ELAN 320, NOW WITH A NEW NAME, ELAN E3

When I saw some years back the Elan 310 at the Dusseldorf boat show I thought to myself that would be the boat I would chose to sail or cruise solo. Fortunately I cruise with my wife and with two I prefer a bigger boat. Also my wife and her cooking demands :-) would imply a bigger galley. She cares also more about interior comfort than I. Why am I talking about an old model?.... well besides being a great boat it has the same hull than the 320, and the inferior is not that different.

The 320 is just a better 310, slightly lighter, with a nicer interior, 2 cabins, lots of storage and a great sailing potential. Sure boats like the Pogo 30 or the Malango 999 are faster (lighter) and offer a swing keel but they have a much bigger price tag. The Swing keel is certainly very interesting for cruising in Brittany, England and in all places that have huge tides but dispensable on the Med or regions with average tides. If one has not the money to buy a much more expensive 30fter, and that includes the RM 890, the Elan 320 offers an unbeatable package in what regards price, interior space, cruising potential, fun sailing and some racing potential.

The boat can be ordered with an all infused hull and deck with epoxy that will make not only for a lighter but also for a stronger boat.

The 320, a Humphries design that was seen as a kind of revolutionary design in its  first version (310), seems to be looked now  as a fast but "normal" boat  and is not looked suspiciously by many as before. I believe that has to do with the many cruising boats with similar hull forms and characteristics, in several sizes , that have arrived to the market in the last years. The 310 hull shape has become even fashionable, chines and all. The 310 was, when it was launched, an avantgard boat, the 320 is already a midstream one. Changes have happened fast in what regards boat design in the last years.

The 320t has been tested by several sail magazines and all have been reporting great things about it. Sailing Today has made a video of the test:

Sailing Today is a relatively conservative magazine in what regards cruising boats and I bet that when the 310 appeared they would not have liked the boat that would have appeared too revolutionary but now they say about it:

"This new model is one of the only 32-footers available with twin helms and rudders. Don’t be fooled by her comparatively low ballast ratio – in giving her a deep-ballasted, T-bulb keel, designer Rob Humphreys, has created her sleek but shallow hull lines to ensure minimal drag, whilst incorporating discreet chines on her quarters to increase her overall resistance to heel....I expected her to be a quick boat, but I hadn’t expected her to be so well behaved and easy to handle when pushed hard...On the water she’s a spirited performer and damned good fun to sail, although she goes best if you keep her on her chines and don’t over-canvas her. She’s not unreasonably priced, but you need to study the inventory carefully and factor in the necessary extras that are offered in myriad optional packs. My only negative thought is that her tankage is a little limited for longer term cruising....

Furthermore, we were all pleasantly surprised at how nicely fitted out she was down below. In the past the interiors of the sports range had always been a little rudimentary and stark, whereas this boat could have been designed just as a cruiser if you judge her from below decks."

http://www.sailingtoday.co.uk/boats/big-boat-review/elan-390-review-test/

On the other side of the world the Australian Performance Cruiser magazine says also nice things about it even if the comparison with the Pogo 30 doesn't seem to make much sense to me but an otherwise complete and good test sail:

"...this is certainly a yacht that suits this growing market, older sailors looking for a boat that will go fast yet is easy enough to handle for the similarly-aged crew. Being comfortable down below adds to its desirability.... 

Twin rudders connected to twin wheels delivers a tight helm control on the boat: twin rudders are well outside the flow off the keel and the wheels allow the helmsperson to sit well outside to weather or to leeward depending on preference. ...Having loaded the boat up to see how she reacts to gusts I have to note that it is extremely easy to retain control in a roundup..

If sailing short-handed, full mainsail controls are just forward of the wheels with end-boom sheeting, giving the helmsperson quick access to control any weather helm issues. The mainsheet comes with a fine tune two-speed control. Deck hardware consists of Harken winches that are well-sized for the loads expected. Again this appears to be a nod to the target market in making the boat easy to handle. The genoa winches are well outboard of nicely rounded coamings that again make it easy to sit outboard and still wind on or be in the cockpit and easily kneel over the winch to grind....

On our sail review day we had cold gusty southerlies (with rain squalls) making consistent reading of handling difficult but providing opportunity to test the hull’s response to changing conditions. .. we easily exceeded the VPPs on each point of sail: 30º, 60ºand 90º. Pushing the boat to round up shows just how easy to drive this yacht is. The boat does lose control but the leeward rudder manages to retain grip, so the boat just quietly pokes its head to wind, riding on the chine and then leisurely resumes its previous course. It was quite an unnatural feeling as there was no shaking, no steep heeling, no panic. It was the same when flying the chute.

‘Quiet’ is good word to describe sailing the E3. The boat sashays through the water with very little hull noise. ...In 15 to 20 knots the E3 (formerly known as the Elan 320) was getting into its straps. Looking at the velocity prediction polar plot (VPP) it clearly shows that once the wind gets into the higher breeze range this boat loves to crack sheets. It is no slouch in the lighter winds mind you, as it attains theoretical hull speed of 7.17 knots in just seven knots of true wind, 90 degrees off the bow. Launch the asymmetric from its extendable prodder however, and you have one fast, responsive craft. At 140º apparent in 18 knots of true wind we hit 10.6 knots and easily sat above nine for the entire ride.....

 Down below it is even better...The interior design is strong and bonded well to the hull and deck. .. The galley is for’ard of the aft cabin and is a safe and simple L-shape. To starboard, for’ard of the head is the navigator’s table which is one of the biggest I have seen in any larger yacht recently.The two saloon berths either side of the table would each seat four comfortably. The bulkhead walls and door to the for’ard cabin are thick and sturdy."

http://performancecruising.com.au/files/elan/Elan320Test.pdf

The only shortcut regarding extensive cruising is the somewhat standard low tankage, 140L of water is not bad for a 30ft and 45L diesel seems to allow the  18hp diesel to run for about  17 hours at 6K or about 102nm, a bit short but they have space for more tankage so that should not be a problem.

If you are looking to buy a 30ft cruiser before going to the ones of the main market, I mean Oceanis, Jeanneau, Bavaria or Hanse, just have a look at this one and see if that has enough space for you because if it has you are going to have a lot more fun sailing, not to mention that it is a  more elegant sailboat that makes the others look fat;-)

RR: NASTY NIGHT WITH BIG SEAS ....AND AN OLD MAN LEADS!!!!

When Loick Peyron, now a 55 year-old-man, beat with his team, the Cammas record of the absolute fastest circumnavigation, I thought "Great sailor, he is old but he does not need to make efforts, he is a Maestro running a team and damn good at that." Then he started fiddling around with the most radical racing dinghy, the Moth and after a while he said that was fun and that he was going to enter the World Championship!!!! He did not run among the first but left some behind...and we are talking not about club racing but about a World championship where the best Moth sailors were.

I thought that his serious racing days were over and that now he was going to take a "student" like Desjoyeux had made with François Gabart, that he was going to pass his vast knowledge to the next generation and the same thought probably the sponsors because he could not find a competitive boat for this race, that is in what regards multihulls the more important race and is only raced every four years....and then surprise, Armel LeCleach , the skipper of Banque Populaire that was training for this race like a mad man hurt himself badly on an arm and the boat needed a new skipper at the last minute. 

There are only a few that could solo sail fast one of these monsters  and after some hesitations Armel and Banque Popular asked if the old sailor wanted and was ready for making another race at top level with a top boat..... and he said yes. I confess that I was not expecting much more than a nice race: the big trimaran is a monster of power, terribly physical and Loick is not a young athlete anymore, but an aging man and this time he is not only the Maestro, but the Maestro and the entire band since he is alone on that enormous boat. surely he cannot run that monster at 100% or that was what I thought and curiously I think Armel was also a little worried. He said to him just before the race: "..  be careful because this first night will not be easy. Getting out of the Channel the conditions will deteriorate and it will be very complicated. He needs to be carefula and not do anything silly, do not break anything."

But the old man is probably already a bit deaf : He started like a bullet and with a boat that is not the biggest neither the fastest, soon was leading the race and not just for a while, all night long (a terrible one with huge seas) and keeps leading, taking advantage of his vast experience with bad weather.

Chapeau Monsieur :-), I am convinced, you are a young man in disguise and an incredible sailor. I don't understand how you can manage that at 55 years of age, but facts are facts and you are beating all the young boys and their bigger boats. My admiration for you is simply HUGE!!!

Alessandro dans le gros temps ! by routedurhum

Regarding the conditions on the race some comments made for some of the skippers racing and these are some of the best sailors around used to bad weather so if they say it is bad, you can believe it ;-)

Lalou Roucayrol - Arkema Aquitaine (Multi50) 

" We have very strong conditions. The wind begins to shift a little and the seas are terrible. Now there is a little less wind but I had peaks at 40 knots. There are big gusts in these squalls. It is difficult. 

"Miranda Merron a lady racing a 40class racer puts it with more humour: Foul night, zero visibilty once the driving rain started, 35 knots or so for a while. Pretty big sea state too, but luckily it was dark, as the waves which revealed themselves at dawn around Ushant were huge - and occasionally breaking - clipped on in the cockpit AND arms around the winch to stay on board - not nice. 

Any maneuver is physically grueling." admitted Spindrift's Yann Guichard at 1000hrs this morning. He was looking forwards to his first micro-nap of 15 minutes and he aims to get some more through today.

Sébastien Jossse on Edmond de Rothschild, the first of the Multi70s said:"The boat is making ​​impressive jumps and we both suffer with every passing wave, I feel like the boat will break up. 

And it does not only seem that the boats are breaking as some boats are really breaking: These are breaking boat conditions at the speed they go.

Loïc Fequet – Maitre Jacques (Multi50) "When we were in big waves, the starboard float broke in front of the crossbeam. I do not know how. There was 28-29 knots so I did not go out to examine it but I can see that it is damaged the same as last year."

On class 40 several guys had to give up with problems, among them Bertrand Delesne (Teamwork40)  and the Italian Giancarlo Pedote but they just turned around, not as bad the Multy50 Royan that lost the mast or Angoulevant and Marc Lepesqueux that lost their keels. Also bad luck for one of the favorites on a big trimaran, Thomas Coville that was hit by a cargo and heavily damaged one of the hulls (amas). That was not all. A rudder damaged, collisions with buoys and other accidents made for a very hard night for all and even harder for some that had to abandon the race. Everybody is well and that's the most important.

Premier jour de course sur la Route du Rhum by routedurhum

Regarding the race itself it has been fantastic; upwind sailing and very hard sea conditions allowed the fastest smaller Open 60 monohulls to mingle with the giant trimarans for a while and even now most of the Muli50 trimarans are behind most of the Open60 and some even racing among the 40class racers that show once more that when the weather is rough they can go very fast. On the Multi 50 , that are very tricky boats to sail in bad weather conditions, ahead of the open 60, only two, the best, Le Blevec and Le Roux. Let's see if they can maintain the boats in one piece and the right side up. They are making a hell of a race as well as the first on the Open 60 that is led by the  winner of the last Vendee Globe, François Gabart. On Class 40 there is a big fight, as usual. Rogues is leading but is rival Pella is not far away neither Kito de Pavan.

But most of all I want to see if the old guy that is leading is able to maintain that crazy rhythm for the rest of the race and if the weather and sea condition will allow him not to be beaten by the bigger and faster boats. He needs a hard race to have a chance to win...and at least on the next days that will be so: From head winds to light and strong winds there will be a bit of all, including nasty seas.

What a race !!!!!! 

You can follow here;

http://www.routedurhum.com/en/s02_corporate/s02p08_cartographie.php

http://www.routedurhum.com/en/s01_home/s01p01_home.php

AND HERE THEY GO AT FULL SPEED POINTING TO STORMY SEAS: BEAUTIFUL IMAGES

Le départ de la Route du Rhum - Destination... by routedurhum

That's the start of the biggest solo Transat and probably the biggest of them all and the weather could not be more interesting: They are pointing to stormy seas and F8 seas. Some of the big monohulls are already reefed while the smaller 50 multihulls go with all sail out. I love those guys, the craziest on the race, the ones that take more risks and the more spectacular. Off course the Open 60 go with full sail as the Class 40 and i bet they want some bad weather ahead as a way to give them a chance to fight the multihulls, not the bigger ones (that are bigger then their monohulls) but the 50fters that are a bit smaller.

Passage de la bouée du Cap Fréhel by routedurhum Information about the race here:
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/10/route-du-rhum-worlds-biggest-sail-race.html
http://www.routedurhum.com/
The tracker:
http://www.routedurhum.com/fr/s02_corporate/s02p08_cartographie.php

A GREAT RACE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

Well, on the other side of the world for me and the Europeans, for the Australians that follow this blog it is next door on New Zealand. You just have to see the videos of this and past editions to see that it's a great race and a great race is made with great boats and great sailors. This one has all of that. The race is not big and is raced between Auckland and Russel, the name: COASTAL CLASSIC

I know some of those boats, that normally have the designer's name: Elliott, Ross, Young, all fast boats but what pisses me is that they don't have a list of entries with the name of boats and the result list does only mention the rating so no fun in looking at the boats and trying to understand the designs that worked better on those conditions and why, I mean ratings apart. We cannot also know which of them are stripped out racers and performance cruisers. A pity but if you like as much as me to see nice boats sailing fast you are going to love these videos.

A 9.50 class racer

This one is caro a Botin designed 65 Caro racer cruiser, well much of a racer and a very fast boat:

THE A13 AND A J122 ON THE MIDDLE SEA RACE

We had talked already here about the fantastic race the new A13 was making on this edition of the Middle Sea  race, going many hours at a steady 18k average...till she lost the mast very near the finish. Now we got some images of the boat doing it:

Regarding the broken mast that's very interesting and not usual: the mast broke inside the boat at the foot. Someone want to comment on that? I would be interested ;-)
We had already talked about the A13 on this blog, here:
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/04/archambault-a13.html

And a video from the second J122 that finished the race. Unfortunately we don't have a movie from the one that won the race on compensated and was 8 hours faster than this one. That was an awesome performance regarding the boat rating since this one make a good race finishing in 6th place on compensated time.

Regarding the photo of the J122 on top, it is the new model that only varies from Otra vez on small details, the hull and rig are the same. The biggest alteration was on the interior that is now nicer, with views to the outside. A great performance cruiser. I really cannot understand why the boat is not popular on US, to the point of not being made there. Is, it is expensive but not more than other high quality performance cruisers, like Xyachts, for example. Take a look at the new interior. Really nice:

NEWS REGARDING DSS (DYNAMIC STABILITY SYSTEM)

After the use of the System on Wild Oats the max yacht that won the last Sydney Hobart, contrary to what could be expected, there was not a rush to use the system. My impression is that the system will only work well on small boats on flat water and need by yachts to be able to perform adequately on Ocean conditions. Small boats have just to much pitch to make its use profitable.

For the ones that never heard about it is just a wing that goes perpendicularly to the boat hull, near the surface, on the opposite side of the wind and  that like an airplane wing provides lift creating RM and pushing the boat up, preventing it to heel. Its efficiency increases with speed. Look at this movie and you will understand how it works:

Recently there have been a lot of interest about it, since 15 October, when it was decided that contrary to the masts and keels, the appendices would remain free on the IMOCA class (Open 60's), with the already existent limitation of a maximum of 5 movable ones. There are several teams considering using DSS on their boats and even some interesting designs:

Hugh Welbourn, the system inventor and developer is working with several teams and even if for me the limitation of the 5 foils (two rudders, a keel and two daggerboards) make the utilization of the system complicated, he presents several solutions. Eventually there are two more that it seems not to have been considered: With a narrower boat the utilization of a single deep rudder that would allow an independent DSS system or a movable rudder, from one side of the boat to another, that would make possible the actual beamy configuration and again an independent DSS system.

But what have been studied  by now is a configuration that maintaining the two rudders as they are, modifying the movable foils that assume a double role:  Given grip to the boat upwind and creating lift. The drawing makes sense but the foil could not be completely raised out of the water and, as I see it, will create drag on light wind sailing. I am very curious and hoping any of the new boats will go for that, to see the real system potential and if the advantages will be superior to the disadvantages.

Another disadvantage, that has nothing to do with performance, but will be a practical inconvenient, is the impossibility to put the boat along a quay or pontoon. The boat can not go alongside but stay at some distance, with the foil hitting the quay. It will need some BIG fenders LOL.

Very interesting stuff anyway!
Hugh Welbourn and Dynamic Stability Systems Founder Gordon Kay says about all this:

"Dynamic Stability Systems welcomes this week’s decision by IMOCA to place no further restrictions on its class rule. This permits both the six new IMOCA 60s currently under construction, as well as the existing fleet, to be fitted with the lateral lifting foils which DSS has spent the last decade pioneering. ...

“These foils will allow IMOCA 60s to remain cutting edge as well as providing a performance enhancement every bit as significant as canting keels, which IMOCA pioneered during the 1990s,” ...

..Fitting DSS to a typical IMOCA 60 is complicated by the class rules which restrict boats to a maximum of five movable appendages – typically two rudders, a canting keel and two daggerboards.

The daggerboards are necessary to prevent leeway when the keel is canted, but on recent IMOCA 60s they have had a dual function as by being inclined in the hull is such a way that they are angled (ie off vertical) as they pass through the water, they also produce upwards lift. This lift helps reduce hull drag, but – most significantly – as it does not operate to leeward of the hull, it lacks the same lever arm and, in turn, the massive contribution to righting moment of the DSS foil. So while present generation IMOCA 60 boards make little contribution to righting moment, for their new boats teams have been investigating the use of more efficient L-shaped foils. With these one side of the foil prevents leeway while the other creates vertical lift down to leeward, in turn providing a massive boost to righting moment.

Teams have been looking at principally two configurations for these ‘DSS L-foils’:

a) Tip up: This is similar to a conventional daggerboard only its main shaft is vertical in the water when the boat is heeled, while its tip is effectively a DSS foil, close to horizontal in the water when the boat is heeled, to provide vertical lift.

b) Tip down: This is closer to the standard DSS arrangement where the main shaft of the foil protrudes horizontally through the bottom of the topsides providing vertical lift to leeward, while the downward-pointing tip of the board prevents leeway.

Welbourn, who is currently working with IMOCA teams on evolving this technology, says that while DSS is in the process of being accepted by the Class (just as canting keels were in the 1990s), the first designs to incorporate the DSS L-foils will be ‘middle of the road’ options, still retaining most of the familiar IMOCA 60 features. Thus rather than having the maximum permitted beam of 5.85m, he believes that new DSS L-foil equipped IMOCA 60s will end up closer to 4.8-5.2m....

According to Hugh Welbourn, an IMOCA 60 that relied even more on its DSS foil for righting moment would be an entirely different animal but unlike most innovations could represent further cost savings for the Class. The canting keel – along with all its added weight and complexity – could be dispensed with in favour of a simpler fixed keel and as a result there would be no need for additional daggerboards to prevent leeway as the keel foil could provide this (as it does on most yachts). Windward performance could be enhanced by fitting a trim tab to the keel, which is permitted for fixed keels under the present IMOCA rule. This would also allow conventional, straight lateral DSS foils to be fitted, which would be more efficient as their sole functions would be to provide vertical lift and increase righting moment.

Added reliance on the DSS foil would also result in less need for form stability derived from a beamy hull shape and Welbourn envisages the maximum beam of the ‘Ultimate’ DSS IMOCA 60 could be as small as 4.2m – at present the beam constraint is the shroud base required for the newly introduced one design mast, which has a specified size and weight.

A pure-DSS hull shape would also not require the fat bow that features in many modern offshore race boat designs to prevent nose diving when sailing downwind. “When you start supporting a lot of the boat’s displacement on the foil rather than the hull, what you need is something that penetrates waves very nicely at high speed, not a big fat bow. A slimmer type of boat does that,” states Welbourn.

The end result would weigh approximately 6 tonnes, almost two tonnes less than the present lightest IMOCA 60s. And once again, a substantially narrower and lighter boat, with a fixed, rather than a canting, keel and with straight foils, as opposed to L-shaped ones, can all result in a less expensive boat...

DSS foils or L-foils can also ‘turbo’ the performance of older generation IMOCA 60s. Retrofitting this to an existing boat would cost in the order of £50,000 maintains Welbourn. However this represents good value given that his simulations demonstrate they could take as much as five days off a round the world course compared to the same boat without the new foils.

Welbourn concludes: “Ultimately DSS is a way of producing more sea-kindly and safer boats, which are substantially faster for a negligible increase in cost and potentially with a reduction in cost. Almost all the daggerboards ever fitted to IMOCA 60s provide some degree of vertical lift depending upon their inclination in the boat. DSS foils are simply inclined much more and you get a lot more out of them.”

http://www.infinitiyachts.com/news-2/

WHAT A CRACKING BOAT...UNBELIEVABLE!!! (POGO S3)

Pogo 3 teaser - from Pogostructures on Vimeo.

The words are not mine but from Matthew Sheahan the responsible of Racing coverage and technical editor of Yachting world magazine. Matthew is not a kid or a young guy, like the ones that use to race these boats, but an old racer and he knows one or two things about racing boats: It's experience is huge and he tested and sailed many. Giving this background his enthusiasm by the new Pogo 3 is meaningful. He had never tried a mini racer and the least we can say is that he seems positivelly astonished. I have been pointing out the growing interest of the British regarding solo racers and fast cruisers derived from the solo racing boat concept, well, Matthew is certainly one of those that is discovering and appreciating the concept and making it popular also among British cruisers and racers.