A whole new ball game
OC Sport chairman Mark Turner is excited to be returning to the Volvo Ocean Race… as he tells Andy Rice
Mark Turner and Bruno Dubois have been waiting a long time for this opportunity, the chance to compete once again in the Volvo Ocean Race. The Briton and the Frenchman both competed as sailors in the 1989/90 edition. Now they return to the race as co-managers of the Dongfeng Race Team. Turner has earned a reputation for running a tight ship. He is only interested in projects that can wash their face financially, with the enduring success of the Extreme Sailing Series the best example. Turner believes that the Volvo Ocean Race’s shift to one-design Volvo Ocean 65s now makes it a commercially attractive event for the first time in its long history.
‘I did the race as a sailor a very long time ago and it has always been a passion of mine as an event,’ says the executive chairman of OC Sport. ‘We have tried in a major way to put a Volvo campaign together in the last two cycles. But we found it too difficult to raise the money that you needed for the expensive boat development process that was involved. We were involved in pitching for some campaigns in the last Volvo, and the minimum was a €25-30 million-plus budget. Even then you knew that you weren’t the biggest spender. In the previous format that extra money always had a significant impact on your performance.’ This time, says Turner, the numbers stack up.
‘For this race I think you can run a project at €14-15 million, about half of what was required before. But more important is the removal of that risk of having a slow boat and your entire project being put in jeopardy because you just got it wrong in some of the design decisions. For an event that is fully commercial – it’s all about sponsors, there are no private owners here – that creates a greater level of certainty. You can still lose and come last by sailing worse, but taking away that design uncertainty is a very good thing for an event that is funded by sponsors who are looking fundamentally for solid commercial return. The technical aspects are not very high up their list of concerns.’
When asked what will be different about this Chinese campaign compared with the previous two that have entered the Volvo Ocean Race – Green Dragon in 2008/09 and Team Sanya in 2011/12 – Turner counters: ‘This is the first Chinese team, not the third. Neither [Green Dragon nor Team Sanya] were Chinese projects in any way. They have taken a gesture Chinese guy onboard – and nothing wrong with that. That was the right solution for the right time in the way that those campaigns came together. This is pretty different: we have a commercial brand, a Chinese brand, as a title partner, a training base and the boat is on its way to China right now. We’ll be based there for several months. Bruno [Dubois, the team director] has already started the selection trial process in China.’
Turner says the longterm objective of this project is very different from the other Chinese campaigns, and any other Volvo Ocean Race campaign for that matter. ‘In the race after this one we could imagine the majority of the crew being Chinese, and the one after that with a Chinese skipper and a fully Chinese project with no need for anyone like us to come and help. That’s probably pretty different from the objectives of the non-Chinese guys involved in the previous events, where they would have been fighting hard to maintain their positions – and fair enough.
‘But that’s not our approach, it’s not the approach that we took setting up Oman Sail, for example. It’s all about working in such a way that if we do a good job they won’t need us in the future. That is our mission. The most important thing, for us, is leaving a legacy that develops social racing inside China and creates more talent for the future, more potential sponsors and a media and public that are more interested. Sailing is still a very niche sport in China with very little visibility. Hopefully with this team we can make a positive impact.’
With such a strong focus on the Chinese aspect of the project, the lack of experience inevitably means performance will be compromised, so what would be a satisfactory result for the team? ‘Like all teams we are there to win, so there’s no point telling you anything else. The aim is absolutely to be on the podium as many times as we can and nothing short of that. But, yes, we do have a compromise or a constraint.
‘However, there are very few teams that actually have no barriers, no limits. In this case we are committed to having three or four Chinese onboard. That’s our aim. It’s our commitment. At the end of the day we need three or four competent people who are safe and able to contribute to the boat. Our aim is to compress 20-30 years’ experience into nine months. Of course there is a limit to what you can do in this timeframe, but our objective is to create some heroes inside China who motivate the next generation of Chinese sailors.’
With that in mind, Turner is not necessarily looking for the pro sailors with the most Volvo Ocean Race experience. ‘Our approach will be a little bit different. With absolute respect to the Kiwis – who are the best sailing nation in the world – it’s unlikely that we are going to put in a team of five or six Kiwis who are used to quite defined job descriptions, quite defined roles onboard, and then feel like the Chinese guys are underperforming.
‘We are looking for more all-round sailors. By definition that means people from the shorthanded sailing world who will be able to do more than one job on the boat and perhaps be able to make up for someone who has less experience. We are going to have three or four guys with a lot less experience, that’s a fact. Above all it’s about us picking the right non-Chinese guys to embrace this challenge, the challenge being to get the most out of the Chinese guys in a practical and positive way. ‘There are a lot of good professional sailors out there, but many simply couldn’t do with the compromise that there would be in teaching, helping the Chinese guys to get up to a level that’s taken them 20 years to reach. It’s also about having the right Chinese-speaking guys involved around the team, helping us integrate them, helping them to be able to learn and teaching the teachers.
‘There are a lot of things to which we don’t yet know the answers. There are a lot of things we are learning. I pushed my team pretty hard to fast-forward the first selection trial in a very rushed manner, to be honest. It’s just because I know we are learning and not just finding people who have got sailing talent, but actually learning how to identify that talent in a different culture, in a different language, in a different country. Also the logistics, the visas and those sorts of challenges are all part of it. It’s not that straightforward.’ That said, Turner was encouraged by reports from Dubois after the initial trial of Chinese potential. ‘There are some really good determined guys, really interesting guys, it’s not a complete blank sheet of paper. Back in October there was the China Cup with 100 boats with 60-70 per cent of the crew being of Chinese nationality or Hong- Kong Chinese. There’s actually more sailing knowledge there than I think we expected.
‘But it’s all still quite fresh. We have some good applicants, great applicants. But it’s not going to be about us picking four guys right now and then going all the way through. We are aiming to get into March with about six to eight guys to go forward when we start sailing the boat back from Sanya.’
The journey from Sanya to Europe will be a critical period for the crew to gain much needed experience, but it will also cause significant wear and tear to the sails, which are strictly limited as part of the cost-saving measures brought into the race. ‘Ultimately your training sails become replacement sails if you end up damaging the race sails,’ says Turner. ‘There is a compromise in doing lots of miles but we have to embrace it.
‘Part of this project was to be in China with the boat, so no options about that. We may not have the boat sailing all the way back, but the plan is to do Sanya, Auckland and Brazil and then up to the States and right back across the Atlantic. So we’ll have done more ocean miles than any of the other teams. We need to do some of those miles to benefit the Chinese guys, we are doing it to push the boat, we will not be doing a delivery. Perhaps we’ll learn different things compared with a team going up and down off Lanzarote or across the North Atlantic. That will give us a different experience and perhaps an advantage.’
With the technical arms-race more or less removed from the Volvo Ocean Race, where does Turner see the chief battleground in this edition? ‘I am not sure if anyone knows the absolute answer to this. You still have to understand where the edge of the envelope is, in terms of how hard you push and what is going to break. Just because these boats are one-design doesn’t mean that they are not going to break. Of course they are going to break.
‘You still need to know where that limit is and, in some way, what’s going to break first or how much risk you are taking. Then it’s also about learning the best trim and set-up of the boat with only limited time to train alongside other boats. I don’t think there’s a simple straight answer on this one. In the past you could just focus on building the fastest boat and then, all other things being equal, you’d be better than the rest. But that’s not going to be the case this time. I think that makes this a whole new game, and a very exciting one.’
With the boatspeed margins reduced, perhaps we will see more risk-taking by navigators who have tended to make conservative decisions in recent races. ‘It is certainly more tempting to take a radical view,’ says Turner. ‘What have you got to lose if you are back down the fleet, for example? I think it will open up the race compared with before. But equally it is a mentality thing. There are different ways of sailing – some people always want to stay in the herd but others like to take those bigger risks. I think this format will favour more people taking bigger risks, but that remains to be seen.’
The level of risk-taking will be determined in part by the organisers’ decisions about the frequency of sked reports and black-out periods, he says. ‘I don’t know what they are going to do but, for sure, the schedules have a big impact on how people sail. I think people on the land don’t appreciate quite how transfixed the sailors can become by what’s going on. I hope the organisers leave some bigger windows and bigger shutdown periods just to encourage boats to go off and try different things.
‘This time you have got the same weather data, the same computer, the same software, which makes it harder for a computer-generated option to come up. It’s going to be much more about the feel, about the qualitative analysis of what’s going on, to lead you down a different path. Again, it affects the kind of sailors you want to have in your team.
‘Fundamentally you are in exactly the same boat with exactly the same weather data. You are going to have to be smarter to find a different way through the maze than perhaps you ever did before. It’s going to be interesting.’
We invite you to read on and find out for yourself why Seahorse is the most highly-rated source in the world for anyone who is serious about their racing.
To read on simply SIGN up NOW
Take advantage of our very best subscription offer or order a single copy of this issue of Seahorse.
Online at:
www.seahorse.co.uk/shop and use the code TECH20
Or for iPad simply download the Seahorse App at the iTunes store
Not so new kids
A look at Milan-based Advanced YachtsAs a company Milan-based Advanced Yachts may be just four years old, but it is making a big impression with its semi-custom range, represented in the UK by Simon Clay and Joff Brown’s company Whitecap Ltd. Their yachts combine high performance and race boat know-how with superyacht fit out and build quality, all in a state of the art package that is the last word in Italian elegance and style.
Set up by Italian entrepreneur Marco Tursini and his wife Antonella Di Leo, Advanced Yachts works closely with some of the most respected companies in the industry. Its yachts are built in Fano, with structural engineering provided by Gurit.
At present the Advanced Yachts range comprises four models: the A44, A60, A66 and A80. These are all from pedigree race boat designers, but with exterior styling and interior design by Nauta Yachts, which works regularly with Southern Wind and Baltic and has applied its magic to maxis like My Song, Idea and Nilaya.
The first Advanced Yacht, launched in 2010, was the A66 designed by Reichel-Pugh, who last autumn also delivered drawings for the company’s new flagship A80. The A66’s accommodation features a master stateroom forward and twin cabins aft, but the main feature is the semi-raised saloon area, spanning her full 5.4m beam, with the galley forward of the main bulkhead and natural light flooding in from deckhead and topside windows. As Jim Pugh observes: ‘The interior on this boat is amazing. You go down below and you think you are on a much bigger boat.’
But it is the A66’s exterior lines that take your breath away, with an elevated transom and a modern near-plumb bow. In particular the boat sets a new benchmark for uncluttered decks – aside from jib sheets, nothing is visible above the large acreage of teak, with lines piped back to the working area of the cockpit, aft of the guest seating.
As with all the Advanced Yachts range, the A66 combines beauty with practicality and plenty of well engineered details. This being a semi-custom build, there is certain flexibility in the general arrangement. For example the first A66 has a two berth cabin for the owner’s children opposite the galley, while the second example to go afloat uses this space as a breakfast bar/office. Similarly, the Felci-designed A60 comes in flush deck or semiraised saloon versions.
Designer Jim Pugh says there is the possibility of re-specing the A66 cruising boat for racing, if desired, with a deeper draft and a higher performance sail plan. While the first A80 is in build, due for launch in 2015, Advanced Yachts is already investigating a second to be built entirely in carbon fibre for a client who is in search of a performance boost.
A newer model to be launched this July is the A44, from long term America’s Cup designer, Roberto Biscontini. ‘For many years I had the idea of developing a boat which wasn’t a full-on racing boat, but also had some cruising characteristics,’ he says. ‘Looking at normal boats, many still have IMS or even IOR characteristics, which are just not needed these days.’
With his racing pedigree, the challenge for Biscontini was maximising the A44’s performance without making her overly heavy or expensive. Fortunately, Biscontini says, the A44’s beamy hull shape is now quite common, especially in offshore race boats. Construction is in glass/Corecell/epoxy, but with carbon fibre local reinforcing.
The A44 features twin rudders, enabling easy control - Biscontini was converted to this following his work on the Camper VO70. Another VO70 feature is the single central mainsheet winch. Unlike the A66’s retractable bowsprit, the A44 employs a fixed bowsprit, with the anchor stowed beneath it and a short babystay to counteract gennaker loads.
Again, her interior is vast and open. Part of this is delivered through use of ring frames rather than full bulkheads, but also because Nauta hasn’t shoehorned too much in. Open to the saloon, there is an owner’s double berth forward and a double aft to starboard, with a large bathroom opposite. The interior seems like an 80 footer’s.
Advanced Yachts’ Aldo Tomasina explains the philosophy: 'yachts of this size typically come with three cabins and two bathrooms, but most of the time only one cabin and one bathroom get used, so why not focus on these?' This way you have the feeling of a large suite inside gaining more room on deck.
On deck, there is again teak bow to stern, with sail controls fed below deck. The sail inventory includes a square top mainsail, a 106% overlapping genoa, a gennaker and a Code 0 flying from the bow.
A racing A44 is also available. According to Biscontini, the boat was designed with a flexible displacement, and a racing version might shed as much as one tonne from the standard version’s 6,700kg.
Expect great things from Advanced Yachts. ‘The idea is to exploit the fantastic know-how and craftsmanship that we have in Italy to build top quality boats,’ Aldo Tomasina concludes. ‘The boats’ quality is very high in terms of their interior, finishing and all the small details. But it is not just aesthetics, it is functionality too. We want to be at the top technically, making performance boats that are elegant and very comfortable to live in.’
Whitecap’s Simon Clay comments: ‘we are seeing that as technology facilitates advances in design, the sailing market is becoming more knowledgeable and demanding in terms of what is achievable in marrying performance with luxury in a high end product. Advanced Yachts have achieved this without exception and are setting new benchmarks through their present size range of 44 feet up to 80 feet.’
Click here for more information on Advanced Yachts »
We invite you to read on and find out for yourself why Seahorse is the most highly-rated source in the world for anyone who is serious about their racing.
To read on simply SIGN up NOW
Take advantage of our very best subscription offer or order a single copy of this issue of Seahorse.
Online at:
www.seahorse.co.uk/shop and use the code TECH20
Or for iPad simply download the Seahorse App at the iTunes store
EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour
Imagine the Tour de France a la Voile transplanted to the Gulf and you have a reasonably accurate picture of EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour.
In fact many of the Farr 30s used in the race originally came from the Tour a la Voile. This is perhaps why this four year old event has attracted several top competitors from France, such as Bertrand Pace, Hervé Gautier and Cédric Pouligny, enthusiastic Farr 30 sailors to a man, alongside international stars such as Sidney Gavignet, Dee Caffari and Neal McDonald, who last year enjoyed the fresh challenge of racing in the Gulf.
EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour is the most ambitious of the ever increasing number of yacht races being laid on in the region, thanks to the efforts of Oman Sail. Oman Sail is a pioneering national initiative established in 2008 that is using the sport of sailing in a novel and ambitious way to rekindle the Sultanate of Oman’s maritime heritage, to foster Oman’s socio-economic development and to promote the country as a high-end tourist destination.
Oman Sail has really succeeded in putting the Sultanate on the international sailing stage through hosting the Extreme Sailing Series, the RC44s, last year’s ISAF Conference and, most recently, the Laser World Championships.
EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour provides an opportunity for Oman Sail to comply with its principle remit of getting more Omanis out on the water and typically at least three domestic teams take part. For the last two years this has included an all-women’s crew, including four Omanis, led by Dee Caffari, plus another sailed by Oman Sail’s own Tour de France a la Voile team, which also comprises a mix of Omanis and westerners.
A secondary aim of the event is for it to become truly an inter-Gulf state sailing competition. In 2012, Saudi Arabia fielded an entry, while the 2013 race included a team of entirely UAE sailors from Abu Dhabi, skippered by Abu Dhabi national hero and Volvo Ocean Race crewman, Adil Khalid.
“Year one in 2011 was a test event with six teams,” Issa Al Ismaili, Oman Sail’s Director of Events explains. “In year two there was dramatic growth with five GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] nations participating and for its third edition, it was more competitive and serious in terms of competitors, with more international teams. The ultimate vision is to grow the race in a sustainable way and we hope for it to become an international, world class event.”
Aside from it being a tough one design competition, EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour is also a great way to see the best parts of the Gulf. It takes in all the places you might want to visit in the region, albeit using an unorthodox means of transport.
The 760 mile long course is divided into seven legs punctuated by two day stopovers. These usually include one day of in-port racing, while allowing crews enough time to recuperate and do some sightseeing. Over the course of the fortnight of racing, EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour visits four countries – Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman - with three stops in differ emirates within the UAE - Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah (RAK - where Alinghi had their base in 2009...) and three stops along Oman’s coast – Dibba, Musannah and Muscat.
The stopovers are also an interesting mix with, one of the one hand, the 21st century high rise metropolises of Abu Dhabi and Dubai and on the other the remote tranquility of Zighy Bay, the first stopover in Oman, where the Farr 30s are berthed off the unique Six Senses hotel complex.
To those unfamiliar with the Gulf, it might seem that the coastline is perpetual desert rolling into the sea and indeed for the first part of the race between Bahrain and Ras Al Khaimah, it is exactly this. However on arriving in Omani waters, as the crews prepare to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and out into the Gulf of Oman bound for the Omani stopovers, the race rounds the Musandam Peninsula where the mountains rise up 2,000m above sea level. The Peninsula has fjords and is effectively the Gulf’s answer to Norway.
And don’t think that sailing in the Gulf is all glass-outs and fickle sea breeze. The start of the 2012 had to be postponed because there was too much wind.
Dee Caffari says of sailing in the Gulf: “It is beautiful, but completely different. Forecasts are a little bit hit and miss, you can’t get the confidence you’d have in a GRIB file in Europe - the weather just kind of happens. It is busy with shipping, but not to the volume you’re used to. The water is a beautiful colour and the sun obviously helps – a little bit of winter sunshine sailing.”
She adds of the course: “From Qatar towards the UAE you pass through a lot of the oil fields so there is never a dull moment. Otherwise it is like sailing along a big beach. Once you get around the top corner of Qatar you are sailing in 4m of water and the only height you see are the cities that have been built. It is the same en route to Abu Dhabi and Dubai – flat and then the city sat there. But as you move on from RAK and you go round back into Oman, then you get the dramatic cliffs and the coastline looks spectacular.”
The Strait of Hormuz, familiar usually from war reports, is as close as the race gets to Iran (28 miles at its nearest) and the sailing instructions typically keep boats 10 miles off the Oman coast, sailing down a corridor, the fleet accompanied by an Omani naval ship for added security. “That makes you feel quite confident,” Caffari continues. “It is a stunning coastline - it gets all rocky there - and it is exciting to say ‘I’ve sailed through the Strait of Hormuz’ because normally people only hear about it on the news.”
For those looking to take part, EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour offers the opportunity for some serious racing, in a part of the world that many have still to visit. The Oman Sail-owned Farr 30s (which are available for charter) remain as exciting to sail as they always have been. But perhaps best of all, being held in February, the event allows northern hemisphere sailors the opportunity for some competitive winter sailing that is an intriguing alternative to Florida, the Caribbean or Australia and all just a seven hour flight away from London.
EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour sets sail from Bahrain on 9th February.
Click here for more information on Sailing Arabia - The Tour »
We invite you to read on and find out for yourself why Seahorse is the most highly-rated source in the world for anyone who is serious about their racing.
To read on simply SIGN up NOW
Take advantage of our very best subscription offer or order a single copy of this issue of Seahorse.
Online at:
www.seahorse.co.uk/shop and use the code TECH20
Or for iPad simply download the Seahorse App at the iTunes store
A fundamental shift
Legendary C-Class designer Steve Killing was paying close attention as the C-Class catamaran fleet was rolled over by the first successful generation of full foiling designs
You won’t find many sailors who will dispute that the 72ft catamarans used in the most recent America’s Cup were inspired by the C-Class catamarans. In fact, if you change the units from feet to metres you are not far off a direct match. The 25ft C-Class has a bit more length in relation to its 14ft beam than the 22m by 14m AC72, but the parallel is there. And if you happened to have been at the 2010 International C-Class Catamaran Champ - ionships in Newport the recruiting of C-Class talent by potential America’s Cup syndicates was somewhat frantic. It is then fitting perhaps that the transfer of knowledge has come full circle. For this latest C-Class championship in Falmouth, England the C-Class boats have taken their cue from the successful flying-boat AC72 devel opment by Team New Zealand and Oracle.
C-Class design has been, for most campaigns, a backyard build-it-and-test-it process, but it would be unfair to ignore the parts of each programme that have seen some serious science. In our own Canadian programme Fred Eaton, owner, helmsman and experimentation enthusiast, has always pushed the technical side and we have incorporated some Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of crossbeam attachments and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) on hulls and multi-element foils.
But in reality this pales in the shadow of what an America’s Cup syndicate can muster up. Consequently C-Class designers now have the opportunity to analyse what the big boys are doing and can use this knowledge in their own development of the 25ft winged cats.
What developed in San Francisco during the America’s Cup was an eyeopener for all sailors. Winged catamarans that could fly – lifted up by hydrofoils on their L, S or J-shaped daggerboards and, at least most of the time, could remain foilborne, ignoring the fact that this was an inherently unstable situation. The task then for the C-Class was to see if the technology could work at a smaller scale with only two crew to manage the beast.
We invite you to read on and find out for yourself why Seahorse is the most highly-rated source in the world for anyone who is serious about their racing.
To read on simply SIGN up NOW
Take advantage of our very best subscription offer or order a single copy of this issue of Seahorse.
Online at:
www.seahorse.co.uk/shop and use the code TECH20
Or for iPad simply download the Seahorse App at the iTunes store
Behind the scenes
During the 34th America’s Cup the engineering team at Harken extended their already comprehensive involvement with the Cup by having a member of staff permanently embedded in the Defender camp. To learn more about the hydraulics and general engineering challenges posed by the flying 72s we caught up with some of Harken’s key people involved, notably grand prix co-ordinator Mark Wiss, head of engineering Steve Orlebeke, hydraulics chief Robbie Young and Harken USA CEO Bill Goggins
Seahorse: By way of initial background, what was the relevance to AC34 of previous work you may have undertaken for the big Oracle trimaran and the Alinghi 5 catamaran in 2010?
Team Harken: During the 2010 Cup we supplied both boats with winches and hardware. Then when they shifted to enginedriven hydraulic systems we also supplied some hydraulic equipment to Alinghi, but nothing to Oracle. In fact, we developed two nice hydraulic systems for Alinghi’s cata - maran; one of which was a small but fastacting hydraulic furler which was installed in the bowsprit. Sadly, they never actually raced with it as they took it off just before the Match during a big weight purge. But that was a very interesting piece of hydraulic equipment; the idea behind it being that whoever could furl the fastest for tacking or gybing could potentially win the race.
The other thing we supplied to Alinghi was a mainsheet system consisting of two extremely long cylinders that attached directly to the traveller car using a very short strop. That eliminated compression in the boom, putting all the load vertically at the end. It was a unique system which involved a lot of development and testing here before it even went onto the boat. Unfortunately a week before the first race they broke the boom anyway – it really was a very light section – and a consequence of going back to an older, heavier boom for the match was they could not use our twin-ram mainsheet arrangement.
SH: Were all the winches hydraulically powered in 2010?
TH: Yes, for both boats. And by the Match itself the hydraulics were all being powered by an engine.
SH: How would you describe your involvement with the teams this time…
TH: First to go back a little, Harken have been involved with the America’s Cup since the Swedish team in 1977 when we supplied some hardware. But things really got serious when Team New Zealand defeated Stars and Stripes in 1995, in San Diego. That was a pivotal moment for us because for the first time ever we not only had hardware but we also had the winch and pedestal systems, not only on the challenging New Zealand boat but also on Dennis Conner’s defending ‘mermaid’ boat. Since then we have had winches and hardware onboard the winners of every America’s Cup and Louis Vuitton Cup. What was unique going into this Cup is that while once again we supplied both Oracle and Team New Zealand with winches and hardware, this was the first time we have supplied the winning team with their hydraulic systems. Further, with the Oracle programme in the latest Cup our hydraulics involvement could be fairly described as total immersion; it was a fullon programme.
We invite you to read on and find out for yourself why Seahorse is the most highly-rated source in the world for anyone who is serious about their racing.
To read on simply SIGN up NOW
Take advantage of our very best subscription offer or order a single copy of this issue of Seahorse.
Online at:
www.seahorse.co.uk/shop and use the code TECH20
Or for iPad simply download the Seahorse App at the iTunes store