Spindrift Racing update, latest video in the "40 metres solo" series covers the autopilot installation and function on Spindrift 2

From the associated article on Spindrift Racing's website:

http://www.spindrift-racing.com/2014/05/spindrift-racing-series-40-metres-solo-episode-14-the-autopilots/

Designed for crewed sailing, the maxi-trimaran Spindrift 2 has never had autopilot. A small revolution has taken place on board since the decision to compete in the Route du Rhum. It is a fact that, sailing solo, Yann cannot be on the helm 24 hours a day. He has to sleep, and eat, but he also has to set the sails, make manoeuvres, or work on the computer on board, so, needless to say that without an autopilot, sprinting solo across the Atlantic would be impossible. But it took some ingenuity to devise a system suitable for a machine of this size. Meet Yoann le Quintrec, ‘Mr Pilot’ from Spindrift racing.

“The racing boats like those in the Vendée Globe or our future opponents in the Ultimate Class on the La Route du Rhum mostly use hydraulic pilots with actuators that operate the rudders,” Le Quintrec says. “That was an option that we had to discard because everything is supersized on board Spindrift 2 and there was no system that allowed us to have a strong enough lever arm. So, we had the idea of ​​studying electrical pilots developed for large multihull cruisers. It was an idea that soon proved worthwhile.”

 

read more here

Spindrift Racing update, Making the sails for Spindrift 2 maxi trimaran featured in the latest edition of 40 metres solo

From the following article by Virginie Bouchet on the Spindrift Racing website:

http://www.spindrift-racing.com/2014/04/spindrift-racing-series-40-metres-solo-episode-12-making-the-sails/                       

 

As promised, ’40 metres solo’ returns to the story of the sails. After last Thursday’s episode on their design, today we are walking the floor of the North Sails France sail loft in Vannes with Jacques Guichard, who tells us about the making of Spindrift 2’s giant wardrobe.

Jacques Guichard, the little brother of Spindrift’s skipper, Yann, also has a passion for the sea and racing. He chose sails as his stomping ground. He works on design, production and the on-board testing but he also fine-tunes sails for races and records. He knows his trade inside out and so was an obvious choice to be in charge of the sail programme for Spindrift racing.

 

“This year for Spindrift 2, we wanted to design sails light enough to be carried by Yann on his own during the Route du Rhum but strong enough to hold up to the intensity of a crewed speed record like the North Atlantic,” Guichard says. “We had the opportunity to play around with the internal structure of the sail with a view to this season’s plans. We started with calculations for the solo, then we increased the power for load testing with a crew. On the New York-Lizard Point record, it’s about sailing at 100-130 degrees to the wind and so we are not at the maximum load for a sail compared to upwind angles (50-70° to the wind). Thus, a good ‘crew-solo’ compromise was easier to find.”

 

read more here

  

Spindrift Racing, latest video in the 40 metres solo series examines the sails on Spindrift 2

                                                         
From the following article posted on April 17th, 2014 by Virginie Bouchet

http://www.spindrift-racing.com/2014/04/spindrift-racing-serie-40-metres-solo-episode-11-designing-the-sails/

As children, we all drew sails. Two triangles, a mast and a hull ​​and we had the most beautiful pirate ship in the world to hunt treasures on deserted islands around the room. Today, as a ‘Sail Designer’ at North Sails, Gautier Sergent is definitely still like a big kid.

 

From New Zealand, where he had already been working with ‘North’ for nearly 10 years, Sergent came to Brittany in order to work in the sail loft of Franck Cammas’s team for the victorious campaign in the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race. Now based at North Sails France in Vannes, Gautier works especially closely with Jacques Guichard, the master sailmaker at Spindrift racing, who manages the sail plan for the team.

 

“Computer modelling tools have evolved in recent years,” Sergent explains. “We already understand the forces on the structures, but now we can take into account the consistency of flow, i.e. better reproduce the effects of the flow of the wind on the sails and for example simulate turbulence more accurately. Spindrift 2’s sails are so large that it is impossible to reproduce their behaviour in a wind tunnel. Digital tools allow us to get ever closer to reality.”

 

read more here

 

and the video from the article:

  

Spindrift Racing update, next video in the "40 metres solo" series focuses on the ropework on Spindrift 2

Spindrift Racing update, Episode 6 of the video series 40 metres solo examines the installation of a bike on Spindrift 2 to supplement hand grinders