Frers versus Farr

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

On deck

Above decks there are a number of differences. The cockpits are fairly similar with the normal twin wheel set-up just aft of the main sheet track and twin coffee grinders. Both have a separate central winch for the mainsheet. At present the Farr boat has four smaller winches at the forward end of the cockpit for halyards, reefing lines, etc, while the Frers only has two. This is because the Frers boat is currently using halyard locks On the Farr boat the track is along the cockpit sole, while on the Frers it is on a mount and extends across the side decks. Both have two bulky liferaft capsules mounted aft in the cockpit and a tower for the numerous antennae for GPS, spare GPS, telemetry, Mini M, weather satellite receiver and Firdell Blipper radar reflector.

On deck they have come up with the idea of a rack for their twin carbon fibre spinnaker poles. This entire rack can be moved from port to starboard and it will also double as a convenient device for stacking sails on the weather rail.

The rudder is also further forward on the Frers boat.