Designing the Future – Guillaume Verdier to create new One Design racing yacht for Volvo Ocean Race

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Amalia Infante/Volvo Ocean Race

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Vanessa Zanni

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Amalia Infante/Volvo Ocean Race

France’s Guillaume Verdier to lead new design project for 14th edition, with Persico Marine selected as lead boatbuilder

– France’s Guillaume Verdier to lead new design project for 14th edition, with Persico Marine selected as lead boatbuilder

– Monohull-multihull question to be resolved in coming weeks

– New boat is part of radical shake-up of race to be announced 18 May, in Volvo’s home town of Gothenburg, Sweden

While final preparations and team announcements continue for the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the event’s leadership team are working in parallel to map out the race’s future. The edition after this one, the 14th, will be contested in brand new One Design racing yachts designed by France’s Guillaume Verdier and built under the direction of the Persico boatyard in Italy, race organisers announced today.

Verdier has joined the Volvo Ocean Race Design Team and is currently working with the race on the crucial issue of whether the new boat will be a monohull or multihull. The final decision on the proposed designs will be announced on 18 May at an event in Gothenburg, the home of the race’s owners and title sponsors Volvo.

Verdier is the ‘quiet’ achiever who has been involved in most of the leading designs right across the sport in recent years – from giant multihulls like Gitana’s Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, to be launched in July, through Team New Zealand’s current America’s Cup flying multihulls to maxi-monohulls like Comanche, and the leading Vendée Globe IMOCA 60 foiling projects such as Hugo Boss and Banque Populaire VIII.

The monohull-multihull question is just one of a series of key decisions that will be finalised in the coming weeks and announced at the 18 May event in Gothenburg, Sweden. Together, the announcements will form the most radical shake-up of the Volvo Ocean Race since it began life in 1973 as the Whitbread Round the World Race.

“Conceived in 2011, the current fleet of boats was built to be competitive for two editions,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner. “We need to move now on the future boats to keep all our options open on boat type and design.

“We’re excited to work with someone as talented as Guillaume Verdier – who will be a perfect complement to the wider Volvo Ocean Race Design Team, and the input we plan to have from a wider group of professional sailors and industry partners.”

On the decision to award Persico the lead role in the building of the boats, rather than the Consortium approach used for the Volvo Ocean 65s, Nick Bice, the race’s Chief Technical Development Officer, said: “The Consortium did some good work last time around to produce such matched boats, but we prefer to contract this time with a single builder, who in turn will undoubtedly sub-contract a number of other builders around the world to achieve the build in time and to budget. Persico have been a strong partner over these past few years, and we are delighted to be working with them again.”

via Designing the Future – Guillaume Verdier to create new One Design racing yacht for Volvo Ocean Race | Volvo Ocean Race.

The decision to continue with a One Design concept follows the introduction of the Volvo Ocean 65 monohull for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, which produced the closest racing in the history of the event.

The upcoming edition, starting on 22 October 2017 in Alicante, will use the same Volvo Ocean 65 boats that have since undergone a one million euro per boat refit process in the race’s Boatyard facility in Lisbon. These boats were designed to be fast enough and reliable enough to complete at least two laps of the planet at the highest level of professional racing, in a fully competitive and equal state.

The fleet of seven existing boats from 2014-15 will be supplemented by a brand new but still identical Volvo Ocean 65, commissioned by team AkzoNobel, for the 2017-18 race.

With more than six months still to go before the start, four teams have so far been announced. The remaining teams will be revealed over the coming months.

The race opted to go with Verdier after inviting input from half a dozen industry-leading yacht designers, including Farr Yacht Design, the team that kick-started the One Design era in the race by delivering the successful Volvo Ocean 65 project.

Verdier’s goal will be to lead the Volvo Ocean Race Design Team to build a new fleet to the same exacting levels of matched One Design achieved with the current boats, but very much connected to the big evolutions in foiling technology the world of sailing is currently seeing.

“We’re bringing together a wide-ranging depth of experience from events such as the America’s Cup, offshore multihulls and IMOCA Open 60 projects,” Verdier explained.

“We are starting from a blank page, and whatever kind of boat we design, whether it’s monohull or multihull, we will learn a lot from this process of working together.”

He continued: “I think sailors just want to have fun, and are attracted to a new way of sailing. In the Open 60, for example, we made something which was quite radical, but also very safe, and that’s key for the Volvo Ocean Race.”

Marcello Persico said the company was delighted to be building the next generation of Volvo Ocean Race boats.

“We’ve been working closely with the Volvo Ocean Race for the last eight years and we feel part of the family,” he said. “I believe that Persico Marine will deliver excellent support and service to the Volvo Ocean Race as it embarks on the next phase in its history.”

via Designing the Future – Guillaume Verdier to create new One Design racing yacht for Volvo Ocean Race | Volvo Ocean Race.

Paul Dyer, Technical manager at Marlow Ropes, takes us through three developments in marine ropes that impact on performance.

Rope technology has seen significant developments over the past three decades years. From revolutionary new fibers of cores and covers that impact on strength to dramatic advances in the levels of rope durability, diameter, stretch and creep.

DIAMETER

In some situations we have developed rope lines that can replace a line almost twice its diameter. The effect of reducing the diameter of rope, while maintaining all the properties of the larger variety, has had untold benefits in the sailing world – providing considerable weight saving. This saving is multiplied when you consider that for any mass removed from the rigging more mass can be removed from the keel.

STRETCH

Technology development has also facilitated low stretch ropes – the ultimate achievement in rope development. This allows sail settings to be maintained under a variety of conditions – but will also place much higher peak loads on deck fittings, so when upgrading the lines of an older boat particular, the deck gear will usually also need to be modernised.

CORE & COVER

New modern fibers have come along way…and still we continue to invest a lot in research, development and ongoing testing. Traditional braid-on-braid ropes have 50 percent core and 50 percent cover, and share the load equally. Higher performance ropes generally have a core that takes the bulk of the load, accounting for up to 95 per cent of the rope’s strength, and a protective outer cover that provides abrasion resistance, protection from sunlight and so on.

Some are used without a cover, particularly high-strength control lines, but these will normally have a coating that improves handling characteristics and provides some UV protection.

MATERIALS

Now the latest high tech material is Dyneema. Dyneema is an Ultra High Molecular weight Polyethylene (UHMwPE) or High Modulus Polyethylene (HMPE) fibre. Known as the world’s strongest, lightest fiber – 15 times stronger than steel, yet floats on water – Dyneema comes in a number of grades and performance specifications. It is used to stop bullets, repair human joints and improve the longevity of apparel.

As the demands on high performance running rigging are becoming higher, Marlow’s Grand Prix Series offers core options using Dyneema, Vectran, and Zylon (PBO). Each has it’s own strengths and weaknesses, but Dyneema has become the “Gold Standard” for performance running rigging.

For Marlow, Dyneema is an ingredient material in many of its highest performance ropes as it offers by far the best strength to weight ratio of any material used in rope manufacturing and is the material of choice for high performance cores.

Its enviable properties include:

High Strength: On a weight for weight basis, Dyneema is 15 times stronger than steel wire

Light Weight: Size for size, a rope made with Dyneema is 6 times lighter than steel wire rope

Water resistant: Dyneema is hydrophobic and does not absorb water, meaning it remains light when working in wet conditions

It Floats: Dyneema has a Specific Gravity of 0.97 which means it floats in water (specific gravity is a mesure of density. Water has an SG of 1, so anything with SG<1 will float and an SG>1 means it will sink)

Chemical resistance: Dyneema is chemically inert, and performs well in dry, wet, salty and humid conditions, as well as other situations where chemicals are present.

UV Resistant: Dyneema has very good resistance to photo degradation, maintaining its performance when exposed to UV light

Next up Paul will talk standing rigging and breaking strength figures… what this space Paul Dyer has over 20 years experience in the design, production, testing and use of fiber ropes. He has also worked on customised ropes for any number of fantastic applications, including boats for the America’s Cup. For more information and advice contact www.marlowropes.com

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via Latest developments in rope: Stronger than steel and floats.

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Marlow teams up with the US

29 Mar 2017

Marlow Ropes has signed a partnership to be the official rope supplier of the US Sailing Team and US Sailing’s Olympic Development Program (ODP) through to 2020.

Marlow first began to manufacture synthetic fibre ropes specifically designed for the yachting industry in 1957.

Today Marlow supplies many grand prix programs through its technical rigger partner program and also many national teams and organisations including Team GBR and College Sailing’s ICSA.

“Marlow is one of the most trusted names in our sport and as any sailor knows, having strong, dependable and customised line solutions onboard your boat is a key factor in any successful racing program,” said two-time Olympic Champion and chief of US Olympic Sailing Malcolm Page.

“We look forward to working with Marlow to provide US national team and development athletes with the best line products in the world.”

Sam Vineyard, Marlow’s Yachting sales manager added: “It gives us great pride to help ensure that the equipment American athletes are using is on equal footing with the best in the world.”

Marlow’s Excel range of high performance dinghy products is a continuous evolution based upon feedback from the company’s athlete partners.

via Boating Business | Marlow teams up with the US.

Walker named as RYA Director of Racing

April 03, 2017

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New RYA challenge for Olympic medallist and Volvo Ocean Race winner

RYA Racing will have an experienced new hand at the helm with the announcement that Ian Walker MBE is to take up the Director of Racing position this autumn.

The double Olympic medallist, America’s Cup sailor and Volvo Ocean Race-winning skipper will take up the baton from John Derbyshire OBE, who is set to retire later this year after 32 years’ involvement with the organisation, including 16 years in the Director of Racing role.

Walker has enjoyed an impressive and multi-faceted career in the sport, winning two Olympic silver medals (470 in 1996; Star in 2000) and coaching Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb to Yngling gold at Athens 2004.

Among a host of inshore and offshore racing successes, Walker has been involved with two America’s Cup campaigns (GBR Challenge in 2003; +39 in 2007) and won the 2014/15 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

A trustee of the John Merricks Sailing Trust, set up in memory of his 470 crew, he has also helped provide a supporting hand to numerous young people through the sport of sailing.

As Director of Racing, a position he will take over full time from October, Walker will oversee the RYA’s World Class Programme and talent pathways, as well as the broader remit of racing participation in all its forms in the UK.

“Having achieved more than I could have ever dreamed of in a sailing career spanning over 30 years, I have decided that the time is right to take on a new challenge,” the 47-year-old explained.

“Being the RYA Director of Racing will give me the opportunity to take a leading role in British sailing and to be able to give something back to the sport that has given me so many fantastic life experiences.

“I am very excited at the prospect of helping the British Sailing Team again in their Olympic quest but, just as importantly, at helping young sailors, the clubs and the volunteers that are the lifeblood of our sport.

“I am sure I will miss the thrill of competition but on a personal level I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and to sailing for fun at my club again.”

RYA CEO Sarah Treseder commented: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Ian to the RYA family. A world-renowned sailor and outstanding leader, his breadth and depth of experience of the sport will be of huge benefit to the UK racing community.

“His remit is a wide but exciting one – supporting medal-winning performances on the world stage, including Tokyo 2020, and at the same time inspiring future participants, volunteers, coaches and champions to ensure a thriving UK club racing scene.

“I’ve no doubt Ian will make an exceptional contribution and build on the fantastic work which John has presided over during his many years of valued service to the RYA.”

UK Sport Director of Performance Chelsea Warr added: “Ian was the outstanding candidate for the role and the unanimous choice of the panel. He understands what it takes to win at the highest level and has the mindset, experience, leadership and management skills to build on the incredible success of the sailing programme to date.

“I am very much looking forward to working with Ian in his new role. He will not only inject a wealth of new skills and talents into the sailing World Class Programme but also to the wider high performance system”

“I would also like to pay tribute to John Derbyshire who will retire later this year as the Director of Racing following 32 years’ involvement with high performance sailing at the RYA, and Stephen Park who will step down as Olympic Manager after over 20 years of involvement with the British Sailing Team. Their incredible dedication and expertise has guided the GB Sailing Programme to unprecedented heights, culminating in reaching top of the medal table in Rio and being the leading sailing nation across this and previous cycles.”

Walker concluded: “I’d like to thank the RYA and UK Sport for their confidence in me. John Derbyshire has provided a tough act to follow and I look forward to the benefit of his experience and that of the wider RYA Racing team in the coming months before I take up the reins full time in the autumn.”

via Walker named as RYA Director of Racing | News | News & Events | RYA.

Spanish Under-30 sailor Willy Altadill will return for his second edition of the Volvo Ocean Race after joining MAPFRE’s squad for 2017-18 DownloadFrancisco Vignale / MAPFRE / Volvo Ocean Race DownloadFrancisco Vignale / MAPFRE / Volvo Ocean Race DownloadFrancisco Vignale / MAPFRE / Volvo Ocean RaceWilly Altadill, the 24-year-old from Barcelona, who made his debut with MAPFRE last race, is the son of round-the-world veteran Guillermo Altadill.The 24-year-old from Barcelona, who made his debut with MAPFRE last race, is the son of round-the-world veteran Guillermo Altadill.Willy is the first sailor to be named for the 2017-18 race as one of the two Under-30s sailors each team must sail with.“My job will be to help the watch captains ensure the boat is sailing as fast as possible,” explained Willy, who is already training with the team in Sanxenxo, northern Spain, and will take the role of trimmer. “The aim right now leading up to the race is to push the boat as hard as possible and try to break things, so that we don’t break them in the race. We can also fine tune the electronics so that all the numbers for the boat are correct, and squeeze the very best out of it.”The youngster joins skipper Xabi Fernández, watch captains Pablo Arrarte and Rob Greenhalgh, and boat captain Ñeti Cuervas-Mons in the MAPFRE ranks. Seven-time Volvo Ocean Racer Neal McDonald will be sports and performance director, and will also sail some legs in 2017-18.In 2014-15, Willy Altadill joined MAPFRE for Leg 4 from Sanya to Auckland, helping the Spanish team to victory in the 6,000-mile plus stage. Xabi was MAPFRE’s stand-in skipper then, and Altadill is grateful not only to the trust his fellow Spaniard put in him, but also the Under-30s rule that is designed to bring on the next generation of Volvo Ocean Race sailor. “For me personally it’s a rule which has enabled me to sail with people with a lot of experience, and learn a great deal from them, as I did in the last race,’ said Altadill. “Now it means I’m joining the boat knowing exactly how everything works, and I can keep evolving.”Skipper Xabi Fernández is delighted with his new recruit. “Willy is young and strong, and good at everything. He sails well, and is a really hard worker as well as a very good trimmer.“I’m sure that he will give his all as he did in the last edition, once again with MAPFRE. Since he was very little he has experienced offshore racing and the Volvo Ocean Race alongside his dad, Guillermo, and you can tell. Since the last race, he has been continuously sailing big boats, and will undoubtedly keep growing in this race.”Guillermo Altadill is a Volvo Ocean Race legend, having sailed in five editions, starting in 1989-90 with Fortuna Extra Lights.

via Spanish Under-30 sailor Willy Altadill will return for his second edition of the Volvo Ocean Race after joining MAPFRE’s squad for 2017-18| Volvo Ocean Race.

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Sutton Timber supplies oak for Havengore

27 Mar 2017

Sutton Timber has been chosen to supply oak for the annual refit of Havengore

Sutton Timber has supplied Fox’s Marina & Boatyard with English Oak for the annual maintenance and refit of the historic Havengore.

Specially commissioned by the London Port Authority in 1954 to act as a flagship and supply vessel, Havengore was constructed in teak over a framework of oak.

In 1965 watched by a worldwide audience of 350 million, Havengore took centre stage during the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill as she was used to carry the former Prime Minister on his final journey along the River Thames.

She fell into disrepair during the 1990s but was rescued and restored in a 15-year multimillion-pound project.

The vessel was selected for Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977, took part in the 200th anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar, carried members of the royal family as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee celebrations and also led the flotilla for the Queen’s 90th birthday river pageant.

The oak from Sutton timber will be used in the structural replacement of Havengore’s deck beams.

via Boating Business | Sutton Timber supplies oak for Havengore.

Vestas 11th Hour Racing launch Volvo Ocean Race campaign with sustainability message

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

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Ro Fernandez

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Amory Ross/Volvo Ocean Race

Vestas are returning to the Volvo Ocean Race for a second consecutive edition, after launching their 2017-18 campaign in partnership with 11th Hour Racing at simultaneous events in Newport, Rhode Island and Aarhus – where it was also announced that the fleet will make a ‘fly by’ of the Danish city on the final leg

Vestas are returning to the Volvo Ocean Race for a second consecutive edition, after launching their 2017-18 campaign in partnership with 11th Hour Racing at simultaneous events in Newport, Rhode Island and Aarhus – where it was also announced that the fleet will make a ‘fly by’ of the Danish city on the final leg.

Vestas 11th Hour Racing will be led by the American duo of Charlie Enright and Mark Towill. The team are the fourth to announce for the upcoming edition, which begins on 22 October, and they will use the race to promote a sustainability message around the world.

Enright and Towill had their first Volvo Ocean Race experience as skipper and Team Director of Team Alvimedica in 2014-15.

“It’s an exciting time,” said Enright. “We’ve achieved a strong collective of sponsors, and the boat has now been refitted and branded in Lisbon, waiting for us to get over there and get it out on the water.

“We’re working hard on building a competitive team ahead of the race, and have a couple of transatlantic sailings lined up for April and May.”

The Vestas 11th Hour Racing campaign is a unique platform for Vestas to promote its vision, which is to be the global leader in sustainable energy solutions.

“The Volvo Ocean Race is a proven platform for Vestas and a unique strategic fit to promote our new vision and market-leading energy solutions in our key markets and engage with customers,” said Vestas President and CEO Anders Runevad.

It’s also an ideal fit for 11th Hour Racing, a programme of The Schmidt Family Foundation which establishes strategic partnerships within the sailing and marine communities to promote systemic change for the health of our marine environment.

“Our partnership with 11th Hour Racing sends a very strong signal with two leading players within sustainability combining forces to promote sustainable solutions within wind and water,” added Runevad.

Wendy Schmidt, 11th Hour Racing Co-Founder and President of The Schmidt Family Foundation, said: “Mark and Charlie have been serving as ambassadors for 11th Hour Racing for the past two years, having witnessed first hand during the last Volvo Ocean Race the many ways pollution and plastic debris are destroying ocean life and threatening all of us. Our partnership with Vestas is about inspiring positive change in the way we think about energy and the natural resources of the planet.”

Vestas competed in 2014-15 as Team Vestas Wind – running aground on Leg 2 and rebuilding the boat against all odds to make a landmark return in Lisbon at the start of Leg 8.

This is only the second time in the Race’s history, and the first since 1993-94, that three major team sponsors have returned for a second consecutive Race – with Vestas, Dongfeng and MAPFRE all back on the start line. Team AkzoNobel take the total number of confirmed teams to four with seven months still to go to the start of the race.

The Volvo Ocean Race also revealed that a mark of the course will ensure the fleet will sail close to Dokk1 in Aarhus on the final leg of the 2017-18 race between Gothenburg and The Hague – giving the people of the city a great view of the competing teams on their One Design Volvo Ocean 65s.

“The teams will be on their final leg after racing 45,000 miles and to round the mark off Aarhus will be a great challenge for the fleet, who I’m sure will receive a welcome boost from the Danish public,” said Mark Turner, Volvo Ocean Race CEO. “Denmark has a great history with this race already and today another chapter is written as Aarhus is added to the course.”

Twenty-five Danish sailors have competed in the race to date and two teams have raced under the Danish flag – SAS Baia Viking in 1985-86 and Team Vestas Wind in 2014-15. Vestas 11th Hour Racing will sail under Danish and American flags.

“This will be a great experience for visitors and citizens alike – and will bring wide international attention to Aarhus that will benefit the city’s growth and development,” said Aarhus Mayor Jacob Bundsgaard.

The teams will depart Alicante on 22 October and race 45,000 nautical miles around the world with stops at Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff and Gothenburg before the finish in The Hague.

The One Design concept has reduced the need for campaigns to announce as early as in previous editions and there is no reason why a campaign getting off the ground this summer can’t go on and win the trophy.

via Vestas 11th Hour Racing launch Volvo Ocean Race campaign with sustainability message| Volvo Ocean Race.

Land Rover BAR Academy supplier

15 Mar 2017

The Land Rover BAR Academy wearing their Spinlock T2 jacket

Spinlock is the new official technical supplier of personal protective equipment for the Land Rover BAR Academy.

The academy aims to support talented young British sailors aged between 19 and 24 years old and create a pathway into the America’s Cup.

Chris Hill, CEO of Spinlock, said: “Land Rover BAR saw that we approach things very differently ­ with our level of detail design and production focus, we’re not just trying to conform to rules and regulations, and we’re trying to help people perform better. It’s a performance-led approach that carries across into all parts of sailing.”

The ten-strong team will be wearing their BAR T2 Jackets as they compete for the second year running in the Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) throughout 2017, as well as the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in June 2017, in Bermuda.

BAR T2 Jacket claims to be one of the most technologically advanced lifejackets, following wind tunnel testing to maximise aerodynamic wind flow over the PFD and innovative safety features, designed with high-agility foiling in mind.

via Boating Business | Land Rover BAR Academy supplier.

Derry-Londonderry to host Clipper Race again

15 Mar 2017

Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland has signed to be a host port in the Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race, the fourth consecutive time the race has visited the city.

“Over the past six years the city has welcomed our international crew, supporters and partners with open arms and is an exceptional place to visit and do business with,” said Clipper Race chairman and founder Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. “The spirit of Derry-Londonderry and its people is contagious, which has consistently positioned itself as one of the most popular destinations the race has partnered with in its 20 year history.”

The Clipper stopover has helped raise the profile of the Foyle Maritime Festival added Alderman Hilary McClintock, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council.

The race fleet will arrive in Derry-Londonderry in July 2018.

via Boating Business | Derry-Londonderry to host Clipper Race again.