VIDEOS: FOILS ON RAMBLER 88 AND FIGARO 3

I believe a lot can be said about a sailboat just looking at the way it sails and this video of the Caribbean 600 gave me some surprising information that explains why this time Rambler was beaten by the trimaran Paradox (by 36m), when back in 2015 (the last time the 2 boats raced together here) Rambler beat Paradox by about 3 hours.

It was not because Rambler had been sailed better in 2015 (on IRC it won this year and it had only been 3rd in 2015) but because the conditions suited it less. And that was a surprise too because the conditions this year were strong and I thought that they would benefit the monohull. But looking at the images we can see that Paradox curiously goes better against the waves, with less wave drag, while Rambler dives the bow on the waves creating a huge drag.

So please, it is time to provide Rambler with adequate foils that lift that bow over the water diminishing wave drag and allowing it to go way faster on these conditions. Look what I mean:

Look how Hugo Boss loses speed when the bow comes down and dives in the waves. That's the way Rambler sails all the time. Imagine Rambler's speed if it were able to lift the bow like Hugo Boss!!!

And, talking about foils let me tell you about my disappointment regarding Figaro 3 foils and the contribute they bring to the boat's performance. There was a huge gain of speed between Figaro 1 and  Figaro 2. We all expected that would happen with Figaro 3 compared with Figaro 2 but, despite the boat looking gorgeous, that is not happening and in my opinion that has to do with the foils that don't create the lift that would be expected and even if they create the RM to compensate the loss of the water ballast of the previous model, that is far from enough to make a considerable difference.

Even with Beneteau hiring Figaro top sailors to make marketing videos, to show the boat potential in perfect sailing conditions, do you really think that the boat has a big difference in sailing potential compared to the previous model? And note that it is on strong conditions that those foils should be more effective. Figaro 2 on the videos below: