2013 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race Final Wrap Video from On The Water Anarchy on Vimeo.
This year will be better :-), the 70th anniversary of the race will have the biggest number of entries over a decade and with more candidates to the victory in real time: Not less than five maxi yachts and among them Comanche, the new American maxi designed by Verdier and VPLP, the main contender on the next race. The boat announced as the fastest sailboat in the world has just bit the dust on its first race, the "Solas Big Boat Challenge being beaten precisely by the chronic winner of Sydney Hobart race, Wild Oats XI.
When I posted about Comanche, sometime ago, I said that I doubted the boat being the fastest sailing boat in all conditions and expressed many doubts about light wind sailing and upwind sailing with considerable sized waves, even with strong winds. Well, regarding light wind conditions Wild Oats showed who is the Boss and regarding the Sydney Hobart much will depend on the conditions they will encounter, but with the right conditions of light winds and muscled upwind sailing I will bet on Wild Oats. The boats are as different as they can be, being Comanche maximized for downwind racing in muscular conditions and Wild Oats maximized for upwind sailing and sailing in light winds. It will be interesting, as it is interesting this movie showing the two hulls. It's fantastic how two different sail concepts can have such a close sailing performance :-)
Very nice video comparing the two hulls. I was also surprised to see the keel positioned so diferently in both yachts. While Comanche seems to keep a more "traditional" position we can see the the keel much more backwards in Wild Oats... ¿Does it helps to point closer to the wind may be? Because considering the ability to enter in "planing mode", which should be greater in Comanche as per hull shape, I guess it helps to have the keel and the weight retarded towards the transom as much as possible but here we see just the oposite as it is Wild Oats having this curious keel positioned so backwards in the boat.
ReplyDeleteThat movie can be misleading since it was taken with a wide angle lens. In fact the Wild Oats does not have the keel mounted. I think that what you took for the keel is the very deep rudder that in fact is rather forward on the hull. Go to the google and search on images for Wild Oats hull and there you will see that the keel is on a "normal" position. ;-)
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