One regatta, two heroes, an evolutionary leap in yacht design

Index

The regatta

After 74 days of sailing and 24,000 miles across all the planet's oceans, Armel Le Cleac'h won the eighth edition of the Vendee Globe, with a lead of just 16 hours over the second place finisher, Alex Thomson. This year's was an epic edition, in which so much happened that it seemed more like a thriller novel than a sporting competition to many.

There were the new boats with foils, a major innovation for the IMOCA 60s (18-metre long, all-carbon boats with canting keels) which are already the most extreme monohulls ever seen.

There were two fierce competitors in two decidedly top boats: Banque Populaire by Le Cleac'h and Hugo Boss by Thomson.

And there was the sea in between, with all that this immensity contains and hides, like even semi-submerged objects that fell from some cargo ship. One of those objects that is the most likely suspect of what happened on the 13th day of the regattawhen Thomson was firmly in the lead and his boat had already proved to be the fastest. While sailing (or should we say flying) at over 24 knots a sudden bang on the starboard side announced the bad news that the foil on that side had broken beyond repair. From that moment on, Hugo Boss was a duck with a broken wing, forced to always try to sail on starboard tack (i.e. with the wind coming from the right) so as to use the left foil. The performance differences between one edge and the other were indeed significant. On the side without a Hugo Boss foil lost 30% speed and suffered a 3 degree drift more. Le Cleac'h caught up with him and took the lead, leaving Thomson in the chasing role.

Regata Vendee Globe

In any other technical sport the race would have ended therewith a solo ride by the race leader to the finish line in Les Sables-d'Olonne, but sailing is not a sport like any other, and a solo race around the world is not an activity that can be easily compressed within the word 'sport'. On passing the Cape Horn buoybeginning the ascent of the Atlantic, the distance between Le Cleac'h and Thomson is 700 miles, but here the weather conditions change and Thomson can sail steadily on starboard tack, i.e. with the port foil in the water. A ride that will go down in the history of modern sailing begins. In just a few days Thomson manages to arrive only 30 miles behind the race leadervictory is back on the line. A close race between two started and continued until the English Channel, where Le Cleac'h managed to make the final push and arrive at the finish line first.

Regata Vendee Globe

The technique

Armel Le Cleac'h finished the race by setting an average speed of 15.4 knots. The 24-hour record, however, was held by Thomson, who stopped the log at 22 knots. We are talking about speeds that would be remarkable on powerboats and that on sailboats are simply sidereal. This challenging test showed us that foil technology is already mature and reliable. None of the 7 boats fitted with foils suffered any damage (other than due to impact with external bodies). Foils allow greater speed and less drift, or the same speed with less sail area, hence a lower centre of gravity and greater stability. Superior speed becomes an active safety factor making it possible to sail in the best position in relation to a disturbance, something that had already been made possible by the canting keel, but now even easier to do. To consider the difference between the foils of Le Cleac'h's boat and those of Thomson's boat. The former generated more lateral thrust (righting torque), the latter aimed instead at lifting the hull and thus sailing with less wetted surface. For both, however, the use of this technology was not so much aimed at achieving the highest possible speed, but as a means to stick to base pressures and to avoid highs, thus improving the long-term average mileage.

Regata Vendee Globe

The experts' opinion

Robin Knox-Johnston, solo sailorIt should be noted that the first two finishers both broke the Jules Verne Trophy round-the-world record of 1994, when Peter Blake and I won on Enza, a 28-metre catamaran. That is progress.

Vittorio Malingri, solo sailor: "When I did the Vendee Globe in 1992, I raced a boat designed and built by me. Today, the starting budget to participate is at least one million euros and the two top teams have spent between 10 and 12 million euros".

Umberto Felci, naval architect: 'There is no real possibility of transferring foil technology to cruising boats, because foils are based on the assumption of extreme lightness, something that on a standard boat, even a cruising boat, could never be, unless you give up all the comforts on board.

Vincent Lauriot-Prevost, designer and founder of the VPLP yard, specialising in racing hulls: "The next evolution will be full-foiling, i.e. the hull completely out of the water, supported only by the foils. It will be quite a long process, but there are no reasons to consider it impossible".

Source: Bolina, number 350

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