Frers versus Farr

At the Nautor Challenge christening James Boyd had a scout around their two different Volvo Ocean 60s

What's the difference between them?

Volvo Ocean 60s are designed to a strict box rule, so the differences between the Farr and Frers designs are not as great as they might be in for example the Open 60 class. But within the the narrower context of the VO60 class, the Frers boat is quite dramatically different from the Farr.

The Frers design has a more 'powerful' hull - it has more volume, is fuller in the ends, with more freeboard and higher sheer. It is also slightly longer than the Farr. The result is a combination of increased form stability in the hull, and a lower drag coefficient than the Farr. The former point should make the platform better able to cope with the demands placed on it by the newly legalised Code Zeros and large gennikers, although the penalty for this is paid in sail area. The latter should improve performance in light airs.

Another significant difference is in hull weight. While the Farr boats are engineered in-house, Frers worked with Giovanni Belgrano at SP Technologies and the result is that the Frers hull is 250kg lighter than the Farr, a weight saving that is immediately converted into added lead on the keel as Volvo 60s must maintain a minimum weight of 13.5 tonnes. A bigger bulb equals increased stability equals more power.