Vo70

RHough
Glad to see you look at the calendar occasionally

 

April what?

Great one Mr. Hough!

 

This one is from http://www.bymnews.com but can also be found on http://team.abnamro.com

Another one:
(click for enlargement. From http://www.sailinganarchy.com forum)

 

Very nice, guit. Must be as much wood in that stateroom as there is lead in the keel. Waaait a sec.... is the date on that post what it looks like?

 

Jobson's review

IT’S GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION . . .
His role in the race diminished, his enthusiasm dampened, (Gary) Jobson was on the outside looking in, telling anyone who will listen how disgusted he is with the evolution of a (Volvo Ocean) race that was founded 32 years ago. Pervasive commercialism, and a lack of national identify for the boats, has, in his view, converted an event that should be a contest of seamanship among nations into a global hospitality tent for multinational corporations which threatens to alienate fans. "When I did the America's Cup, the name of the boat was Courageous. It wasn't Bank of America," he said.

Jobson spent most of the 1990s lobbying to bring the race -- then called the Whitbread Round the World Race -- to Maryland. The first two times the Volvo race came here, Jobson was involved with its management. New leadership took over in 2002, and Jobson wasn't asked to be part of it. Now, his participation is limited to Ocean Race Chesapeake, the local organization in charge of the three-week stopover in Baltimore and Annapolis.

In the Volvo Ocean Race, the nationalist element is missing. The top "Dutch" boat, ABN Amro One, has no Dutch sailors. The "American" boat, Pirates of the Caribbean, has two Americans on board -- a U.S.-born skipper and one of the crew members. Brasil 1, the only yacht carrying a national name, includes five Brazilians in the crew of 10.

"I think sailing will take off if we can get back to our nationalistic roots," Jobson said. Part of the problem, he said, is that the Volvo race has become too expensive for even millionaires to bankroll. "The whole thing needs to cost less so there can be more participation," he said Race organizers say sponsoring a Volvo yacht costs $12 million to $18 million. Privately, representatives from syndicates say the racing costs much more than that, and the figure does not include elaborate client hospitality events that sponsors host at ports.

Volvo Ocean Race Chief Executive Officer Glenn Bourke said his corporate bosses at Volvo are pleased with the way the race is going. He pointed out that the last race produced 15,000 press clippings. This time, there were 10,000 in the first three months of the eight-month competition. Bourke said that nationalist branding wouldn't work for the sponsors. Their priority, he said, is to get a roughly equal amount of news coverage in all media markets. An American boat, he argued, would make a big splash here but would be overshadowed in other ports. The pitch to the sponsors is that they receive global, not national, coverage.

Excerpts from a story by Annie Linskey, The Baltimore Sun, full story:
http://tinyurl.com/nvuvn

 

Sun, 21 May 2006 14:05:00 UTC

Following a night of fighting their keel problems after the aft end of their keel pivot bearing broke away from the hull, Bouwe Bekking and his crew have abandoned their vessel and have safely transferred to ABN AMRO TWO which has been standing by since approximately 2200GMT last night.

 

And then there were six.
I gotta say, Bekking made the right call there. A VO 70 is a fragile boat, and with the damage movistar has sustained, staying with the boat could well have meant the loss of the crew in the upcoming storm.
This has been a trying leg for all the crews, ABN 2 and Movi in particular.

 

Yes…. it could have been a lot worst. Imagine that they had discovered that problem in the middle of the incoming storm. That should have been really dangerous.

 

Paul Cayard comments

ONE MORE TIME?
Having won this race eight years ago, sailed a leg in the last edition
and seemingly led his Pirates of the Caribbean crew to second place this
time round, Paul Cayard remains undecided on whether he will sail a
fourth Volvo Ocean Race campaign in three years time. Cayard, who will
be 50 when the next race begins, is rumored to be considering another
race, possibly applying his motivational skills to a team management
role, but says he is not looking ahead to 2009-2010 at this stage. He
said, "I'm not thinking four years down the road."

"I've enjoyed the race, I always enjoy these races. But it's been a hard
race physically. I've had another good run at it and I'll just have to
evaluate the situation if it arises in the future." His remarks differ
to those he issued in England last September at the boat's christening
when he insisted he would not consider another race. After finishing
third in the Rotterdam In Port race yesterday, he said, "What can I say?
I have had a fun time with this race."

"I've already been three times round the planet; I'll be 50 then (the
next race). I have had a good run, I don't really need to tempt fate.
But I'm not set on anything."

Should he choose to sail again,
Cayard admits he is uncertain whether he favors the Volvo Open 70. "I do
and do not. They are fantastically fun to sail, but they are also right on the
edge in terms of seaworthiness."

Volvo Ocean Race website, http://tinyurl.com/el4nx

 

I don't know if this has been posted before, but I find interesting this paper on canting keels hydro's:
http://www.etsin.upm.es/Noticias/mdy06/mdy_04/ponencias/Papers/18-ETSIN/BN(18).pdf

 

New Format

GUEST EDITORIAL: BOB FISHER
Provided courtesy The Fish and Yachts and Yachting magazine:

The 'Nanny State' has come to the Volvo Ocean Race. It is no longer to be
a race of adventure, but will take the form of a 'Trade Tour', stopping at
sponsor friendly ports and omitting the Southern Ocean from its itinerary.

Gone is the breathtaking surfing of a Southern Ocean sleigh ride, that
adrenalin pumping pell-mell dash towards the sailors' most feared
landmark, Cape Horn. In its place is a tour of Asian ports together with
some in the Middle East and the likely transit of the Suez Canal. The
start from that well known ocean racing centre of Alicante says it all.

In announcing the new format for the race in three years time, the Race
CEO, Glenn Bourke said, "We felt it was prudent to add new territories to
consolidate the race's position as a truly global sporting spectacle.."
Yet, he refused at the Gothenburg Press Conference when the next race was
announced, to confirm that the race would pass south of the Great Capes,
or, indeed, have a Southern Ocean leg at all.

Maybe he is suffering from the embarrassment of having accused Bouwe
Bekking of 'over-reacting' when Movistar was in danger of sinking 240
miles west of Cape Horn , a place where the most-unfriendly waters in the
world exist - in 25-30 knots of wind, and subsequently used information
from the VO-70 class measurer to substantiate that Movistar would not sink
and that the crew would be perfectly safe with half a metre of freeboard
as a worst-case scenario. In the light of what happened to Movistar in the
Atlantic, a retraction of that accusation is long overdue.

True, the Volvo Ocean 70s are the fastest and potentially the most
exciting monohulls in the world, but only when their systems have been
made fail-safe, which is far from the case at present. Maybe Bourke's
masters in Volvo have demanded the change because of that company's
philosophy towards product safety. Whatever it was, it has emasculated
what everyone understood to be the very best ocean race in the world, and
converted it to be considered in line with the 'Pay-to-Play' races
organised elsewhere. They at least go into the Southern Ocean.

One wonders what Conny van Rietschoten thinks of the race compared with
the two that he won; Peter Blake would certainly have been appalled. Juan
Vila, navigator in three previous races, said, "This will not be the race
that we have sailed. It's not a round the world race". I should imagine
that all the crews who have taken part in the past will consider it an
insult if future sailors treat the race with any reverence. They most
certainly will not.

There is nothing wrong in pandering to commercial pressures, but not if it
is simply to give away a prestigious title to a lesser event. If Volvo
seeks to have a race around the Middle East and Asian ports and take in
the West Coast of the United States to give boat and event sponsors a
better commercial return, it does not deserve to be able to take the image
of a once great race for the purpose of gratifying them

Fully crewed ocean racing is now without a race to match the
singlehander's Velux 5 Oceans or Vendee Globe, a parlous state indeed.
Will the Volvo race in its new guise attract the world's top sailors. I
doubt it. They want the challenges provided in the past by the Whitbread
Round the World race and have eschewed the sunshine tours that attempts
have been made to arrange in the past on the grounds that they are little
more than a series of day races.

Bourke also seeks to reduce the number of crew aboard in what is perceived
as a penny-pinching exercise to cut costs, and obviously hasn't listened
to the skippers, the majority of whom would like to raise the numbers by
two. The guys who have raced the boats know a great deal more about their
requirements than those who sit in the organisers' offices; why then don't
they heed the advice of those at the coalface.

The crews are already suffering from advanced sleep deprivation because
every sail change requires all hands on deck; reduction in their numbers
would increase the individual pressures and lead to dangerous tiredness
levels, the result of which could be fatal. "It is when you are
over-tired," said Vila, "that you make mistakes and that is when people
will go overboard". But perhaps that will not be a worry if the boats are
not going to sail in rough waters.

And why should I care anyway. I am not likely to want to do the next
fully-crewed round the world race and certainly not a world trade tour. I
care because I worry about the image that the sport has created being lost
by this hand-holding exercise to promote commercial interests. Even if
there are only a few outside the sport who appreciate the adventurous
drive that led the Whitbread Round the World Race to become a publicly
accepted classic, they should be encouraged to follow the sport, not give
up on it entirely, as indeed they will if the Southern Ocean is removed
from the race that has taken its place.

The Volvo Ocean Race organisers are patting themselves on the back for the
television coverage they believe the last race achieved, or will achieve,
according to the recent release: It is expected that once a comprehensive
evaluation has been completed the figure for 2005-06 will approach 2
billion.. Maybe that audience was generated by the muck and bullets'
atmosphere from the on board cameras in the Southern Ocean. Without that,
even Sunset & Vine will have a much more difficult task to command the
audiences that Volvo demands.

Think again Volvo. You have the best race in the world. Don't wreck it for
a purse of silver

 

FROM GLENN BOURKE, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race

(Glenn Bourke, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race has written a letter
specifically to Scuttlebutt readers about the recently concluded Volvo
Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race, as well as changes that are planned for the
next race . and why those changes are being made. Following is a major
excerpt from the letter which is posted on the SailingScuttlebutt
website.)

I have read with great interest and at times complete dismay regarding
some of the recent comments about the last edition of the Volvo Ocean
Race and our plans for the next one. Dismay, in that it appears some
people feel we are actively trying to devalue the history and tradition
of the race by incorporating the proposed changes. Dismay also, that it
appears those same people believe we have not been listening to those
constituents who have greater experience than ourselves.

I can tell you, neither is true. During the 8 months of the last race
and again in the months post its conclusion, we have continued to listen
to sailors, designers, sponsors, shore crew, team managers, the press,
sports fans, non sports fans, industry leaders, billionaires, clubs,
classes, ISAF, and even my mother (sorry if I have missed you from one
of the above categories), to try to distil down the elements to make the
next iteration of the race better than the last.

Take for example just the sailors. I've had long conversations with Mike
Sanderson, Paul Cayard, Mark Christensen, Seb Josse, Tony Mutter,
Horacio Carabelli, Tom Braidwood, Stan Honey, and many, many more. I did
this as often as I could to get the most pertinent information to help
direct us forward. And I don't believe we ever disregarded what they
said, or professed to know more than they did. In fact, quite the
opposite! We asked because sometimes the answers were not clear and we
wanted to find the best solution and we valued their opinions. Our only
objective was to do better.

Nor did Volvo play any manipulative role in the format. My bosses, the
Board members of the Volvo Ocean Race, very much let us absorb the
information and try to make the best decisions for the future of the
event on their behalf. And better than that, they stood behind the
event, supporting it as actively as they possibly could. They considered
our impact on this great sport in general and they were there for the
counting each and every time I needed it.

While I have your attention, let me straighten out a few facts, because
it appears that not everybody is aware of our basic proposal for the
future. With regards to the Volvo Open 70 rule itself, we will change it
only to attempt to improve the durability of the boats themselves and
where possible, level the playing field. We are doing this in
consultation with designers, engineers, approval authorities, insurers,
and a broad cross section of sailors. The crew numbers will remain the
same for an all male crew but may increase to 12 and 14 respectively for
mixed and women's crews. I would like to also point out that at least as
many of the current VO70 sailors I have spoken to told me to keep the
number of crew the same or reduce it, as have asked me to increase it.

The route will start in Alicante, Spain in late 2008. The proposed route
from there will be around the Cape of Good Hope to the Middle East (a
very long leg and probably with part of it in the Southern Ocean). From
the Middle East to the Sub Continent and on to South East Asia and then
China. From there, to Australia or New Zealand, with a Southern Ocean
leg around Cape Horn to Brazil. From there the traditional route will
kick in, with ports and nations who provide entries getting the highest
priority. The in-port races will remain as part of the format, as will
pit-stops.

Finally, to everyone out there still reading this, please understand, we
don't profess to have all the answers. We are simply trying to do our
best, to learn from our mistakes and correct them, to improve the things
we have done well and, to create an event at the pinnacle of our sport.
One which is watched and enjoyed by millions, that stacks up
commercially, and hopefully in some small way inspires people to
participate in sailing. They are our objectives. If you love sailing, I
find it hard to imagine how you could condemn us for trying. -- Glenn
Bourke, CEO, Volvo Ocean Race.
To read all of Mr. Bourke's comments:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/0825/

 

Welldone guys! Excellent one!

 

R.i.p

Gosport............final resting place,?

 

...courtesty of Scuttlebutt

VOR 2.0 - HANDBRAKE OFF
Anyone who has experienced at first hand the sheer speed of the Volvo
Open 70 will be delighted to learn that the official Rule for 2008-09
has been framed to safeguard the status of the world's fastest ocean
going monohull.

Rather than apply the 'hand brake' to the VO70's stunning
performance, the rule focuses on durability measures which carry no
speed penalty.

Weight distribution, restrictions on appendages and the integrity of
construction materials in keel mechanisms are the main elements of
version 2 of the Volvo Open 70 rule - upgraded from the 2005-06 race.

The race organisers and Rule Management Group (RMG), led by chief
measurer James Dadd, have concentrated on the issues which
contributed to structural problems in the previous race -
particularly in the area of canting keels.

The intention has been to stay true to the stated philosophy of
producing 'fast, single mast, monohull keelboats of similar
performance, suitable for long distance racing offshore at the
highest level of the sport'.

A summary of the key changes are as follows:

- Maximum weight for keel, fin and bulb of 7.4 tonnes (To ensure
weight saved in the structure could not be added to the keel to
improve performance)

- A reduction in the overall weight range of the boat to 13.86-14.00
tonnes (previously 12.5-14 tonnes) (To ensure there is enough
structure put into the boat to improve durability)

- A ban on bomb doors (To prevent water ingress)

- All spinnakers may be furled and one additional masthead spinnaker
to be added to the inventory (To make handling easier and safer for
the crews and improve light air performance)

- Set appendage configuration - two dagger boards and one or two
rudders (Reduce research and development costs and retain the
characteristics of ocean racing boats)

- No spinnaker poles (To cut down on the research costs for different
sail configurations)

- Ban on titanium in keel rams (To reduce cost and increase
reliability)

Commenting on the Rule, Glenn Bourke, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race,
said: 'Evolution rather than revolution was uppermost in our thoughts
when we considered changes to the Volvo Open 70 Rule. At every turn we
have endeavoured to provide encouragement for designers to distribute
weight sensibly while limiting performance penalty. Introducing a
maximum keel, fin and bulb weight achieves that.

'The other changes we have made, like outlawing the use of titanium
in keel rams, puts the emphasis on improving the reliability and
durability of the boats. All the changes and refinements we have made
are based on the feedback we have had from the approval authorities,
insurers and the designers and crew members from the 2005-06 race -
the first time that the Volvo Open 70 was campaigned.

'We firmly believe that we have arrived at a sound formula without
detracting from the exhilarating performance of the boats. What we
don't want is a situation where, having created the world's fastest
monohull ocean racer, we are asking the designers to apply the hand
brake.'

http://volvooceanrace.org