Groupama Race underway

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Corley, Sep 25, 2016.

  1. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    Location: Melbourne, Australia

    Corley epoxy coated

    The Groupama Race which circumnavigates New Caledonia is attended by a number of multihulls with the racing trimaran Frank Racing (formerly Geant ORMA 60) and Jessica Rabbit (Custom 40' foiling trimaran) along with catamarans Moemeti and Birdies Furax 2. Not surprisingly Frank Racing is leading the entire fleet while Jessica Rabbit is in 6th place overall.

    The race tracker is here:

    http://www.groupamarace.nc/la-course/tracking

    Website for Groupama Race:

    http://www.groupamarace.nc/
     
  2. Doug Lord
    Joined: May 2009
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    Location: Cocoa, Florida

    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Thanks , Corley-I'd never heard of this race. Looking at the tracking Jessica Rabbit seems slow but so do all the boats in the back end of the fleet. Maybe the wind will pick up as they get further along...
    This is part of what Martin Fischer, the designer, says about Jessica Rabbit:

    MF: We haven't reached 40 knots - that probably would be a bit much for a 40ft trimaran - but 2 weeks ago we hit 33.1 knots in 20 knots of true wind speed. The boat does not fully fly, but it is very close to flying. I reckon that the foil and the T-rudder carry between 80% and 90% of the total weight when she is on her foils. At high speed the boat is very stable and she never feels dangerous.
    Upwind in stronger winds (20 knots) the boat is surprisingly fast for her size. In fact the foils are very big for the size of the boat and in these conditions the boat steps literally onto the foils when sailing upwind. The effect is an immediate jump in boat speed and pointing angle.
    We went for t-rudders mainly for structural reasons. For a bigger boat the loads can become pretty high and with a T-rudder the maximum bending moment is reduced by a factor of 2 compared to an L-rudder.
     
  3. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    Location: Melbourne, Australia

    Corley epoxy coated

  4. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
    Posts: 3,781
    Likes: 196, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 826
    Location: Melbourne, Australia

    Corley epoxy coated

    From the Groupama Race admin:

    Vodafone (Frank Racing) cross the line at 10H33min12s, so she sailed 2days 38min and 12s to sail around the biggest lagoon in the world !
    Congratulations !

    Jessica Rabbit seems to be doing quite well it's building a substantial lead over the two catamarans that are entered and is headed upwind across the top of the New Caledonia lagoon at the moment at about 10 knots.
     

  5. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
    Posts: 3,781
    Likes: 196, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 826
    Location: Melbourne, Australia

    Corley epoxy coated

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