Spindrift Racing update, shakedown cruise on maxi trimaran Spindrift 2 yields good results and training for D35 catamaran season underway

From the following press release on the Spindrift Racing website:

 

http://www.spindrift-racing.com/2014/04/the-first-sail-and-success-on-spindrift-2/

 

-Conclusive technical tests on board the maxi-trimaran Spindrift 2
-Start of training on board the D35 Ladycat powered by Spindrift racing

 

Spindrift 2 has had its first sail after the winter optimisation, spending a night at sea criss-crossing the Bay of Biscay. The control was there straight away and the boat ran like clockwork. The 2014 season has begun and it has started well for Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard’s team. This week, the Spindrift team will be racing on Lake Geneva as they begin the D35 training.

 

With 15-25 knots of wind and a full moon in a cloudless sky, the weather rolled out the red carpet for the maxi-trimaran during its first offshore trial run from La Trinité-sur-Mer. “The season has started and it’s great,” Guichard said. “What a pleasure to be sailing again and rediscovering this boat. Things felt really good out there and the technical assessment has been very positive too. After the changes we made, Spindrift 2 is behaving as expected. With the crew, we feel that the boat is still safe and sound, but lighter and more responsive. We also really improved the speed of the manoeuvres. Overall, although we still have work to do calibrating all the sailing instruments, to match the numbers to these feelings, the team can be proud of what they’ve done.”

 

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Corsair Cruze 970 trimaran interior upgrade options available

From the following entry on the Corsair Marine website:

http://corsairmarine.com/news/corsair-cruze-970-gets-an-interior-lift/

Check out the new interior the Corsair team have developed for the Cruze 970 hull # 8 which is due to head out this week to Bob Gleason of the Multihull Source in Massachusetts, USA.

The finishing in the Cruze 970 was already a huge step above the previous Corsair Trimarans but we have just taken it to another level!

This boat is supplied with Carbon trims throughout, a beautiful limewash effect flooring and a new high quality interior fabric.

Check out these new features which are available through your local dealer.

Francis Joyon arrives in Rio de Janeiro after 13 days sailing from Bordeaux

Francis has arrived in Rio de Janeiro on the maxi trimaran IDEC. Reference time that was set: 13 days, 03 hours, 05 minutes and 19 seconds for the theoretical 4812 miles.

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=264

He’s done it! At 1738hrs UTC (1938hrs CET) on Monday 21st April 2014, the IDEC maxi-trimaran crossed the finishing line in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Francis Joyon has set a new reference time for the Friendship Route between Bordeaux (France) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). His race time: 13 days, 03 hours, 05 minutes and 19 seconds for the theoretical 4812 miles.

Francis Joyon left Bordeaux on Tuesday 8th April beginning in the Gironde Estuary at 1433hrs UTC. This was merely four days after officially going on stand by with the support in particular  of the French football team, the Girondins de Bordeaux and Fabien Barthez among others. This new Friendship Route between Bordeaux and Rio de Janeiro was designed to bring together France and Brazil and come to the aid of charities in Brazil, as well as the ICM, the Brain and Spinal Cord Institute in France.

An average speed of 15.2 knots on the Great Circle Route and 18.1 knots out on the water
IDEC’s race time: 13 days, 03 hours, 05 minutes and 19 seconds to sail the 4812 miles of the theoretical route or 15.27 knots. In reality, IDEC sailed 910 miles more out on the water: 5722 nautical miles at an average speed of 18.16 knots. The explanation: Francis Joyon had to go around all the low-pressure areas from Cape Finisterre to the middle of the Atlantic. He had no hesitation in sailing 900 miles away from the direct route. Once again, Francis Joyon has managed to get the most out of his maxi trimaran to play with the various weather systems. He very often got up to around thirty knots...

The final 24 hours of sailing along the coast of Brazil were very demanding for the skipper of IDEC, who had to sail upwind for the final 120 miles to Rio de Janeiro. Exhausted after missing out on his sleep, Francis Joyon had to keep hard at it, carrying out changes of tack and many manoeuvres to reach the finishing line. These thirteen days of sailing were rather unusual as he had to sail a long way north to get to the west and this demanded a lot of effort. A few moments after crossing the line, Francis Joyon gave us his first impressions of this new record.

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Great drone video of Les Voiles de St Barth showing some of the multihulls in action

Francis Joyon on IDEC maxi trimaran final approach to Rio de Janeiro

From the following article on the Trimaran IDEC website:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=262

Will IDEC be slowing down today or not? The answer to this question will determine whether Francis Joyon finishes in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow or on Tuesday.

Francis Joyon is making the suspense last in this final stretch of the Friendship Route. He told us that the weather would probably lead him to slow right down on Easter Sunday, but at 0830hrs UTC, the IDEC maxi trimaran was still doing more than 22 knots on the direct route. The weather charts appear to be rather more optimistic than yesterday. With 400 miles to go to the finish in Rio de Janeiro, each variation in speed and each calm zone could modify considerably the arrival time.

Up until now, Francis Joyon had been talking about finishing on “sometime during daylight hours on Tuesday 22^nd.” It now seems possible that it could be much sooner, although the final 100 miles could still prove tricky. There may well be wind holes, which stop the big red multihull for several hours, but they are difficult to predict.

read more here

The tracker for the record attempt is here:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/media.tracker.aspx

Brisbane to Gladstone Multihull Yacht Race, Bank of Queensland Team Australia ORMA60 takes line honours, Morticia Seacart 30 in second and catamaran Fantasia in third place with 1st on OMR

Article on Bank of Queensland/Team Australia ORMA60's line honours:

http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=121294&refre=y&ntid=0&rid=1

Article on Morticia's Seacart 30's second place:

http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=121300&refre=y&ntid=0&rid=1

Francis Joyon, Trimaran IDEC slides through the doldrums with about 1200nm to go

Francis Joyon leaves the doldrums and approaches his goal

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=260

The IDEC maxi trimaran has just made it out of the Doldrums. This Friday lunchtime, she is sailing around sixty miles from the Horn of Brazil between Natal and Recife. Francis Joyon is therefore tackling the final stretch of the Friendship Route: 1200 miles along the coast of Brazil, where there still are many traps. He is looking forward to finishing in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday.

That’s now behind them. The IDEC maxi trimaran has managed to get away from the claws of the Intertropical Convergence Zone with its alternating periods of squalls, calms and winds, which are extremely variable in strength and direction. Francis Joyon: “I admit that I was rather worried about this trip through the Doldrums, as the forecasts were not exactly positive. The American models were horrible forecasting huge areas with absolutely no wind over a 350-mile wide zone. The European model was a little less pessimistic. In the end, it was something in between the two across a zone measuring around 300 miles. It took me around a day and a half to cross it but I only really got stopped for a few hours, which isn’t that bad.”

read more here

Artemis Racing update team strengthens Design team with new additions

From the following press release by Artemis Racing on their Facebook page:

 

https://www.facebook.com/ArtemisRacing

 ALAMEDA, 17th April 2014 - Artemis Racing announced today that it has signed Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, Simon Watin, Juan Garay and Matthew Davis, who will join the design team as Artemis Racing prepares for a possible 35th America’s Cup bid.

Both Vincent Lauriot-Prévost and Simon Watin join from VPLP Design, a world leader in multihull ra...cing and super yacht design founded in 1983. During the 34th America’s Cup they were part of the America's Cup Race Management design and research team, established to create an initial design package for the high-tech wing-sailed AC72 catamarans.

Vincent Lauriot-Prévost is a naval architect and co-founder of VPLP Design based in France. During his career Lauriot-Prévost has contributed to some of the most advanced racing prototype projects, including the design of the six last winners of La Route du Rhum, the record holders of the transatlantic (New York – Lizard) and round the world (Jules Verne Trophy) races, as well as BMW ORACLE Racing’s trimaran USA 17, winner of the 33rd America’s Cup.

“Having always been at the cutting edge of fast multihull design from the early age of VPLP Design, we were first involved in the America’s Cup challenge in 2007, when the Cup turned definitively to multihulls,” said the naval architect. “This time, it is a great opportunity to collaborate with Artemis Racing on such a great foiling racing cat project, at this ultimate level of technology in the America’s Cup.”

A specialist in performance prediction, Watin graduated as a fluid mechanics engineer before specializing in naval architecture. In 2011 he joined the VPLP Yacht Design office in France where he developed in-house performance prediction and Computational Fluid Dynamics capabilities, and was involved in maxi racing trimaran projects (Prince de Bretagne 80, Sodebo 4 and Macif 100), as well as Open 60 projects (Safran 2 and Banque Populaire) for the 2016 Vendée Globe Race.

"I’m really excited to be part of the Artemis Racing team,” said Watin. “They have done an amazing job putting together a group of people that are not only very talented and experienced but also team players, and it is really motivating for me personally to have the chance to work in such an environment. Accurately predicting the performance of these boats will be quite a challenge, and we will have to sharpen our tools to be able make the right choices before launching the boats, especially since the sailing time may well be restricted."

Artemis Racing also welcomes back British electronics engineer Matthew Davis and Argentine aero designer Juan Garay.

Davis studied electrical and instrumentation engineering in Southampton, and has sailed as navigator, engineer and crew member in multiple maxi yacht races including the Rolex Transatlantic Yacht Race and Maxi Worlds. In 2009 he received the Navigator’s Award for 1st in class for LA to Hawaii Transpac Race.

Matthew was Team Telefónica’s instrument engineer for both the 2008 and 2011 Volvo Ocean Races. The 35th America’s Cup will be his third campaign following the 32nd with Victory Challenge and the 34th with Artemis Racing.

Garay has over 20 years of experience in sail design with North Sails South America, and has been involved in a variety of classes and circuits since 1990.

Juan started designing sails for Team GBR in 2006 and worked with Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson and Ben Ainslie on multiple Olympic campaigns including Beijing 2008 and London 2012. He was the sail designer for Team Origin and +39 Challenge, and the 35th America’s Cup will be his second campaign with Artemis Racing, leading the aero program development.

“I am excited to work again with such a fantastic team,” said Garay. “I have great memories of working with Iain and Bart on two successful Olympic campaigns. We worked extremely hard but managed to enjoy it at the same time. Having that collaborative and open environment in an America’s Cup team is extremely motivating.”

“We are pleased to welcome Simon and Vincent into the team, and have Juan and Matthew back with us,” said Artemis Racing design team coordinator Adam May. “Simon came to us highly recommended by a number of sources, while Vincent’s experience with big multihulls is undeniable. Juan and Matt are returning Artemis team members who bring with them a wealth of experience and great attitude in their respective areas. We continue to slowly grow our team, working hard to find the right fit of people within the group, and are fortunate to have had no shortage of great people reaching out to us, interested in getting involved,” concluded May.

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:

  

Sodebo Ultime trimaran approaching completion at Multiplast

The crew at Multiplast are hard at work and aiming for a launch in May of the new Sodebo Ultime which utilises some parts of the former Geronimo maxi trimaran. 

Route de l ´ Amitié, Francis Joyon due to cross the Equator tonight

From the following press release on the Trimaran IDEC website:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=258

High speed sailing directly towards the finish... The IDEC maxi trimaran is averaging 25 knots, as she makes her way south and is therefore lapping up the miles Francis Joyon will be at the Equator tonight, but he remains suspicious of the Doldrums.

“It’s great and I’m really pleased to be sailing on this tack directly towards the finish. It’s something I haven’t been able to do that much with all the low pressure areas I had to get around. The boat is sailing smoothly through the water. I’m in the fairly variable north-easterly trade winds, which are varying between 20 and 28 knots.” Francis Joyon sounded upbeat this Wednesday lunchtime: the IDEC maxi trimaran is sailing at around 25 knots and the solo sailor is clocking up the miles. He is back up to days sailing more than 540 miles. “I’ve got just 300 miles left before the Equator. I shall be crossing into the Southern Hemisphere in around fifteen hours, so during the night for you in Europe,” declared Francis.

The other good news is that “I have managed to repair the link rods between the rudders on the floats. I’ll sort it out completely when I finish, but the repair job is working perfectly well for now. I no longer have to keep switching them over each time I change tack. I haven’t had any other worries apart from what I call my daily routine jobs: a sheet that gives up the ghost, a line that needs replacing, just a few little things like that.”

read more here

 

Francis Joyon and Trimaran IDEC now accelerating after passing the halfway point in the Bordeaux to Rio de Janeiro on Route de l ´ Amitié reference time attempt

From the following article on the Trimaran IDEC website:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=257

Halfway between Bordeaux and Rio, IDEC is accelerating 15 april 2014

Right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, IDEC is also halfway through the Friendship Route and Francis Joyon is now accelerating on the direct route.

Francis Joyon is clearly not affected that much by the technical problem concerning the links between his rudders (see our article from yesterday). For the past few hours, he has been back up to speeds above 20 knots and this morning (Tuesday) is preparing to complete more than 2400 miles of sailing. In other words his geographical situation is easy to understand. He is halfway between Bordeaux and Rio and right in the middle of the Atlantic at 15° North and 36 degrees West.

The most important thing is that the IDEC maxi trimaran is now back up to a good VMG (Velocity Made Good). Each mile gained towards Rio de Janeiro is on the ideal track. We can see that Francis Joyon is heading down south almost directly above the islands of Fernando de Noronha, with a touch to the east of due south (bearing of 164° at 0900hrs). That corresponds exactly to the route required to get around the Horn of Brazil before turning right towards Rio de Janeiro. 48 hours ago, Francis Joyon was sailing 150 miles further west… that gives us a good idea of the route that he has had to take to get around the famous low-pressure area, which has been blocking his route for several days. This south-south-easterly route is ideal for him to get on the right track towards the finish.

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35th America's Cup, Gino Morelli on the new America's Cup catamarans

From the following article on blueplanettimes by Kymball Livingston Posted April 13, 2014
http://www.blueplanettimes.com/the-new-americas-cup-cat/

The New America’s Cup Cat

The next generation will look much like this 2013 generation challenger from New Zealand, but they’re a new breed

Gino Morrelli believes the next generation of America’s Cup catamarans will revolutionize upwind tactics. He foresees the boats foiling through tacks without slowing down, and if there is no price for tacking, that’s a new calculus, isn’t it? A new game.

Smaller, faster, safer. It’s quite a package that Morrelli is talking about, and he knows a bit. His firm of Morrelli & Melvin wrote the design rule for what we will call, for now, the AC62. That is, ten feet shorter than the AC72s of 2013 and shrunk appropriately in other dimensions as well. Add-in some one-design components, factor-in the fact that a lot of the design possibilities have already been explored—we know what the next generation will look like—and you have a boat that is cheaper to design and cheaper to build, even with amped-up technology. His partner Pete Melvin has been hard on the case.

At which point Morrelli adds the ultimate qualifier, “We can lower the cost to entry, but we can’t make it cheaper to win the America’s Cup.” 

Write this on the board twenty-five times: An America’s Cup team will always spend whatever it can get.

I shared billing with Gino over the weekend for a program at Strictly Sail Pacific, which opened my window onto what’s coming next, with a little caution tape on the windowsill: “We finished our job about four weeks ago,” Morrelli told the audience. “In our last iteration, the boat was 62 feet, but now we’ve handed it over to Oracle and Russell and the boys to fuss it out with the Challenger of Record and Iain Murray. That is, the Aussies from Hamilton Island Yacht Club. Between them, a lot can happen. We’re now out of the loop, but something’s cooking . . . At some point they have to pull the trigger and publish the design rule and let people start working on the new boats, even if they don’t decide the venue until deep in the process.”

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Radikal T26 trimaran, build coming along well

The Radikal T26 trimaran build is coming along well you can follow their project on their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trimaran-Radikal-T26/1410096839227207

You can read more details on the Radikal T26 trimaran over at Perspective Design:

http://www.perspective-design.com/Trimaran-Radikal-26ft-full-carbon.html#.U0xogDiKDrc

Extreme 40 sailor Anna Tunnicliffe on her workouts and preparation for sailing

From the following article on Sail-World submitted by Anna Tunnicliffe:

http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/index.cfm?SEID=0&Nid=121114&SRCID=0&ntid=0&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

These days, twice Rolex Sailor of the Year and Olympic Gold medalist, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) alternates between sailing aboard Alinghi in the Extreme Sailing Series, and chasing a serious ranking in the world of CrossFit.

Born in England, Tunnicliffe moved to USA at the age of 12, and pursued a promising track career before giving that away in favour of sailing, where she won a Gold Medal in the Womens Singlehander in 2008 and won the Womens Match Racing event at the 2011 ISAF World Championships in Perth. She represented USA in that event at the 2012 Olympics but did not make the medal podium.

CrossFit is becoming increasingly popular amongst sailors as a way of physically preparing for the sport, as it is less monotonous than other physical training processes and better replicates the physical sailing activities on board a racing boat.

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