An Aussie's view of the EDS - pt1

Kingfisher's co-skipper Nick Moloney on Open 60s v Volvo 60s, getting soaked and sailing with Ellen

Open 60s v Volvo Ocean 60s

Volvo 60s and Open 60s are quite similar in terms of being able to add stability and displacement to the boat. On Kingfisher (and the other modern Open 60s like Sill and Ecover) you increase the stability by canting the keel and add displacement by taking on water ballast (even Open 60s with swing keels have centre line water ballast tanks - both forward and aft for use in different conditions). We use the water ballast just to stick the boat in the water a little more, so we're not launching and pounding our way through the waves.

But when it comes to hull forms there's a dramatic difference. Kingfisher launches a lot higher - when we punch out the top of a wave the boat's just in the sky. It's shame there wasn't a photographer alongside us in a chopper on leg two, because they would have seen the trailing edge of our keel for sure.
Another major difference is the construction. Open 60s are built in carbon fibre, Volvo Ocean 60s in Kevlar and in comparison the Volvo boat is soft. Just burying the bow of Kingfisher into a wave, the headstay hardly even goes slack. It just punches through the wave and launches again. You can feel the whole canoe body is such a rock solid, rigid structure even though it's got the keel hanging out to windward and it has all these potentially flexible items.

In terms of sailing both boats are very similar. They're both very stiff. Conventional race boats will heel and yaw and be driven around or be made to round up by the waves, whereas Volvo 60s and Open 60s just remain very rigid in the water. Waves don't affect their heel angle that much, but when one hits the side of the boat it just explodes and that's why these boats are so wet.

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