Rambler 88 wins Rolex Middle Sea Race-(using DSS)

Juan K designed R88 with newly installed DSS foils wins:
http://www.sail-world.com/2015-Rolex-Middle-Sea-Race---Rambler-88-takes-monohull-line-honours/139367

George David's American Maxi, Rambler 88, crossed the finish line of the 2015 Rolex Middle Sea Race at the Royal Malta Yacht Club to take Monohull Line Honours at 04.48.43 CET on Tuesday 20th October in an elapsed time of two days 16 hours 18 minutes and 43 seconds. George David was greeted by Godwin Zammit, Commodore of the Royal Malta Yacht Club.
George David was presented with a Rolex Yachtmaster I Rolesium at the line honours prize giving held at the Royal Malta Yacht Club before day break this morning.
Rambler 88 is a far cry from George David's Rambler 90, which set the Rolex Middle Sea Race record in 2007 (47 hours 55 minutes and three seconds). Rambler 88, on the design numbers is 20% faster than Rambler 90. Rambler 88 has an enormous sail area and features five metre vertical daggerboards, as well as three metre horizontal foils, which lift the boat when sailing at top speed. The canting keel also produces significant righting moment, allowing the boat to carry a huge amount of sail area aloft and still remain in control.
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The overall win under IRC is out of our hands now, it depends what happens to the breeze but I feel that there will be boats that will beat us. We carry an unusual rating penalty, which are side foils. These foils are only effective when boat speed is over 20 knots and that costs us a 2.5% rating penalty and that will probably cost us a place or two in the race but that is a call that we made.”


pix by Carlo Borlinghi:

 

She's the biggest mono in the race, so a mono line honours win is hardly unexpected. The performance of the fixed-keel Maxi 72 Momo (which finished ahead of the CBTF Wild Joe and canting Volvo 70) and the fixed-keel ex TP52 seem to have been significantly better.

 

Line honors is a great victory for this boat and Juan K. I applaud the boat, crew and designer! And for an 88 footer to whip Comanche twice is just fantastic.

The super light conditions over the first two days of the 2015 Rolex Middle Sea Race, scuppered any chance of breaking Rambler 90s record. On the other hand, to finish over 100 miles clear of eleven other canting keel yachts was proof of the immense power of Rambler 88.
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This is a new boat this year and I would say we have had a very good season. Reliability has been virtually 100% and that is important in a boat like this and for this race, we have had a dry boat, which we didn't have for the Transatlantic Race; it takes a while to find all the leaks and things like that. I would say we have had the short end of the weather in our races this year, definitely in the Rolex Fastnet, although we won our class and beat Comanche, it was a small boat race with good wind coming behind for the little boats. In the Transatlantic Race, we won our class and beat Comanche but we were fourth overall and that was a function of the time of the starts.

 

Line honours are simply the logical outcome when it's the biggest yacht and one of the newest. Did anyone seriously expect her to be beaten by much smaller boats?? To quote the owner "I would have been concerned if we had not taken line honours for this race because our allowance with the second highest rated boat, Momo, is about 15%".

Personally I was rather surprised that the foils "are only effective when boat speed is over 20 knots." If their effect is proportionate to boat speed and size that means they would only work downwind in breezes of 16 to 20 knots or more in a modern-ish 30 footer.

It WAS a great effort to be so close to Comanche over the line in the Fastnet. Personally I'd love to see the smaller boats beat the 100 footers, which seem to be too big and expensive for the good of the sport as a whole. Because once again the multis in this race showed that if you really want to go fast offshore, you do it by using more hulls rather than by using more foils.

 

R88 has beaten Comanche twice?

 

R88

On corrected time..... Though on the Fastnet R88 finished within 4 minutes of Comanche.