November 2014
FEATURES
Quality sells
Even TP52 class manager ROB WEILAND is faintly amazed at the number of TP52s in build
Fixtures and fittings
As we roll into another Volvo Ocean Race TIM JEFFERY – there from the beginning – reflects on the heritage that underpins this magnificent event
Nowhere to hide
ANDREW HURST throws caution to the wind as he looks at this year’s round-the-world fleet…
Holding on
JON MITCHELL of Marlow looks at the progress that continues to be made with Dyneema fibres
A most remarkable man – Part 2
With the first edition of Bart’s Bash BLUE ROBINSON, IAIN PERCY, BEN AINSLIE and ANTHONY NOSSITER reflect on the big man himself
Have your say!
The Sailing Yacht Research Foundation needs your help… as DOBBS DAVIS explains
Staying dry – Part 2
Oracle Team USA software specialist ANDREW MASON expands on the potential for advanced simulation ahead of the next America’s Cup
It all started in a garage – Part 2
And the J/Boats team take a first tentative step into the grand prix world. ROD JOHNSTONE
REGULARS
Commodore’s letter
MIKE GREVILLE
Editorial
ANDREW HURST
Update
Some you win some you lose… with TERRY HUTCHINSON, DOBBS DAVIS celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Big Boat Series, NICK HOLROYD of Emirates TNZ takes a first look at AC62 design and we catch up with ‘new’ Italian skipper on the block… ROBERTO TOMASINI
World news
It’s all change at the Tour Voile as the event goes multihull (much to the approval of FRANÇOIS GABART), a look at the extraordinary ‘Ultime’ line-up in the 2014 Route du Rhum, a stirring tale of courage and calm from the Tasman, an epic 31st Hamilton Island Race Week and something a little better than PHRF. BLUE ROBINSON, IVOR WILKINS, PATRICE CARPENTIER, DOBBS DAVIS
Paul Cayard
And how the sport – and the Rolex Big Boat Series – is steadily changing for the better...
IRC column
Flying a kite
Seahorse regatta calendar
Seahorse build table – Cool as ice
GIULIANO LUZZATTO catches up with an ultra-slippery new offering from UMBERTO FELCI of Felci Yacht Design
RORC news
And the ‘new’ Maxi 72 Class officially comes into being… EDDIE WARDEN-OWEN
Sailor of the Month
Just keep plugging away (and you’ll get there)
Have your say

The Sailing Yacht Research Foundation needs your help… as DOBBS DAVIS explains
Technology marches on: This is not just an axiom to modern life, but a fundamental principle embraced by most of us who race sailboats. Modern design trends have produced boats that are faster, more exciting and safer than ever before, where 40-footers are now exceeding the speeds of 50-footers built only a decade ago. Accordingly there is a growing interest in building and racing this new generation of high-performance offshore-capable designs.
But as in most arenas of technology, the cutting edge is not always widely accessible: not only are the costs higher for the boats themselves, but also for campaigning them at a competitive level where all of their potential can be realised on the racecourse. Fair racing with these boats can also be difficult because the existing handicap systems cannot always rate them fairly against other more typical mainstream designs that populate most regattas.
As part of SYRF’s mission to support the science of sailing, we would like to know more about us with some valuable feedback on how to characterise competitive big boat racing. Your answers will help shape the future of the sport for all concerned.
SYRF is an organisation founded to support the science to understand the performance of sailing yachts through research and education. This research takes many forms, including the funding of studies on the performance of modern designs through use of CFD, tank testing and wind tunnel programmes. The knowledge thus gained helps give a more thorough quantitative understanding of the performance of raceboats to help improve the accuracy of any handicap system that is asked to rate performance.
We would like to hear not only from designers but also from the racers themselves: what are our desires and expectations in relation to modern high-performance design, and where are the boundaries of our notions on performance, affordability, seaworthiness and fair racing. Should 40ft offshore-capable boats be comfortable to race offshore? if so, what does this mean? Does everyone want boats that plane in only 14kt of wind? Or is this too expensive to achieve given current technologies? And if so, what about cost controls: is this desirable, and if so, what should be controlled without stifling the spirit of innovation in design?
We invite all interested parties to take this survey – owners, sailors, designers, builders, sailmakers, race organisers, to name a few, who have an interest in supporting the growth and development of competitive high-performance sailing and want to express their views. And we have provided this survey in two versions: a General survey to solicit your views on the role of high-performance boats in the sport, and a more specific Technical poll to gauge more specifics on how high-performance boats are defined.
Results will be gathered, collated and reported in due course, and should be of interest to all who participate.
Click here to take part in the survey»
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Holding on

Why the latest Dyneema® products are better than ever...
The demands on high-performance running rigging are becoming higher and Marlow’s Grand Prix Series offers core options using Dyneema®, Vectran and Zylon (PBO). Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, but Dyneema® has become the ‘Gold Standard’ for performance running rigging.
Dyneema® is a HMPE (High Modulus Polyethylene), also known as UHMWPE or Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene and is available in a number of different grades. All grades of Dyneema® have excellent fatigue resistance (cyclic bending) and UV, chemical and abrasion resistance, but all have poor heat resistance due to a relatively low melting point (150°C).
Dyneema® offers the best strength-to-weight ratio of any material used in rope manufacture, rivalled only by PBO, and is now the material of choice for high-performance cores. Marlow offer a range of Dyneema® cores to suit application preferences as well as budget. However, with new grades of Dyneema® being introduced and different treatments available, the decision as to which core is best can often be confusing.
- SK75 – for many years the strongest Dyneema® grade and the standard material that everybody understands. Thanks to new and improved grades, SK75 is being used less and less and is now not offered by Marlow.
- SK78 – has become the standard grade used by Marlow and other reputable manufacturers. SK78 has the same strength as SK75 but offers significantly improved creep characteristics than its predecessor.
- SK90 – launched in 2009 and offers approximately 10-15% strength improvement over SK75/8. However, SK90 only has the same elongation and creep characteristics as SK75. While still available, SK90 is now not specified by Marlow ropes due to the introduction of…
- SK99 – the latest offering from DSM Dyneema® launched in 2013. SK99 has 20% strength advantage over SK78 and crucially retains the same elongation and creep characteristics as SK78 – outgunning SK90 on all levels! SK99 has an unmatched strength-to-weight ratio and has carved a niche for itself as the ultimate performance core material.
- DM20 has slightly lower tenacity than SK78, but has one major advantage in that it exhibits virtually zero creep. Used mainly for static load applications such as standing rigging.

Another area of confusion can be heat-setting and prestretching. Every Marlow D12 Dyneema® core is pre-stretched to reduce ‘bedding-in’ elongation, limit the amount of elastic elongation and improve rope strength. Pre-stretching involves the application of heat during the process and is sometimes known as heat-setting, although simply applying heat does not have the same effect. Marlow have now been pre-stretching Dyneema® cores for over 25 years and that experience means we know exactly how to improve a rope’s performance without compromising flexibility or damaging the fibre.
Marlow’s MAX Technology takes pre-stretching to a new level by using a precisely controlled process to take Dyneema® to the limits of heat and load during the Pre- Stretching process – it could be called ‘Super Pre-Stretching’. D12 MAX ropes were introduced to offer the ultimate in strength realisation from Dyneema® and to virtually eliminate elastic and ‘bedding-in’ elongation.

D12 MAX ropes are stronger size for size than standard D12 – the MAX process packs more Dyneema® into the same diameter, hence the extra strength. However, D12 MAX ropes are stiffer and harder than the standard pre-stretched D12 ropes.
The graphs (opposite) show the relative elongation of Dyneema® SK78 and SK99 to Vectran and Zylon.
When elongation is measured as a % of break load (Fig. 2, middle), it is shown that while PBO offers the lowest elongation followed by Dyneema® in D12 MAX and then D12, there is no differential between SK78 and SK99.
However, when elongation is measured at a given load (for example, 4,000kg), which is more relevant to specifying rope for onboard applications (Fig. 1, top), the advantages of SK99 over SK78 in terms of elongation are clear. This is because the rope is working at a lower percentage of its break load.

Dyneema® exhibits creep, and it is important to understand how this affects a rope’s elongation characteristics. Creep can often have a negative effect on a rope’s performance and strength, when ropes are subjected to high loads for extended periods. The extension over time graph (Fig. 3, bottom) shows how Dyneema® ropes behave over a period of time.
- Initial loading will result in elastic extension. This is immediate upon loading and is immediately recoverable upon release of the load (elastic contraction).
- After the elastic extension of the initial loading the rope will experience what is known as viscoelastic extension. This is further extension over time and is fairly limited. Unlike elastic stretch, viscoelastic stretch will only recover slowly over time once the load is released.
- Finally there is creep, which is permanent, non-recoverable and time dependent. Creep occurs at the yarn molecular level when the rope is under constant load.
- Once the load is released and elastic and viscoelastic extension recovered the rope will ultimately have experienced an element of permanent extension. This is a factor of both creep and ‘bedding in’, which is when individual fibre components in the rope and/or splice settle into their preferred position when under load.
Marlow lead the market in performance yachting rope technology. Our Grand Prix Series offers performance benefits and a competitive edge… and is specified by winners!
Jon Mitchell, Managing Director
Click here for more information on Marlow Ropes»
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Quality sells

Even TP52 class manager ROB WEILAND is faintly amazed at the number of TP52s in build
With eight new boats now in the pipeline for 2015, and still hoping the number will creep up, what to expect?
Of course the Botín-designed Phoenix gives us a pretty good idea of what the next generation will look like since she is designed to the 2015 TP52 Rule. After the final event of the 2014 Barclays 52 Super Series in Ibiza, Phoenix will be upgraded to full 2015 mode. Her bulb will be removed and a 15cm spacer will lower the bulb on the fin for an increased draft of 3.5m, making for a total bulb weight of exactly 3,800kg on a fin weight of 800kg. About 200kg of internal ballast will then be removed to bring her 2015 all-up dry weight down to the new class minimum of 7,000kg.
Visually the biggest change will be her 2015 mainsail. It will have a much bigger fat head, growing by 75cm from 1.25m to 2m in span and adding 4.5m2 of sail area. The changes will speed her up at all wind speeds and all wind angles, but of course this will be most visible downwind in a breeze. Expect the 2015 boats to plane earlier, longer and faster. Take a closer look and new too will be the composite headstay, facilitating higher headstay loads up to well over seven tons, plus a new checkstay arrangement effectively changing the way that the topmast is controlled.
It will be interesting to see whether the Phoenix deck layout will be followed by other Botín clients, such as Sled and Quantum Racing. And also the deck the Rolf Vrolijk design office will produce. Expect the new Vrolijk boats Rán, Gladiator, Provezza and Platoon to be closer to the minimum deck camber requirements and likely to sport even larger cockpits than Phoenix. Then again the Phoenix layout was chosen to produce a stiff and low vcg deck rather than just go for the rule minimum on standing headroom or rule maximum on cockpit size… which would be no side decks at all aft of 8.75m from the bow. Not that practical, I guess, so lots of design space and lots of room for input by the crew on how they like their working environment to be.
And after all this, no more room for improvement? Of course there will be. Development never stops. The TP52 Rule will be more or less fixed for the coming three years, apart from likely adjustments in displacement (expect another 100kg to be lost) and possibly further adjustments of mainsail area (the question is whether that 2m head is exactly right, or can we grow further?).
But by 2018 enough will have changed in design and equipment development terms to take further steps. Like permitting the use of Thin Ply Technology materials and techniques in primary construction and accommodating new developments in equipment, like servo valves and electric disconnects in the winch systems. Which is a first step towards developing self-acting and then self-learning control systems is my guess.
Sailing at the big boat end is slowly but surely heading in the direction of what the automotive industry calls ‘advanced driver assistance’, based on intelligent sensor technology. ‘Advanced helm assistance’ or if you prefer ‘advanced trim assistance’ for sure on maxis and superyachts is the future. On racers like Mini Maxis and TP52s it will for quite a while be more a choice than a necessity. But once the old salts have retired and the generation used to computers in about everything they grew up with takes over, I feel it is unavoidable to see the chips stepping in further than just for tactical and navigational purposes. So never a dull moment and many decisions and new things to come… from 2018 also for the TP52s.
In 10 days from writing this the final leg of the four-event 2014 version of the Barclays 52 Super Series will start. Zenith Royal Cup Marina Ibiza is a mouthful. It reflects our balancing act with sponsors, local support and venue choices for sailing and many other reasons, like glamour, logistics and sailing history. Ibiza is great fun, the Balearic Islands are for sure high on the top 10 list of yacht racing locations.
A good bet is that Quantum Racing continue to shine, certainly enough to add this year’s Super Series title to an already impressive record. It is a serious outfit, the extra pressure on their shoulders is being the team to beat. No excuse to lose is literally their choice of positioning the team and its individual components. That is not as logical as it sounds at first sight as top sport also requires the contestant to be relaxed. Maybe it is my imagination but they seem to be able to be more relaxed when the team owner, recent Seahorse Sailor of the Month Doug DeVos, is with them. The eye of the master…
All in all it seems ages ago that we started 2014 at Key West Race Week, then Miami in March and across to the Med for Capri, Porto Cervo, Palma Mallorca and Ibiza. So many made this year’s racing possible and first and foremost enjoyable, thanks to all.
The reward for sure is foremost in seeing the fleet growing, in number and in quality. 2015 will bring a five-event 52 Super Series, including the TP52 Worlds on the Bay of Palma, sailed from Marina Portals. With so many new boats it does not get any easier to be on the podium. Stay focused and relaxed, guys. Easy for me to say. I can hardly bear to watch the racing sometimes. Was never very good at the relaxed part, to be honest. Cannot wait to see the new boats and many new and familiar faces. The 52 family grows – great!
Click here for more information on the 52 Super Series»
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It all started in a garage…
Family patriarch Rod Johnstone concludes his look at the emergence of the mighty J/Boats empire… talking to Dobbs Davis
Dipping a (first) toe into the grand prix world
Rod’s underlying philosophy had always been to create boats that families could race, and not pay too much attention to rating rule influence on design. But this took a slight detour in 1984 when the J/41 was introduced as a flat-out serious IORinspired raceboat, and immediately found success by finishing 1-2-3 in the One Ton North American Championship, going on to finish first overall in that winter’s 1985 SORC, with Charlie Scott in command. A smaller version, the J/34, was then offered in 1985 and was soon being hailed as the ‘bestselling IOR design in America’.
Commenting on the rating rules of that era, Rod said, ‘The IOR and MORC rules back then were honestly not very favourable to our designs, since they promoted masthead rigs [with big, hardto- handle genoas and spinnakers], long overhangs and low stability. We figured the IOR gave credit to boats that were heavy for their length, so when we decided to do the J/41 we used these features in that design and of course in 1984-85 the boat was very successful. However, later that year the rule changed – adding crew weight limits and better stability formulations to close off these loopholes.’
Even though they sold 25 J/34s in 1985, Rod admitted ‘it was never very good to peg our business model to rating rules,’ so he returned to focus on designs that he said ‘had the right balance, the right feel, the things that you know are appreciated.’
Based on a Sail Magazine survey of boat owners in 1985, 80 per cent of J/Boat owners said they would buy another J/Boat. Bob Johnstone, ever the marketing man, immediately asked why the other 20 per cent would buy their next boat elsewhere? The response was mostly: ‘No real cruising boats!’ So they introduced their first dedicated line of cruising boats, the J/28, J/37 and J/40, with the J/40 winning USA Boat of the Year the following year.
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.
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