squad that has several female crew to rotate. Having people know in advance which legs they are on and when they can rest is also a big advantage.

SH: Have either of you been approached?

SD: I have spoken to a few people. But with the boats foiling I am mad keen on the Imoca class again, so I am working on the Vendée Globe in 2020. However, the VOR is such a great race… if I find a way to do a few legs next time I’d jump at it.

SC: Not yet! I’m here and ready to go…

Ian Walker

SH: Which of the new crew combinations appeal to you, particularly for the long Cape Town-Hong Kong leg?

Ian Walker: I think it would be hard to sail with fewer than eight onboard. It’s difficult to make watch systems work and you have no cover if someone is ill or injured, so it would be foolish not to have more hands. But do you go with eight or nine? I think nine is a big help, even when it is light: you have lots of code zero work, tacking and furling and hoisting, so realistically you need as many hands when it’s light as when it’s windy. On the last race I could have gone light from Abu Dhabi to China, a longish, light-air leg with lots of straightline sailing, but there isn’t really an obvious leg like that now. The shorter legs are mainly around coastlines with lots of boathandling, so seven men plus two women is the obvious choice for me.

SH: Five and five?

IW: There are only so many experienced women racing now, and if suddenly eight VOR teams secure two women each that has pretty much taken up the SCA group from the last race. So it’s not impossible, but if you are looking for women with plenty of offshore experience the pool is relatively small right now.

SH: Does this change the potential for sponsorship here?

IW: That is a core reason I think it has been done. Yes, it is to promote women’s sailing, but crucially most companies are now strongly equal opportunity and they want to be seen as such. If the sponsorship is coming from any sort of socially responsible corporate budget, there will be a very strong message to promote equal opportunities. That will help tick more boxes with potential corporate sponsorships than before.

SH: In a pretty brutal offshore environment what are the pluses and minuses of a mixed crew?

IW: Whenever I have sailed in mixed teams I have never really noticed, to be honest – it’s just high-level sailors I am racing with, male or female. I can imagine on a longer offshore leg certain different traits might start to play out, rather than racing inshore for a day, what these traits are I don’t know and are yet to be found out. As a skipper do you treat everyone the same? Or are there grounds for being aware of different sensitivities? How the guys react as much as the women react… I remember coaching Shirley Robertson and her female team in the Olympics, there were different things I needed to be aware of in how I approached the campaign; that could also play out in a long offshore programme. And don’t forget a lot of the women I sail with are tougher than many of the blokes I sail with…

SH: Do you think some of the guys will have to adjust their perceptions?

IW: I think most of us have sailed with women who are good enough to be in the team, and so we are fine with it. Whether it’s a woman or an under-30 crew or a first-time Chinese or Arab crewmember, it’s all about earning respect in the crew, and this can be done in a number of ways. Adil [Khalid] earned respect on Abu Dhabi for the things he did, the young Chinese guys did the same on Dongfeng. It is about physicality, enthusiasm, humour, mental resolve, decision making, technical skills, you just have to bring something to contribute to the team and earn the respect of the others. And if you don’t achieve this it always breaks down, because on a VOR people are under huge amounts of stress and fatigue. They are often also very cold and so people snap.

I guess it’s possible some sailors may be entrenched in their thinking, but they should approach this with an open mind. I did the charity sail around Britain and was very impressed with Dee Caffari, I really enjoyed sailing with her and came away knowing I would sail with her offshore again. If you approach this with the feeling the race isn’t what it used to be, and the boats aren’t what they used to be, and you are being forced to take women onboard, then that is one way to perceive it…

But look at Dongfeng, with two Chinese crew who really weren’t that experienced before the race. It was six crew and two offshore novices who didn’t speak English and they put in a massive performance and pushed us hard on Abu Dhabi.

The other component is how the under- 30 rule is going to be handled. Will you have two under-30 women? One male and one female? If all the under-30s are women that now prevents opportunities for the young guys… You could train up a really good, young, fit and strong woman and have an outstanding crew right there. I don’t know if I am underestimating the challenges here but I actually don’t think it is a big deal.

SH: Sailors like Sophie Ciszek and Annie Lush must be on the recruiting radar now.

IW: Yes, talented, fit and strong, but wouldn’t you rather have Sam Davies or Libby Greenhalgh in your nav station?

There is great potential here – on Abu Dhabi we spent so much time on deck that with a four-on four-off watch system the nav station was empty for long periods of time. The result was that we missed many opportunities to analyse performance and think through enough different options, or repeatedly run different routes and variables. That role is an obvious one for a good female navigator. Plus women will always be more interesting for the media as they are generally much more open than the guys… Interesting times.

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