The Race rig debate continues

Bullimore rig in construction at Carbospars - but what about the Team Philips rig they didn't build?

Carbospars have been working flat out to complete the mast for Tony Bullimore's maxi-cat, the newly sponsored Team Legato. Built in high modulus carbon from a laser-cut MDF mould in their Hamble workshops, the 33 m rig has been built in four weeks to date, with the anticipation that it will be completed by the 25th November.

The next stage is to transport the mast to Bristol, where it will be stepped on the Nigel Irens revamped boat. Carbospars have a long association with the maxi-cat, going back to its Jules Verne record breaking days under Peter Blake and Robin Knox-Johnston as ENZA - for which they also built the mast.

Production Manager, John Hodgart, explained to madforsailing that their prior design knowledge of crucial areas like the shroud base had allowed them to respond very quickly to the construction order, only confirmed when Bullimore got his sponsorship money. The project isn't over yet either, Carbospars still have to build the prodder and the boom, the former being required to step the mast.

But just as interesting as the rig they are building for Tony Bullimore, is the rig they didn't build for Pete Goss. The initial concept of Goss' wavepiercer included two AeroRigs. When asked about this, Carbospars MD Damon Roberts is cagey, 'We don't really want to comment. The only point I would like to make is that the technology for this kind of free-standing mast is no longer cutting edge, the rigs are already in existence. There is nothing ground-breaking about that aspect of what they are doing.

'We've built a free-standing, rotating AeroRig for a seventy ton cruising yacht that was very similar in proportions to the Team Philips masts, Jaquelina's rig carries 284 square metres of sail and is 38 metres high. I would say that the loads that it is subject to are, if anything, greater than those masts on Team Philips, and that mast has now seen three years of hard service.'

Although he won't be drawn any further, you can see from the photos that the method Carbospars use to seat the mast on its rotational bearing - one of only two places where the driving force from the rig is transmitted to the yacht from a freestanding mast - is completely different to that used by Team Philips.

The carbon spar is contained within the metallic casing of the bearing which also transmits the local bending into the structure. Fundamental to the Carbospars approach seems to be that the structure doing the rotating is encapsulating the laminated composite structure of the mast itself.

In contrast, on the system used on Team Philips, all the side loads from the rotational ball and socket bearing are being transmitted into the carbon structure around it. Drawings and photographs on the Team Philips website show the new structure they have put in place.

It's to be hoped that this time they have got the maths right. But after some of the comments that have come out of the Goss camp recently - while we can hope that they were oversimplifications of the position - with two major structural failures on their hands, the engineering basis of the project is open to question.

I've heard it suggested that Pete Goss should maybe consider an alternative, less demanding, flat water future for his concept craft. Why doesn't he just forget The Race and take it on tour to all the major summer sailing events? It's a packed season, and the boat will turn heads whether it's at the America's Cup Jubilee regatta or the Volvo Ocean Race start. At least that way, Philips should get their investment back.

If there's another major structural failure and this time they don't get the boat back in one piece, the headlines may be spectacular - and we sincerely hope not tragic - but they'll be no good for sailing, Pete Goss or Philips.