Volvo 70 Design Rule-- 2011-2012 Race

[Doug Lord]

From Scuttlebutt last night:

DENIED

(July 19, 2012) - Volvo Ocean Race leader Groupama, along with Abu Dhabi
and Team Telefonica, face a dilemma today after the independent
international jury ruled that they would each incur two-point penalties if
they hauled their boats out of the water for repairs.

Under race rules, the fleet is required to stay in the water with their
masts in place during the Lorient stopover, but damage to a keel fairing on
Abu Dhabi, two broken rudders on Telefonica and mast problems on Groupama
led to all three making requests to the jury for dispensation.

Under the terms of the ruling posted on the race´s official noticeboard,
only repairs specified in their requests could be carried out with any
other remedial work or cleaning strictly prohibited.

Early reactions from Abu Dhbai and Groupama suggest neither is likely to
incur the points penalty with both formulating plans to carry out the
repairs with the boats in the water.

Telefonica's situation, however, is more challenging as rather than attempt
to build new rudders, they had hoped to use rudders they had previously
tested but had not declared for the race. The jury denied this request,
stating the use of non compliant rudders in any of the remaining races
would result in a penalty of one place per scoring opportunity. --
http://tinyurl.com/VOR-061912

Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html
Schedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule
Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos

[Doug Lord]

Volvo ocean race one design by Farr: http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Volvo-...wo-races/99046

More on this unfortunate development here-from Scuttlebutt tonight:

VOLVO OCEAN RACE TO ENTER NEW ERA

(June 28, 2012) - The Volvo Ocean Race has unveiled details of the
high-performance new boat that will be used for the next two editions of
the Race.

The intentions of this new plan is to significantly reduce the cost of
mounting a competitive campaign and are designed to bring the size of the
fleet to 8-10 boats in future editions. The next race is scheduled for
2014-15.

The 65-foot (19.8-metre) monohull racing yacht will be strictly one-design.
It will be designed by the Farr Yacht Design and constructed by a
consortium of leading boatyards in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and
Switzerland. The first boat is to be completed by June 2013.

Despite being five feet (1.5 metres) shorter, the new boat will be almost
as fast as the Volvo Open 70s that are contesting the current race.

The boat will be designed and built with the latest video, satellite and
content production facilities to further enhance the work being done in the
unique Media Crew Member programme that has been in place since the 2008-09
race.

The "ready to sail" cost of the boats, including sails for the pre-Race
period and the Race itself, will be around 4.5 million euros, while further
significant cost savings will be made possible by the pooling of resources.
CEO Knut Frostad said a complete campaign would be possible for less than
15 million euros.

"Our clear goal throughout the planning process for the next race has been
to make it easier and less costly to mount a campaign in the Volvo Ocean
Race," Frostad said. "This is a big step towards that goal. This new
one-design is fantastic looking and will be ultra-reliable and great to
race. We're heading into a new era of this great race with a future that
it's more exciting and more secure." -- Full report:
http://tinyurl.com/VOR-062812

New boat design details:
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/new...-new-boat.html

[Doug Lord]

Gary tells me that Camper(TNZ) won the last leg-and they did by 7 minutes after over a day of racing-Congrads TNZ!

tracker- http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html

It's sad to note, once again, that the Volvo Ocean Race as I've known and loved it is dead. From now on the design aspect of the race will not exist.
I think it is very sad that another avenue for design and development of large racing monhulls is gone. Same thing about to happen to Open 60's perhaps the most innovative of all monohull ocean racers. The ORMA 60 multies have also been replaced by the MOD 70's-a great boat but sad for design and development. Unfortunate and discouraging...

[Doug Lord]

from Scuttlebutt tonight:

GROUPAMA WINS 2011-12 VOLVO OCEAN RACE

(July 2, 2012) - Only disaster could steal away the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean
Race title from the Franck Cammas' skippered Groupama, which the team
neatly avoided as they finished the final offshore leg (Lorient, France to
Galway, Ireland) in second position to secure the overall win.

Groupama are the first team to represent France in the Volvo Ocean Race
since Eric Tabarly's La Poste in 1993-94, and they are only the second
French winners after Lionel Pean on L'Espirit d'Equipe in 1985-86.

With only six points separating PUMA, Camper, and Telefonica, this leg
would prove decisive for the remaining positions on the podium. The final
stretch was downwind, and while PUMA had their bow in front of the group
with 50nm to go, it was Camper and Groupama that jibed first toward Galway,
a move that would determine the rankings of the race, and the overall
standings.

"We've had a massive day and fought our way through to the lead," noted
Camper skipper Chris Nicholson. "We've been so close [to winning] on
several occasions and once or twice, through no fault of our own, it's been
snatched away from us."

With Camper's win of Leg 9, the overall standings are now locked in despite
the outcome of the final In-Port Race on July 7. Leg 9 finish positions for
Abu Dhabi and Team Sanya were not available at press time.

Standings - Leg 9 (Lorient, France to Galway, Ireland; 550 nm)
1. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS)
2. Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA)
3. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA)
4. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP)
- Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR)
- Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL)

Overall standings (after Leg 9)
1. Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 250 points
2. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 226 points
3. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 220 points
4. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 209 points
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), N/A
6. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), N/ASchedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule
Tracker/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html
Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos

BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started
in Alicante, Spain (Oct. 29) and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early
July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles
around the world via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape
Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through
nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com

[Luc Vernet]

Originally Posted by Doug Lord

It's sad to note, once again, that the Volvo Ocean Race as I've known and loved it is dead. From now on the design aspect of the race will not exist.
I think it is very sad that another avenue for design and development of large racing monhulls is gone. Same thing about to happen to Open 60's perhaps the most innovative of all monohull ocean racers. The ORMA 60 multies have also been replaced by the MOD 70's-a great boat but sad for design and development. Unfortunate and discouraging...

Absolutely!....and you could have spoken for us all in saying :"..as we've known and loved..."
What is also quite sad is that what could have been an interesting design competition by, for example, determining what is the best prototype boat by preliminary races with rotating crew (and this redone every couple of years) has been reduced to the choice by a small panel or organizers, who did not even invite the predominant designers, as has been the case for Kouyoumdjian, and a rather "blind" preference given to a (nice, for sure!) Farr design.
Hope that, against all odds, the Open 60 will "survive the cut"....

[Doug Lord]

Originally Posted by Luc Vernet

Absolutely!....and you could have spoken for us all in saying :"..as we've known and loved..."
What is also quite sad is that what could have been an interesting design competition by, for example, determining what is the best prototype boat by preliminary races with rotating crew (and this redone every couple of years) has been reduced to the choice by a small panel or organizers, who did not even invite the predominant designers, as has been the case for Kouyoumdjian, and a rather "blind" preference given to a (nice, for sure!) Farr design.
Hope that, against all odds, the Open 60 will "survive the cut"....

===============
You're right Luc: cutting Juan K out of the design loop is unforgiveable.....I'm afraid the Open 60 class has already made their "one design" decision.

[quequen]

Congratulations to Frank Cammas, Juan K and their teams. Juan wins the VOR for the third (and last?) time, a record that, now, Farr will be able to beat .

I hope someone take the place left by the VOR and organize a world tour race being a challenge not just for crews but for design development. Someone may carry the idea to VW, Toyota, Honda or many other big enterprices that can face this big challenge.

[Corley]

Juan K Interview on Vsail, link from SA news page

http://www.vsail.info/2012/06/29/jua...n-race-part-i/

and here is part 2 of the interview

http://www.vsail.info/2012/07/02/jua...-race-part-ii/

[Paul B]

Originally Posted by quequen

Juan wins the VOR for the third (and last?) time, a record that, now, Farr will be able to beat .

Farr already has done. Four in a row tops three in a row, doesn't it?

[Doug Lord]

Originally Posted by Corley

Juan K Interview on Vsail, link from SA news page

http://www.vsail.info/2012/06/29/jua...n-race-part-i/

and here is part 2 of the interview

http://www.vsail.info/2012/07/02/jua...-race-part-ii/

==================
Great ,Corley! Just read Part 1- It makes me so damn mad that Juan K was not even consultedbefore the one design decision was made. This is a rip-off of everyone who ever loved the Volvo, Whitbred ,Grand Prix ocean racing. He has beaten Farr in two succesive Volvo's and was not even consulted-he was "informed" over lunch-jeez...
Part Two- Multies for the Volvo-yes if there is a premier monohull development class as well. He called the MOD 70-"just a marketing event" maybe ,maybe not. What is for sure is that the elimination of design innovation is going to hurt that class and will definitely reduce my interest. One Design for dinghies-Development classes for big boats and round the world spectacles. How can Frostad justify not even consulting with Juan K before selecting Farr??!!
Thanks for the interview ,Corley-got me all fired up.......

[quequen]

Farr already has done. Four in a row tops three in a row, doesn't it?

Only if you include the Withbread. Many things changed from then, not just the regata name. And many more are changing now, so maybe they should change the name again.

[Doug Lord]

Originally Posted by quequen

Only if you include the Withbread. Many things changed from then, not just the regata name. And many more are changing now, so maybe they should change the name again.

==============
Not only that but the game ain't fair: the rules have been changed before Juan K had another chance.

[Corley]

A video roundup of the 2011-2012 VOR

[parkh32]

Hi mate.

Anyone know that the daggerboard section was symmetric or asymmetric in VOR 2011-2012 ?

thanks

HS/

[Gary Baigent]

Asymmetric.