C45: SURPRISE, BAVARIA HAVE BECOME ELEGANT

Bavaria yachts are in my opinion among the best mass production sailboats, sure, like all the others built for a low price, but I believe their building process is a bit better than the one that is used by all French mass production builders, having about the same built quality as Hanse, the other German yacht mass producer.

C45

Many people associate  Bavaria with charter boat and it makes some sense because Bavarias are probably the most used boats on the charter business but curiously they retain only the negative connotation and they don't associate Bavarias with the reason why they are preferred by charter operators and that is a very positive one: they offer one of the best value on the market and the boats give less problems than some others.

But Bavarias always had a "defect": they looked like Bavarias. "Look like a Bavaria" became an expression to denominate yachts that not being necessarily ugly had a bland deja vu look. Things went better when they changed to Farr as a designer, but not much better. With the exception of the Vision line, that are better looking, the main line continued to look uninteresting and old looking.

C57

Then, for the C57, their top of the line, they started a collaboration with an Italian NA, Maurizio Cossutti and the C57 looks not like a Bavaria anymore, it looks elegant. I thought that collaboration was only for the top of the line, that the shipyard wanted to look like a "real" yacht, but surprise surprise, they liked so much the design that Cossutti is going to design more Bavarias and Bavarias will not look like "Bavaria" anymore, they will look more beautiful and elegant.

C57

Thanks to a Croatian friend you can look at the first elegant one (after the C57), the C45 (cover photo). I don't know if it will replace the 46, that has already a nice interior but, as usual, look like a "Bavaria" on the outside, or if they will start a new parallel C line. But that seems improbable to me and commercially does not seem to make sense.

The C45 has been maintained secret and no technical documentation has been released. The boat looks quite nice (except in what regards the giant middle port hull) and I am very curious about the technical specifications. Probably it is going to be a very interesting sailboat. Cossutti is known by designing very fast ORC racers namely the NM38 (that won the World's championship) and also for designing some fast performance cruisers like Salona 380, More 55 and the line of Italia Yachts. 

J112e A BEAUTIFULL NIMBLE FAST CRUISER

I had already posted about the J112e when it was on the project stage, I have visited the boat at the Dusseldorf boat show and it is all that it promised on the project: a very nice interior, well finished in a kind of modest way and I am not meaning anything negative quite the contrary. While most cruising boats nowadays have a flashy interior with average quality the J112 remains very sober and funcional featuring good quality everywhere. The J112e is made by Jcomposites in France and comes to substitute what was one of the most successful Jboats in what regards sales, the J109.

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/10/j112e.html

The J112 is a better and more modern design improving on the J109 in everything, from interior space to stability and performance. It has more length (36.00 to 35.25ft) more beam (11.75 to 11.50ft) a bigger SA/D (22.3 to 20.4) it is lighter (D/L-157 to 172) it has more stability (Max RM - 833 to 940 ft/lb) and all this allows not only a bigger interior but a remarkably faster boat (IRC - 1.015 to 1.060).

The interest on the boat by European magazines has not been big and though it has been tested by many sail magazines for the 2017 yacht of the year few have published the sail test but when they have the comments are very positive and everybody loves to sail the J112e. Curiously  magazines in the US, where the interest for this type of boats is way smaller, have published more sail tests and even have made it boat of the year in an odd category: the crossover yacht.

But all this is not enough to make it a big sales success: the demand of this type of performance cruiser is very small on the US and it is diminishing in Europe not only due to the competition of other successful brands like JPK, Pogo, Italia Yachts (and now even Grand Soleil) among others but because unfortunately here we see also a decrease on the number of cruisers that want this type of sail boat.

Comparing the J112e with what seems to me to be the best performance cruiser of this size, the JPK 1080, I would say that the J112e is much more typed as an upwind sailboat while the JPK remains with a more balanced performance, one that has been giving it an incredible racing performance, from the Sydney Hobart to the Middle Sea Race, Fastnet and on the duo Transats.

In what regards hull diferences the JPK 1080 is just slightly beamier being the main diference on the transom design. The J112e, that is comparatively the beamier of all J's, has the max beam at the middle while the JPK has it pulled aft, giving it a big transom.

We can say this is a sailor's boat in a sense that the interior space has not come at the cost of a decreased sailing performance and that the sail hardware is not just a simplified one that only allows a basic sail trim. Many cruisers (or their wives) that buy the boats on boat shows are not able to understand at what cost comes that little bit of extra interior space or why even with a smaller interior these boats are more expensive than main mass produced boats.

The hulls seem similar on the way they are built even if that is not clearly the case and they are not aware of the differences that allow not only for a lighter boat but also a stronger boat. An then there is the misconception that seaworthiness has something to do with an open transom or higher freeboards, that are clearly visible while the very superior stability is dismissed because they cannot see it.

Even so, on these days that Beneteau stopped to make the First (because the market is not enough for a mass production boat to be truly profitable), the 30 boats already sold are a remarkable figure. Also very interesting to notice that from those only 5 were sold with the more racing specification indicating that the J112e is more bought by cruisers that want a fast boat (and eventually want to make a race now and then) than by racers that will just cruise eventually.

The J112e is a quality boat and therefore not a cheap one, it costs over 200 000 euros, a price that is not far from the ones of other fast quality cruiser-racers like XP yachts or JPK. A boat for the ones that like sailing, particularly upwind sailing and like to cruise in style and comfort but on a modest way and have a small family, a couple or a couple with two kids. A very nice boat specially adapted for Mediterranean sailing where the upwind performance is a must.

THE INCREDIBLE NEW AMERICA'S CUP MONOHULL!!!

Incredible is just the word! The boat is nothing like it was expected to be. It is a truly new concept, one that leaves me wondering. They say it will be faster than the America’s cup multihulls!!!!

If it works it will be fantastic but I have some doubts regarding taming such a beast without electronic help. I really hope they have studied well this extreme design that changes all the concepts of a monohull. It seems a short period to develop such an extreme concept in terms of practicability and even more without having associated with it a complete team of experts. Or maybe they have and in that case they are already way ahead of all other teams.

There is no keel anymore, the foils work not only as foils but as canting keels and they will carry the ballast. The engineering problems seem huge since for controlling the boat the foil movements have to be fast. The boat will have the ability to re-right itself if capsized.

HANSE 548, THE HANSE THAT WANTED TO BE A SOLARIS (55)

Hanse 548

It may seem odd, a Hanse is typically a main market cruising boat, the Solaris (above) it is more of a performance cruising boat but if we look at the two boats we will find similarities in what regards design intention: both boats assume the pretension of looking like a bigger yacht, a yacht with clean lines, a small cabin height over the deck allowing a huge unobstructed area that provides a great view forward from the steering wheel.

Many would think that the Hanse is a more practical cruising boat being the Solaris more of a looker and a fast sailer, less adapted to cruising but it is the Hanse that does not have a dodger not even a place to mount one while the Solaris has one that can fold and be hidden behind a teak cover.

It is true that the Hanse has a version with a large fixed cover (kind of a bimini) but I saw it only on drawings and the thing is so ugly that I doubt very much anybody is going to have it. It is a kind of anti-statement regarding the boat design intention.

Both boats have a dinghy garage and an interior with similar dimensions with several possible options, a very nice cruising interior with all the space and storage needed for cruising (depending on the selection of the interior layout).

Both boats have a good tankage being the standard one a bit bigger on the Hanse and a similar hull with the beam pulled back and not a very different one, 4.85 meter on Solaris, 5.05 on Hanse even if the Solaris has considerably finer entries. Both boats have similarly big sized engines with around 110hp.

The Solaris is much nicer due to a smaller freeboard, a much cleaner design and due to much smaller port hulls, that on the Hanse are really huge and have a very negative effect on the  way the boat looks.

The Solaris has a better stability due to a bigger B/D. Considering, among the different options, approximated drafts (2.70 for the Solaris and 2.80 for the Hanse) and similar torpedo keels, the Hanse has 30.5% and the Solaris 36.9%. note that the Hanse B/D for this type of hull is a good one, the Solaris one is a very good one.

The Solaris is much faster. It his lighter (17600kg to 19 000kg) and due to the superior stability can carry more sail area (176 m2 to 138). The Solaris has also a considerable bigger LWL (15.78 meter to 14.90). Due to better building techniques and materials (vacuum infused hull and cabin, airex sandwich, carbon reinforcements, structural bulkheads) the Solaris is stronger. The interior material and quality of finish are also clearly superior.

Not intending to say that the Hanse 548 is not well built, that it is slow (in fact it has a very decent 19.7 SA/D), that it has a bad stability, that the interior is not of good quality and nicely designed or even that the boat is ugly, with the exception of that incredibly shade that comes as an option.

Far from that, it is good looking, with a good stability and with a rigging that allows for easy sailing. What I mean is that the Solaris 55 is  just superior, sometimes a lot, in what regards all these points.

The only point in what the Hanse is clearly better is on the price and it is not just a small difference, the Hanse is announced with a basic price of 415 310 euro while the Solaris 55 is announced at 821 000 Euros. Even considering that the Hanse is really a 53fter and the Solaris is a 55fter and that the Solaris for the same price has more equipment the difference in price is huge. Even the Solaris 50 is more expensive than de Hanse 548 even if now the difference is not very substantial.

I guess that some that will dream of a Solaris 55 will end up buying an Hanse 548 and even if the differences are remarkable and not only in price, at least they will be comforted with what the press and the brand says about the Hanse: "luxurious...the crème de la crème"..."the new Hanse 548 ... is a demonstration of what luxury means"..."luxury living on 55 feet"..."the new Hanse 548 is every bit the mini superyacht designed for luxury"...European luxury"..."luxury yacht".

No I am not making up, all these qualifications were used as high lines not only by the brand but by many sellers and sailing magazines including American ones. In comparison the high lines used for describing the Solaris 55 are quite modest: "Solaris 55 has been designed to satisfy the most demanding customers requiring performance sailing even with reduced crew."..."breathtaking beauty sets the trends".

Funny that contrary to Hanse we don't find the word luxury used neither by the shipyard neither by boat magazines referring to the Solaris. Guess what this means regarding the target customers, the ones that will buy one or another. Not hard to figure that out 😊

NEW 24 HOURS SAIL RECORD: AVERAGE SPEED - 34.4K!!!

826 nautical miles in 24 hours!!! that's what managed François Gabart 4 days ago while on his attempt to beat the circumnavigation record. He had already beaten his personal speed record doing 46K on his Maxi trimaran. I remember that the boat designers estimated max speed to be 42k and that many thought that would be too optimistic!

We are not talking about America's cup boats racing in protected waters but about ocean sailing and that's a completely different affair. He is going so fast on extreme conditions that many knowledgeable sailors are starting to be concerned about safety. But that's François Gabart, I have heard the same story when he was leading the Vendee Globe at an incredible pace, leaving behind Armel Lecleash.

Anyway he was sensible to those concerns and has diminished the speed. Just look at the conditions and what he calls reduced speed LOL. He has already an advance of almost 700nm over the previous record (from Coville)

CLARISSE, 2ND ON THE MINI TRANSAT (WOMEN ARE STRANGE)

After having lost the battle for leadership to Erwan, Clarisse was since the middle of the race a solid 2nd but on the final part of the race she made a routing error and had suddenly 3 other boats practically side by side. She fought to the end to beat them and do you now what her reaction was when she had them under control going some miles ahead? :" I cried for the last three hours of the race ", on her own words.

That's not the first time I was very surprised with the reaction of another great woman in what regards sailing: I remember one time when Ellen MacArthur (on a racing solo circumnavigation) had to go to the top of the mast in very nasty whether, bouncing around with the boat movements. She had managed to do the repair and come safely to the deck....where she started crying complaining about how difficult it had been!!!

Of course I have the utmost respect for what both of them have done but on both situations, after having accomplished a very difficult task, a man's reaction would be very different. On Ellen's case I am quite sure a man would have kicked the mast mast said yeahhh!!!! while doing some enthusiastic movements with the hands.

Well, different but not slower and less efficient and what fun would it be if men and women were alike in what regards reactions?

About Clarisse they posted this on the race site : "Clarisse Crémer, big heart - Thinner, tears of emotion at the time of crossing the finish line, Clarisse Crémer has held strong until the end resisting to attacks from her pursuers to the finish line at Marin. The young woman, who had almost no experience in offshore racing  (even less solo) demonstrated that  by sheer willpower, hard work and a very big motivation, it is possible to move mountains.

To better understand why all this is extraordinaire, not only the sail exploit from a woman on a sports dominated by men, but the incredible way how it was done. Clarisse came from nowhere, in what regards solo sail racing, to beat very experienced sailors not only the ones from the production boats (55) but most of the ones that raced on much more evoluted prototypes, made of carbon with canting keels and daggerboards. If she was racing with her production boat on the prototype class she would have been 5th, leaving 20 prototypes behind.

On the presentation page they say nice words about Clarisse but I don't think that anybody thought that she would be able to do such an astounding performance on her first Transat: "Clarisse Crémer story with the Mini-Transat begins as a vulgarity: the story of a nice and funny girl who wants to cross the Atlantic on a nice little boat. The nice girl, dubbed by a good friend, gratifies us with videos not devoid of humor, tells us her financing research in a slightly crazy mode, avoids taking herself seriously ..."

"In short! We would say that Clarisse on the Atlantic is a nice story that will fall into anonymity once the sport has recovered its rights. Except that we had forgotten a parameter: Clarisse Crémer is a hard worker, the kind to never let go, spent hours on the water training, listened to the advice of the elders, to ensure that day after day she would eliminate her weak points..."

And after this spectacular result we are all thinking what is coming next? well it seems that she does not know: "What I want to do ? I was hoping that the race would bring a revelation but eventually no. It's a disaster, I do not know what I want to do. It was a great project that took me two years of my life, now I have to find something else."

I really hope something else has to do with sailing, if not..... I am quite sure she will do great in anything she really wants to do.

The incredible Clarisse story  left a bit in the shadow the great victory of Erwan Le Draoulec and it is unfair. Erwan was the only one that managed to beat Clarisse and has done so in a clear way, with a 100nm advantage and he is just a 21 year old kid!!! On other sports 21 is a normal age to be a champion, not so on Solo offshore racing where the learning curve is not fast. He and Clarisse have that in common, that and also the fact that they have won together the last mini Fastnet, a duo race).

Two sailors with a huge potential that we hope don't give up sailing. Already great sailors but from here to be great at the top racing solo classes goes a lot of work and years of training. I believe both have the talent to accomplish that if they have the motivation (and sponsors).

2017 ATLANTIC RACES UPDATE 2 AND BEST VIDEOS

All these great races at the same time and with the ARC starting in a few days, make this November a very special month for the ones that like sail racing. It has been good fun to follow all those crews and sailors racing and battling with the sea, the wind an with other racers.

And there are many very interesting battles going on, starting with the VOR that reached a fulcral point. Till now it has been a bit boring with the French/New Zealanders from the Chinese boat LOL maintaining the lead and all the others following the same routing, without being able to catch them, but staying close.

But things are going to change since they are heading for a storm that will get them from Brazil to the cape of Boa Esperança (Good Hope) really fast and I don't believe that under those conditions they will stay close. Finally some boats stopped following Dongfeng and while they keep going to the West, approaching the Brazilian coast, others are sailing more to the East betting on a shorter course.

They point as leader of the race one of those more to the East, Vestas, in my opinion quite wrongly since it seems to me that the best passage with the best winds is all to the West, very near the Brazilian coast to where Dongfeng is going doing over 16k. The others are slower over the water but many have a better VMG since they are pointing more to the East.

Finally the VOR became really interesting: different routings, a storm approaching and the crews giving their best on the last part of this leg. Make your bets and post them on the comments. It would be nice to have some discussion about the different routings 😏

You can follow here:http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/dashboard.html

On the Transat Jacques Vabre the Ultimate have already finished with an imperial Coville/Nelias

dominating Josse/Roussel, that I suspect have the fastest boat. On the last part of the race, near Brasil they had a difference of less than 15nm but then Josse/Roussel did not follow Coville/Nelias when they went very near to the brazilian coast....and they lost the race there because it was the best routing. When they went for the same routing again, following Coville, they had already lost 25nm.

On Multi 50 race  the two fastest boats are very near the finish and after a big fight between them, on the last phase of the race Rocaryol/Pella have been much faster than Leroux /Riou, catching them and going away quickly. For sure Leroux/Riou have problems on the boat (probably one sail out of service).A pity since that battle was being great.

Of them all the Class 40 has been the most interesting race, with three boats in an incredible fight for a long time and they are closer now than before: Sharp/Santurde are still leading but Sorel/Carpentier are only one mile away while Chappellier/Vaillant are at 7, but closing. They are not following the same routing but parallel courses. Difficult to say who will have advantage. They are entering the doldrums and sailing with very light winds, maybe Sharp that is more to the West, but with so light winds it is very difficult to say.

These are the conditions that are more tiring for the crews, the more demanding and where many miles can be lost or won. It will be very interesting to see who will come first out of the Doldrums.

Finally on the IMOCA race the favorites, Dick/Elies, have justified their favoritism and are leading almost from the beginning. The surprise comes from Meilhat/Gahinet that with a boat without the new foils are the ones that give them some fight, being 2nd at 71nm, but losing miles and in a worse position regarding the route and the wind.

You can follow this Transat here: https://www.transatjacquesvabre.org/fr/cartographie-et-classement

On the Mini Transat the great winner, with 90nm advantage over the 2nd, is Ian Lipinsky that made a fantastic race not giving anybody a chance. The 2nd was Riechers, the one that I said on the last update that was making a very interesting move,going all to the South and yes, it paid off: he won 50 nm to the leader and was able to overtake Koster that finished 3rd.

On the serie class (production boat) Erwan is another great winner (he is finishing) and has now an advance of more than 90nm over the 2nd that is Borroulec. He has on his tail Clarisse and Sineau. Very interesting the fight over the finish line. I will bet in Clarisse or Sineau (that is old enough to be her father). Stay tuned on this fight. I believe they will finish in sight of each other and with some luck doing match racing over the finish line😏.

You can follow the mini transat here: http://www.minitransat.fr/en/follow-race/cartography

THE FRENCH WOODEN VOYAGE BOAT: RM 1370

I have already posted about this boat when it was on project stage. All  relevant information about the boat's design and stability characteristics are here: http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2017/01/rm-1370.html

This 45ft is the biggest boat produced by the shipyard Fora Marine that has all its models designed by Marc Lombard. The RM (all with the same concept) won several times the European boat of the year award that is attributed by journalists of many European countries, after having tested all the nominated sailboats.

It may seem odd but this shipyard and this concept, including design and building methods, started 28 years ago. Nothing new now and a very tested concept that has resisted time and longevity very well, having used boats on the market a very good resale value.

Besides its building technique (marine plywood saturated with epoxy and an optional kevlar skin for shock resistance) the RM concept longevity has to do with a very early and long association with what was then a very young NA, Marc Lombard, fresh from Southampton University. At the time he had already experience with racing boat's but the RM was his first cruising design.

The RM, 22 years ago, was then a kind of pet project for Marc, a boat designed like he thought cruiser boats should be, a design that was already strongly influenced by offshore solo racers, from the mini to the Open 60's. Marc would later contribute to develop those solo racer's design, with many winning boats in his career (mini, class40, Open 60's). A very talented NA that would become one of the best and more innovative of his generation.

Most cruising designs on his portfolio, those not made under command of a main shipyard (that impose the type of boat they want), have a considerable similitude with the RM line, meaning that Marc thinks that type of design is the best suited in what regards offshore cruising and Marc has not only a huge designing experience, with all types of sailboats, as it is one of the best NA around.

No surprise solo offshore racers hulls have strongly influenced modern cruising boats. Today the vast majority has that influence, making them more stable boats, easier boats to sail, boats that heel less and most of all, easier boats to be sailed on autopilot. No wonder that now they are the main influence on cruising designs but it was not so 22 years ago. Then main design drive on cruising boats used to come from crewed racers, IMS and IRC designs, boats that need a crew to be exploited.

The RM 1370 is the last of a long line of boats, boats that pointed the way to the design of contemporary cruisers, boats that without changing the concept have been continuously improved in what regards hull design and building methods, always by the same NA, taking also into account the information given by the owners, many of them long range cruisers.

The result could not be other than a great offshore sailing boat, one of the best around, one that may not be the best for the Med or the Baltic (due to predominant upwind sailing and steep short period waves) but it is certainly one of the best boats to voyage, far, fast and extensively on the trade winds, while maintaining a decent performance upwind one that can equal or even better  most mass production boats and better the one of most old designs.

The RM 1370 is on the water and this year in the Dusseldorf boat show it had already a 18 month waiting list. That is quite impressive for a boat that is not main market and is pointed clearly to oceanic sailing. It shows the success the RM are having on the sailing community.

They have increased the shipyard and will have to increase it again due to the the high demand. A success history one that is not based on publicity but on the boat and concept reputation built over the years by their owners that on most cases were sailors above the average.

Talking about those owners one of them is François Gabart one of the best professional solo sailors on the planet, winner of the Vendee Globe and that is right now alone on a huge Maxi trimaran trying to beat the circum-navigation record time. He has a RM for sailing and cruising with the family.

ELEVA 50, DIFFERENT AND NOT ONLY IN WHAT REGARDS GORGEOUS LOOKS.

The first time I looked at this boat I thought it was all about looks with little substance but then I saw the way it was built, the quality of the hull design and interior design and my curiosity was aroused.

This is a very unusual boat, if it was a car it would be a Ferrari and a Ferrari certainly is not the most adequate car for touring extensively even if some would disagree and say that a Ferrari holds better to a road than a sedan, breaks better, accelerates faster and it is much more fun to drive and therefore it would be for them much better than a sedan for cruising around, if it can carry the luggage and offer a suitable comfort.

That's in that spirit that this boat is designed, like a Ferrari but with a luxurious and practical interior and a dinghy garage that can take a 2.7 meter dinghy. A boat that can not only cruise but also race, far from being ridiculous, even on real time.

Like it is proposed the Eleva is a boat for being sailed from port to port. The absence of a bimini or a spraywood would make life difficult for the typical cruiser even if I am quite sure that they can study a set up regarding those needs. It is a pity that it is not included in the basic design, at least as an option. If that it was the case the design could have been as elegant as the boat design.

Curiously one of the most interesting things about the boat has nothing to do with looks but with the technical characteristics, building techniques and materials. The design is from Ceccarelli, a reference in what regards fast boats, the hull is beamy, comparable to a 50ft Oceanis or Hanse, but with finer entries and less beam on the forward part of the hull.

It is remarkably light (10 500 kg) and it has a big B/D (37%), considering that it has a torpedo keel and a 2.87 meter draft. It can have an optional 2.45 mdraft but in this case it will have more ballast and a bigger B/D ratio.

As you have probably already understood this is a boat with a huge stability and very powerful, being able to carry a big sail area. With a jib, as front sail, it carries upwind 154m2 and that gives a SA/D of 32!!!! That means the Eleva will be able to sail very well with very light wind as we can see on the movie. The 75hp engine would have no difficulty in handling the boat due to its light weight and small wet area.

The deck and cabin are made in carbon to bring the weight down and the hull is infused on the two sides of the core using epoxy resins. The boat structure is also infused on the hull becoming a part of it. Carbon is used on the more stressed areas to increase strength.

All interior structure (bulkheads) is assembled together using infusion and then as a monolithic structure, glued and glassed to the hull, increasing its stiffness.

The interior is comfortable and functional, it has a good tankage  with 270 liter diesel and 510 liter water and in what regards storage it has besides the big central locker a big sail locker. A very interesting cruiser that for the ones that like to stay at anchor misses an integrated spraywood and a bimini. It would be nice too if on that big and flat deck an option of integrated solar panels was offered.

Then we would be talking about a perfect dream cruiser, if the winches were not too far away from the helmsman and if their operation would not necessarily interfere with the comfort of eventual passengers. Of course, all winches are electric and can be controlled from the steering position but even so I would prefer to be near the winch, controlling it, even when it is power operated. 

Nothing that cannot be changed or modified. The price for such a boat does not seem excessively high, being similar to the one of other comparable Italian Yachts  like Ice. It will go from 650 000 euros to a million, including taxes.

UPDATE: VOR - MINI TRANSAT -TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE

Starting with the Volvo Ocean Race with this incredible movie: that's what I call sailing a bit over the limit LOL. The race has been interesting with 5 boats inside 13nm, even if all the boats have been following about the same routing and that is a bit boring.

Maybe now that they are arriving to the doldrums they will opt for different approaches. Not surprisingly Dongfeng has been a bit better than the others and with a bold move to the west won  a lot of miles to everybody and is now leading, with a 5nm advance. All are following now its routing. Maybe if he can keep the distance the others are forced to look at different routing options?

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/dashboard.html

On the Transat Jacques Vabre the 4 different races are very interesting. I will start with the smaller boats, the 40 class racers, with a video from the ones that are 2nd now (they were 3rd when the movie was made). The leading boats have been going at an amazing speed, for 40ft boats. The first passed the heavy weather with the foot down. They are making close to 340nm a day and that is IMOCA (Open 60's) territory.  At that speed no wonder that Phil Sharp/Pablo Santurde (the leaders) have overtaken the last of the IMOCA and are not far from others. Quite incredible!!!

On the Imoca (open 60's) the fight has been fierce and those on the video, even going at that speed, are only 5th, at 111nm from the first boat crewed by Jean-Pierre Dick/Yann Elies, but because among the first there are many different routing options, the distance between them has not the same meaning as if they had all gone for the same routing, like on the Volvo. Here, due to different routing options it is easy to win or lose many miles.

On the video above Lagraviere/Peron, that are 3rd, are experiencing some heavy weather. They are the ones more to the East, with many miles of lateral separation from Dick/Elies but I don't think it is going to be a good option. It seems that the way to go is all to the west. We will see and that is half the fun of it, trying to understand routing and the different options and seeing the results.

The fastest Imocas have been able to sail at about the same speed of the Multi50 and only on the last day the two fastest Multi 50 went away. And went away because they have been on an huge fight and are sailing really on the limit. They have exchanged positions several time and it is one of the hottest fights on this transat. First now is Roucayrol/Pella (on the video) but Leroux/Riou are at only 12nm and much more to the West. I would say that they are going to be much closer tomorrow.

On the Ultime class there are only 3 boats and one of them has already been overtaken by the two Multi 50 and also by the fastest IMOCA. They probably have problems but the other two are batlling hard and going very fast. For most of the race Josse/Rouxel led but some days ago Coville Nelias, going much more to the West were able to overtake them. Since then, on about the same routing, Josse/Rouxel have being able to recover, bit by bit and are now at 42nm. They are now the ones more to the West and they are approaching the Doldrums where routing is paramount and where many miles can be won or lost. Great races going on on this Transat!

https://www.transatjacquesvabre.org/fr/cartographie-et-classement

And at last the Mini Transat that is far from being the less interesting race, even if on the Proto class (Prototypes) Ian Lipinsky, that has won already the first leg (video above) went away and has a big advantage over everybody (over 100nm). Riechers, the 3rd, has made a bold routing move, going all to the South. I think he has a good probability of being successful but not to the point to catch Ian. Another story is catching the 2nd, Kostner, and regarding that I believe it is going to be a very interesting fight.

But in what regards fights the one that has been great on this race is the one for the leadership on the serie class (production) where Clarisse keeps on pursuing Erwan even if she has been losing some miles. For catching him she needs to outclass him in routing. We will see what she can do about that. Both are making a fantastic race and are among the first Protos!!!

http://www.minitransat.fr/en/follow-race/cartography

And just to remember that these little 22ft boats can reach fantastic speeds, a look at an already old movie, but still a favorite of mine:

2017 MIDDLE SEA RACE: THE MOVIES

For a race where almost two thirds of the participants had to retire I would have expected a lot more interesting movies but I guess that they were too occupied to make them LOL. Also a pity not having, as in past years, an extensive air coverage, right on the storm. I guess we will have to be satisfied with what we have and it is not bad at all: probably one of the most beautiful sailing movies ever (racing highlights) not only in what concerns the race but in what regards the scenery. Truly beautiful.

HULL DESIGN/PERFORMANCE: JBOATS VERSUS JPK, FIRST AND POGO.

I will be using the results of the last Fastnet to do that comparison. As everybody knows the Fastnet is one of the main European races and probably the one where we find better teams and more modern boats. They are not more because the entries are limited so it tends to reunite the cream.

JNA39

The race is an offshore one, goes from Cowes (England), around the Fastnet rock (Ireland) and finishes in Plymouth (England). Due to its course it has always varied winds. This year's edition they had light winds, medium-strong winds, and as expected, lots of downwind and upwind sailing. A great place to look at the comparative performance of modern performance cruisers, or cruiser racers.

Archambault 13

I will disregard carbon pure racers and I will be focusing at the performance of modern affordable dual purpose boats with different types of hulls. Lots of them on this race: light boats based on open solo racers like Pogo or RM, with a huge beam and the max beam pulled to the transom, main IRC type designs, heavier boats with a moderate beam and the beam not so much pulled back, like the First, boats with a smaller beam and the beam even less pulled back like the Jboats and French modern designs, with a moderate beam but with the beam pulled back like the JPK or the Sunfast.

j122

I will be looking at real times (not compensated ones) and of course you will have to give allowances in what regards the boat length. Length for length you can compare directly but not when boats have different sizes. Some will say that sail area or displacement are also important but I don't care, for me the length is what matters most and eventually price, but we will not be looking at prices on this post. I will be looking only at boats with a length smaller than 46ft.  Bigger boats are not many and not enough to provide significant data.

Let's look at the real stuff, the real-time the boats took to complete the race and let just focus on the boats that have made it in less than 4 days and 10 hours. A big disadvantage for the smaller boats, that proportionally for the same performance versus length should be allowed more time, but we have to set some limit. It is unfair for the little ones, but would allow us to see better how they compare, speed for speed with bigger boats.

Among these boats the fastest was an Archambault 13 that made the race in 3 days 13 hours 41 minutes and 08s (3 - 13:41:08), the next fastest was a JNA 39, the one on the big photo above. The JNA is a relatively new design from Joubert&Nivelt  and it could be the new 39 from Archambault, if the shipyard had not gone bankrupt, since Joubert&Nivelt were the ones that designed their boats.

The JNA39, a much smaller boat was a blast making the race in only more 7 minutes  (3 - 13:47:59), truly amazing and no wonder that they have won the Fastnet (in compensated), family crew and all.

P12.50SF3600JPK1080XP38J122

The first Jboat was a J133 (3 - 17:33:05) took almost more 4 hours than the much smaller JNA 39 followed closely by an Arcona 465 ( 3 - 18:05:04) a Grand Soleil 43 (3 - 18:07:59), a First 44.7 (3 - 18:09:56) an Azuree 46 (3 - 18:48:40) another First, a 40 (3 - 19:55:18) closely followed by a Swan 42 club (3 - 20:01:20) a XP44 (3 - 20:12:28), a X41 (3 - 20:54:24) and a Grand Soleil 43 (4 - 03:25:03).

The next was a new J122e (4 - 00:57:34) that being slightly bigger than the JNA 39 took about 11 hours more and was beaten by the First 40 by 5 hours. Then a J133 (4 - 01:41:45), another J122 (4 - 02:27:54) and only one hour later came a  much smaller JPK 1080 (4 - 03:10:22) followed by two J122 (4 - 03:26:57) J122(4 - 03:32:42) another JPK 1080 (4 - 03:43:35), a X41 (4 - 04:11:29) and another two JPK 1080 (4 - 04:11:58) JPK1080 (4 - 04:28:07).

X133

Then a First 40 (4 - 04:31:13), a  Sunfast 3600 (4 - 04:36:56), a J122e (4 - 04:37:41), an Archambault 35 (4 - 04:38:45), a Sunfast 3600 (4 - 04:39:04) an X40 (4 - 04:45:21), a Sunfast 3600 ( 4 - 05:21:56) another X40 (4 - 05:22:41) a JPK1080 and only 3 hours later the 2nd J122 came a small JPK, a 1010 (4 - 05:33:52) with a duo crew, father and son, the ones that some years back won the Fastnet and that this year won the duo crew category and also its IRC class. What a boat, what a family!!!!

JPK1080

Then another JPK 1080 (4 - 05:38:50) a First 40 (4 - 07:08:42) an A35 (4 - 07:34:45) a X41(4 - 07:52:09) a First 40 (4 - 08:44:07) a JPK1010 (4 - 09:01:52) a J109 (4 - 09:21:35) a First40 (4 -09:50:05) a J120 (4 - 09:54:00) and a JPK 1010 (4 - 09:55:00) .........Pogo1250 (4 - 13:05:45) Pogo12.50 (4 - 12:26:17) Pogo2 Class40 (4 - 13:16:27) RM 1270 (4 - 17:46:43).

For obvious reasons I had to consider the results from the Pogo out of the 4 days 10 hours limit because none of them finished inside that time. Between the last sailboat that made it on the time I considered as limit and the Pogo, many boats of similar size, and smaller, made a better time.

Pogo 12.50

Another interesting consideration regards the huge number of Jboats racing (40) probably the brand with more boats racing, being the smaller the J105. Among the boats that made it on the considered period (fastest cruiser racers) there is only one Jboats smaller than 40ft, while we can find between Archambault, JPK and Sunfast 10 sailboats considerably smaller than 40ft, some much smaller like the three JPK1010 (33ft). There were two fast J111 racing but none was able to make the race inside this time period.

First 40

So what does this tell us about hull type and performance? The main traditional development line of IRC boats (First, Grand Soleil, Swan) performed very well, even better, the "French" type of boats with a similar beam but with a larger transom due to beam pulled aft (JNA 39, Archambault, JPK, Sunfast Azuree), not so well the Jboats, that are narrower boats with a max beam not pulled back and not good at all the very beamy boats with hull derived from solo racers (Pogo, RM).

JPK 1010 and J111

On another race, with more upwind sailing and nasty seas ot with very light wind, the Jboats could have made comparatively better. On a predominantly upwind race the J would probably be the fastest, on a predominantly downwind race, like a Transat, we would see the Pogos shining and the "French" type of hulls doing even better regarding Jboats and traditional IRC racers (First, GS, XP). 

The point here is that there are not miracles and each type of hull has strong and weak points. But I would say that the type that seem to have a  better overall balance between upwind and downwind performance is what I called the "French" line of development that includes for instance the GS 34 and the Diva 34 (recent posts), none of them French boats.

Besides the French I would say that I am not the only one to think that this is the best compromise and more and more performance cruisers are designed that way. This type of hull offers also the advantage to be easier to sail downwind solo and most of all to be more stable and easy on autopilot and that is not a negligible advantage on a cruising boat, being it a performance boat or not.