Vo70

"Still I can´t understand why they don´t get rid of those antique led weighted things and use modern top performance multis."

 

Exciting sailing isn´t it!
More fun than the sinking feeling on USA 77, AUS 35 etc ...

Anders M

 

The best of both...

What may be needed is the best of both worlds:
billochcut.jpg
http://www.sailinganarchy.com/fringe/2005/images/billochcut.jpg
or
LSS_7.jpg
Address:http://www.sailinganarchy.com/fringe/2005/images/LSS_7.jpg
And maybe combined with a little of this:
robosan.jpg
http://www.moth-sailing.org/pictures/singapore/robosan.jpg
I can hardly wait!!

 

If you want no entries, that would be a great idea. Get real! Would you seriously advocate racing Formula1 in Ford Focusses (Foci?)? That would be the same thing.
Steve

 

I have to agree. One design racing classes don't generate the same interest as more open classes. F1 cars are very similar and will be even more so with next years V-8s.

I enjoy watching spec or one design classes race as the variables are limited and the results reflect more driver/crew performance. However I don't get up at 0400hrs to watch those races. I do schedule around F1 race weekends. Cutting edge designs and the skill it takes to race them are a bigger draw. It's sad that F1 is having to make rules to slow the cars down, they can build cars that humans cannot drive. A truly unlimited F1 car could generate G loads that would cause the drivers to black out.

Exciting, cutting edge design does not have to be unsafe to be thrilling. IMO the VO70's are very close to being unsafe.

 

More keel problems: ... Neal McDonald called the Race Headquarters to report that they had experienced a keel hydraulics problem, but they had the situation under control ...

“I had been running the boat square downwind to slow the boat down for our survey and decided as we could not find any damage we'd come back to course. Coming up on to a reach the boat simply heeled over out of control - practically capsizing!

... “One situation that I have always dreaded occurring is where the canting keel system has a failure that allows it to swing wildly on its own accord from side to side - a situation that on Ericsson has been named 'free Willy'. (Mainly because the massive lead bulb at the bottom of the keel looks like a killer whale). Well last night, much to my horror, it happened to us - Willy was released.”

 

Been looking around for the actual class rule....
http://www.perrottidesign.com/popup/volvo_chart2.html is a quick overview of the key dimensions etc of the VO 70 and 60.
The Notice of Race is at http://www.volvooceanrace.org/pdf/NoticeofRace.pdf and contains the racing rules, but not the class rule (?).
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/raceguide/theboat/anewrule/ is the closest I've found yet to a full description of the rule....
Every link to the rule so far points to http://www.volvooceanrace.com/pages/racinginfo/design.htm which does not exist.
So where's the actual class rule?

 

Found it!

http://www.volvooceanrace.org/pdf/VO70_Rule.pdf

A helluva lot of broken links out there pointing to stuff that doesn't exist anymore.... check your sites to make sure you aren't among them.

 

Is the class of boats a " By invitation only? " If so, no public rules are needed.

 

W/R/T One Design and No-Rule - Question

Am I correct to think that The Race was wide open? If so, that category is covered (if it ever happens again).

Steve, and other designers/architects, engineers participating;

I'd be interested to hear your comments on the trickle-down value of these more-extreme racing programmes. There's no question that technology is pushed forward by Volvo, IACC, etc., but can you give us a sense as to how material that contribution is to boating outside of these events (e.g. time-frames, whether the technology is too specific to these boats to be otherwise useful (the "velcro vs. solid rocket-booster scale" ), whether these sources are just alternates to already-present sources, etc.)?

How much do your find that following these races from a pure technology perspective provides ideas that you might incorporate, or provides the opportunity to observe experiences with ideas that are, or are similar to, your own?

(pure curiousity: I'm not creating a 'trickle-down coefficient' as a rationale for racing in a certain manner.)

-JPC

 

I disagree. You could race them in something that is performance oriented, but not necessarily on the edge of survival. Using your car analogy, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc. make production cars that are high performance, but maybe a few mph off the peak of a F1 car.
You spend a whole lot more to get those last few knots, and you greatly increase the risk of human casualty. Cut the cost by 40-50%, back off the throttle a couple knots, and you'd have 25 boats out there racing within a few miles of each other for hundreds of miles. Sounds pretty exciting to me- a lot more so than 4 boats that make it to the finish line, 20 or more hours apart from each other.

 

addict,
You say you disagree - that is your privilege and our gain, since that is how discussions are created.
I would argue, having been involved with the BOC and Vendee Globe boats for many years, that the folks who race these races have exactly the other viewpoint from yours. They WANT to have large margins. No-one is out in the Southern Ocean waiting to see "the fleet" go by. To be able to say "I won by 2 days" is way nicer than "I just squeaked home 2 seconds in front of them".
This Volvo is the first with the new boats - you can bet that the next generation will break less, even if they are slower (but I'll bet they are not) since that is how evolution works.
Steve

 

I have to agree, if the race has a total elapsed time format. That format allows a boat to build up a time cushion on the next leg by pulling a horizon job on the fleet.

The VO points format negates that advantage. A 2 second win is as good as a 48 hour win. Working to get a 48 hour advantage only buys you time in case of gear failure or mistake in navigation on that leg. Aside from the demoralizing effect on the other crews pushing your boat to maintain a huge lead at the finish of the leg is not needed.

A crewman on Movistar made the observation that they could ship the boat to Rio and still have a chance of winning.

As far as sponsors go, it's a tough call. If there are fewer entries, you boat is more likely to get some coverage. In a large fleet only the front runners and the disasters get the media.

 

I agree the sailors want large margins- at least the ones in the lead do. For spectators, at least for myself anyway, a large margin makes boring racing. When the Colts are destroying another team by 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter, what happens- the fans leave the stadium, and TV watchers change to another game. If it's tied with 1 minute to go, everyone is on the edge of their seats.
As a spectator, my interest would be peaked if for the last x miles, 8 or 9 boats have been fighting for the lead, there have been 6 lead changes, and it's coming down to the last jibe or tack. To me that makes it interesting to watch. Close competition makes good spectating. I guess the race organizers aren't that interested in the spectator aspect, which is their choice. And of course if the current format is what you like, more power to you- it's not for me however.

 

Addict - I'm still dying to know where you would go to "spectate" the Volvo
Even if the boats are identical, after a few thousand miles you are not going to get more than two boats close together within any given day. It just doesn't work like that. "Close competition" may mean a day's difference, or even a few hours.

Steve