Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane aboard Renault Captur (6th) fought with 70k winds after rounding Cap Horn. Riechers said:
“Rounding Cape Horn was pretty easy. We had 35-40kts of wind. And just after the Cape, we thought OK, it is going to be easy. No stress. But one mile after Cape Horn came the first gust, 70kts of wind, so the boat was lying flat with the third reef in the main and the J3. So from there we were a b it scared, we bore away and rolled up the J3, and continued with the triple reefed mainsail. And still we surfed at 24 to 25kts. The seas were very white and very steep. In the end it was pretty scary. So for my first rounding of Cape Horn it was a big one.
“You are not super, super scared. But you ask yourself the questions. With a triple reefed main and with the boat on the edge of control, with the rudder problem, you can only steer with the autopilot, you just stay inside. You ask yourself what is going to happen if the autopilot freaks out and makes a mistake? Then you have a real, real big problem.”
Sébastien Audigane , on his 4th rounding of the Horn: “The most stressful conditions I have seen in 25 years. Two and a half days ago we contemplated turning round to avoid it. It was the perfect storm with a very low depression in the centre. Looking closely we judged we could pass it. But I confess that during the storm we looked at each other and said “This is a bullsh*t idea”. Once you are in it there is little you can do to manage the situation. The boat did well under three reefs. The only worry was our dear autopilot might give up on us.
“After the Horn, when we hit 70 knots and the wind was consistently at 60, we sat it out, watching what was going on outside from time to time as we waited at the chart table, ready to adjust the autopilot if needed. These are the most stressful conditions I have seen in 25 years.
“We don't try to get ourselves into these situations. We had prepared the boat as best we could. We stacked the boat as best we could, we had our survival suits on and were ready psychologically.”
Anyway it is good to know that an Open 60 is able to meet these absolutely extreme conditions and keep sailing....on autopilot. Absolutely extraordinary on a boat that weights less than most 40ft cruising sailing boats. So much for those that think that seaworthiness on a sailboat is directly linked to displacement and that heavy boats are necessarily more seaworthy than light boats.
Regarding the race itself, it has not been very interesting. I had pointed out at the beginning that only two boats and teams seemed to me competitive regarding winning it and that the fleet was very dissimilar regarding sailing potential. The two more competitive teams (Hugo Boss and Cheminees Poujoulat) were reduced to one at the early stages of the race when Hugo Boss lost the rig.
About 1000nm separates the first (Cheminees Poujoulat) from the 2nd (Neutrogena) and more than 5000nm!!! separates the last from the first. The two leading boats are very close on sailing potential, being both 2007 Farr designs, both have won major races, one the Vendee Globe (2008/2009) the other the Route du Rhum (2010) but the very experienced crew of Cheninees Poujoulat (Stamm, Le Cam) marks the difference to the less experienced crew of Neutrogena (Altadill, Munõz) that have been doing a good race and learning fast. Without their forced stop at New Zealand for repairs their difference for the first would be less than 200nm even if I believe that Stamm/Le Cam could go faster if they had to.
Beating the new Banque Populaire, the new Safran is on the water. Morgan Lagraviere will be the skipper, coached by the old Safran skipper Marc Guillemot. The boat was designed by Vincent Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) and Guillaume Verdier. It has foils, it is beamier then the previous boat, the CG (mast and keel) was moved back to lighten the forward section and the bow is larger and more rounded increasing also the buoyancy on the forward section of the boat. All this will make it easier to lift the bow that probably will be very important to increase foil's efficiency.
Waiting for the first sailing movies, these two give a good view of the boat that is a beauty:
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/10/solaris-50.html and I had said only nice things about it but now I have seen the boat in Dusseldorf and I was greatly impressed. This is not only a very beautiful boat but also the kind of boat that I would have if I won the lottery.
And for the quality I ended up not finding it extravagantly expensive at 570000 euros, VAT included, lot less then what would cost an Halberg Rassy 48 with a similar built quality.
On the link above you can check out what I had said about the boat dimensions but I will add that with a beam of 4.55m is significantly narrower then most production main market boats (Sense 50-4.86m; Hanse 505-4.75m; Sun Odyssey 509-4.69m; Bavaria cruiser 51-4.67m), has a bigger B/D ratio, a more efficient keel and a considerably bigger draft (or in option a smaller draft and an even bigger B/D ratio). This extra keel efficiency and superior B/D ratio will give not only a more powerful boat but also one with a better reserve stability.
The 14 200kg of weight are very similar to the one of the above main market cruisers even considering that this weight, contrary to the others is not an empty weight but but the one of a boat in sailing condition with half tankage. So it is not a particularly light boat but consider that contrary to the others this is a vacuum infused cored boat (Airex) using vynilester-epoxy resins with carbon reinforcements and one that can have carbon spars.
Knowing that they have 40 years of experience building boats that means that this boat is overbuilt and all that extra weight is aimed to increase boat strength. They not only use bulkheads laminated to the deck and hull as they use composite cored laminates on the two main bulkheads to diminish dilatation problems between two different materials. The idea is to built a kind of monoblock boat increasing overall stiffness.
Many looking at this boat would say: Another pretty fragile boat designed for med sailing. Well, fragile it is not and a boat doesn't have to be ugly to be very seaworthy and strong and Solaris is a paradigma regarding that. Besides the winch position, the self tacking jib and mainsheet system (that can have a traveler or not) everything is designed taking into account solo or short crew sailing.
A word regarding handholds that were almost absent on the 50ft at Dusseldorf: They are mounted to the owner request. You can see that on the Solaris 58 that is side by side with the 50. There are handrails on the deck while the 50 has none. Those steel handrails can also be mounted on the interior ceiling also.
The sprayhood is very interesting: it can be stowed and completely covered on a space provided for that on the cabin or deployed and... surprise surprise, it is an huge one that forms a completely covered enclosure. I would like to have seen that, as well as how it fits on the storage space and how much time it takes to deploy but they did not have it at Dusseldorf.
Finally in what regards storage this boat is one of the few 50ft that offers a garage with enough space for a small dinghy and a forward sail locker/storage space with considerable dimensions. On long range cruising, while crossing oceans the dinghy can be deflated and the extra garage space can be used for extra storage.
This race is becoming a classic and it is really a shame the lousy site and the very poor race information. Much to be bettered regarding that. A race with a growing fleet with very interesting sailboats of all types competing. This year they had a top multihull trimaran, Phaedo 3, a Multi 70 that dominated the race. Phaedo used to be a much slower Gunboat 66 that used to be beaten easily by Paradox, a 63ft cruiser racer trimaran....not anymore, the new Phaedo showed of what is capable a top 70ft racing trimaran and made the Caribbean 600 in a record time well ahead of any other boat.
Great performance of the 100ft Luxury yacht Nomad (Finot/Conq) that come right after the big racing boats, ahead of a Volvo 70, beating by far all other Maxi cruising yachts. Great performance of the Ker 43 Otra vez, coming among the big boats (immediately ahead a Farr 60 and immediately behind a Volvo 60). Great performance of the Class 40 Tales II (first 40fter) coming just behind a Farr 72 and ahead of a Shipman 72. After the Shipman 72 another Class 40 beating two Volvo 60 and a Swan 60.
No Gunboats and almost no cats this year. Only a Moxi 61 that was not fast beeing beaten by the 40class racers (it took a shortcut at the end of the race).
Two friends one with a Django 7.70 other with a First 33.7 decided to make a kind of test sail between the two boats. I know, not fair, the First is considerably bigger and an older design but even so I found interesting the video and the comments on You tube:
Not a great video too since both boats are not shown sailing side by side but the information is interesting: With very light winds the First 33.7 is faster upwind and points better. With 20/25k winds the Django is a bit faster and more responsive. Well I would like more information but that's the only thing they say :-)
On the cruising forum where I post as "Polux" I have posted something about hull shapes and performance that may be interesting to this blog. The post is here (post 258):
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f47/true-blue-water-boat-extinction-a-fait-accompli-141354-18.html#post1754758 From here comes the basic question: The qualities that make a good racing solo sailboat are relevant to a cruising boat? Or putting it another way, the type of hulls and rigs used for solo racing are relevant for cruising, as a benefic global influence that can allow better cruising boats? The type of hull that allows a solo sailor to push and sail fast (many times under autopilot) a racer through ocean has advantages for an inexperienced, solo or short crew cruiser while sailing offshore on a cruising boat?
As a way to answer let's have first a look at the differences between the type of hulls used for solo racing and the type of hulls used for crew racing: Many think that the very beamy Open 60 are the fastest type of boat downwind (for the size) or on a circumnavigation but they are wrong. Certainly they are the type of boat faster sailing solo on a circumnavigation but not if a crew is used. On that case a boat like the VOR65 (with 60ft) will be faster, provided it has a full crew to handle it.
Let’s have a look at both hulls, a VOR 65 and a Open 60 (both sailboats designed for a circumnavigation on the trade winds, meaning mostly beam reach and downwind sailing):
The difference is evident, both have all beam pulled back but the Open 60 is a much more beamier boat. So why not make an Open 60 less beamier and theoretically faster? It has been made…and did not work out, they have been developing these boats for 30 years, and the actual configuration it is the one that at the moment allows for a faster boat…sailed solo. Why?
Let’s look at some videos of 11/12m racing boats, solo racing boats and crew racing boats to understand why. First a Beneteau Figaro II versus a J111. Both boats can go damn fast downwind, the J111 even faster but look at the guy on the Figaro that can leave the boat on autopilot to adjust sails or even to go ahead to set the Spinnaker. He has to leave it on autopilot on many occasions inclusive to sleep.
Compare with the guys on the J111, even with a short crew they need three guys to keep it out of broaching, one at the wheel, other constantly trimming the front sail and a reserve one for the mainsail or for helping if something goes wrong.
The J111 is a cruiser racer, if look to truly race boats, like a Soto 40 or a Ker 40, the control has to be even more precise and a bigger crew is required:
Now compare with a same sized solo racer, a 40class boat sailed by a lonely sailor and will be on a completely different ball game. One guy is enough to drive the boat fast downwind, not as fast as a ker 40 or Soto 40, but certainly much faster than a Soto 40 or Ker 40 solo sailed. On a solo racer the boat has to be handled many times on autopilot since it is the same guy that is the trimmer, the bow man, the navigator the helmsman….and it has also to work on the winches and to sleep since most of the races on those boats are Transats or circumnavigations.
Bob Perry said once that those boats had training wheels and that he didn't need any training wheels on his boats. So the question is, do cruising boats need training wheels, meaning they can be sailed faster and safely with them …or maybe not?
J111
Luca, the guy from Comar maintenance said that he was part of the crew that test sailed the first Comet 41s (my boat) and that on the maiden sail they had sailed it at 18K. Well, I have owned my boat for two years now and I have never went faster then 14K (and even so on only one occasion) and I know that I will never sail it at 18k simply because for that the boat needs a crew. Don’t make me wrong, that is a fast boat and a relatively easy boat to sail with a huge resistance to broaching and an incredibly sensible rudder. Just with a bit of help with my wife, or even solo I can sail pretty fast on it, specially upwind but the downwind sailing speed (no spinnaker) is most cases between 9.5 and 11.5K, a bit more in really strong winds, not anything closer to 18K. That is what the boat can do with a full crew and a spinnaker up in strong wind.
J111
My friend Eric, that is not much younger than me, said it has not taken him much time to sail his Pogo 12.50 to 13/14K and that is a speed that he reaches with some ease on the right conditions. I may be wrong but I seem to remember that he said that he had done once or twice 16/18K with his boat, with the help of the family crew, that includes not only a wife but a son also.
Me and Eric are the kind of cruisers that like to go fast, most cruisers will sail more calmly but the point is, would not this difference in easiness (that has to do with the hull of the Pogo to be derived from solo racers, while the one of the Comet is derived from IRC racers) will not suit even more less demanding sailors? I think that the answer is a clear yes and that’s why most contemporary NA use hulls influenced by solo racers in almost all main market production sailboats and in voyage boats too. The ability they have to go with more easiness, with more directional stability from a beam reach to downwind makes more efficient on autopilot that’s what most cruisers use while sailing. That type of hulls makes also for a more forgiving boat that can take more abuse without broaching.
Beneteau Figaro II
So what about upwind sailing? will more narrow boats, or IRC derived hulls, like the ones of the Salona or Dehler, Comet or J122 perform better? The difference will be not much on flat seas, just a bit better pointing ability but on nasty seas or even on the typical med short period steep waves there will be a big difference due to wave drag.
While sailing on flat water the waterplane (and wet surface) of the boat like the Pogo will be a very narrow one, having to do more with its weight than with its beam but while passing waves all change: The wave envelopes the boat that passes through it and increases hugely the wet surface associated to wave drag that is much bigger on a solo racer beamy type of hull than on a much narrower IRC derived one. The beamy hull will suffer much more drag for each wave it crosses than the IRC type. Sure it can fly more sail due to its much bigger hull form stability but that will not even the match. The boat will have to open more the course (to gain power), probably it will go a little faster, storming through the waves (and that is less comfortable) and in the end it will be slower, or at least is what I have taken from the observation of race results even with more powerful 40class racers (on the Sydney Hobart and Med races).
Soto 40
Heavier boats with this type of hull, like the Oceanis 38, 41 or 45, Dufour 410, 500 (among others) will have about the same comparable characteristics regarding cruisers with about the same weight and hulls influenced by IRC hulls, like the Jeanneau 409.
Is this less good performance upwind on some particular conditions a big disadvantage? Not for voyage boats that mostly will follow the trade winds, not for main market mass production boats because even if most sail on the med where these conditions can be met, most sailors just don’t go upwind on those conditions (over F4) or just motor most of the time when sailing directly upwind.
40class racer
That explains why the open solo race type of hull is the main influence on cruisers today: it just offers the best compromise for most sailors, not forgetting the big advantage that a bigger interior represents for cruising, in living space and storage.
Of course that does not mean that even in what regards cruising that would be the best compromise to all. There are many variables here and one can just prefer a narrower boat because it just likes more the way a boat sails on a seaway, because it is more nervous and fun to sail, because it values more upwind sailing or just because he finds narrower boats more beautiful. All good reasons. ;-)
Not really a new boat, just a MKII but one that took away the biggest defect from the previous boat: it was not properly nice, even if a great boat at a very good price. Now you have all the previous qualities in a much nicer sailboat with a big and customizable interior. If I was looking for a 33ft sailboat I would be looking hard at this one:
The older model come out with bright colors from the last "Middle the sea race", raced on gale conditions. Many boats abandoned the race but the smaller of them all, the little Azuree 33, sailed only by a duo (one of them the NA) keep pushing and made a remarkable race.
