Lines man

A Q&A with Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team's principle designer and ex-Farr, Reichel/Pugh man Harry Dunning

Q: What about your role in the yachting world: what can you tell us?

Harry Dunning: I am a lifelong sailor and have been a professional yacht designer for over 20 years. I got my start in the business working on various projects in the New York area, eventually joining the staff of Farr Yacht Design. After seven years I left FYD and went to work with Young America for the 2000 America’s Cup. At the end of the Cup I moved to California to work for Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design. After more than four years at RPYD I left to join Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia.

My years at FYD and RPYD were tremendously productive. I was fortunate enough to play an active role in the design of some of the most innovative and successful racing yachts of the last 15 years. These projects include winners of the Whitbread/Volvo
Round the World Race and nearly every other major inshore and offshore event. Highlights at the Farr office include the last of the Whitbread maxis, the first waterballasted Whitbread 60s for the ‘93 race and subsequent Whitbread 60s for the
‘97 race and Volvo 60s for the 2001 Volvo Race. I was also involved in the design of the
successful offshore one design Mumm 30 and Mumm 36, Farr 40, and Corel 45 classes.

There were also numerous successful IOR and IMS designs, and the America’s Cup
yachts for TAG Heuer in 1995 and Young America in 2000.

As the senior designer at the Reichel Pugh office I was heavily involved with the wildly successful and innovative canting ballast racers Wild Oats, Alfa Romeo - Shockwave, and the maxZ86 sisterships Pyewacket and Morning Glory. More conventional designs of interest include the multi record breaking maxi Titan and the TP52 Quantum
Racing which finished second to Mascalzone Latino’s skipper Vasco Vascotto in the
2005 MedCup. I was also able to continue my involvement with the America’s Cup with a lead role in the design of the two Stars and Stripes yachts USA66 and USA77 for the
2003 series.

As a sailor I have been very fortunate to have competed in many of the world’s top events. I really got my start in international racing in the late 1980s on the maxi yacht circuit and have gone on to compete in events like the Fastnet, Newport-Bermuda,
Sydney-Hobart, maxi world championships, Key West, and many international
championships in the Mumm 30 and 36, Farr 40, and Corel 45 classes.

Q: Who taught you the most about sailboat racing?

HD: That’s a difficult question. I have been fortunate to sail with many world class sailors and I have learned something from each.

Q: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Why did you choose this career?

HD: Engineering and sailboat racing were two strong interests from my youth. Professional yacht design was a logical combination of these two interests. The more that I learned about it, the more I had a passion for it.

Q: What was it like where you learned to sail?

HD: I grew up in a town on the coast of Long Island Sound, about 20 miles outside of New York City. My parents were members of the Larchmont Yacht Club. I started in the
junior program at age 8 in small 9 foot long cat rigged dinghies called Dyer Dhows. From there I progressed through the junior dinghy classes and later began crewing in various one design keelboat classes. As a teenager I began sailing on local IOR boats.

Q: What is the best memory of your early boats?

HD: When I was in junior sailing I once found an old green spinnaker that somebody had abandoned. At this time I was still sailing the cat rigged Dyer Dhows, but managed to cut the spinnaker down to an appropriate size and figure out a way to hoist it to the top of the mast by tying the head to the loose end of the main halyard and dropping the main. It was a spectacular ride when I finally got it set, but my instructors and parents weren’t too happy with me...

Q: What’s been your biggest disappointment in sailing?

HD: Probably the grounding and sinking of a maxi yacht while leading the fleet and on record setting pace in the Buenos Aires to Rio race in the late 1980s.

Q: And the best moment?

HD: It’s pretty hard to beat sailing a 9ft Dyer Dhow with a spinnaker at age 8!

Q: After so many boats, what keeps it fresh for you?

HD: Two things, the technology and the people. Every design is a new creation, and with constantly evolving rating rules, design technologies, and materials the profession is always evolving. I also greatly enjoy working through the design process with the many talented clients and industry professionals with whom I have come in contact.

Q: Which kind of boat do you like most? And why?

HD: I love designing and sailing high performance boats. In my design career I have been lucky enough to have designed everything from a custom 5o5 dinghy for Philippe Kahn to America’s Cup Class yachts for Vincenzo Onorato. And my sailing career has been equally diverse, ranging from regional and world championships in small keelboats and dinghies to major offshore contests and world championships in Maxi yachts. The common thread has been high performance. They said that “there is nothing more character builiding than messing about in boats”… I agree.

Q: If you could change one thing in the yachting world, what would it be?

HD: I would like to see better coordination and unity among national rating authorities.

Q: What does 'match-racing' mean to you?

HD: In some sense it is the most ruthless form of sailing competition. If fleet racing can be compared to a running race, match racing can be compared to a boxing match, very confrontational and very direct. In fleet racing it is possible to not finish first and still have a good result. But in match racing this is not the case. And in match racing the start and first few minutes of the first beat are even more critical than in fleet racing. The boat which prevails in the opening minutes usually wins.

Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement?

HD: My most important achievement is my family and personal life. Professionally, the high point so far is being selected as the principal designer for Mascalzone-Latino Capitalia Team.

Q: What motivates you?

HD: Pushing myself and those around me to be the best in the world at what we do. I spent many years at the two top design firms in the world, Farr Yacht Design and Reichel/Pugh. I learned valuable lessons at both organizations and now that I’ve had an opportunity to assemble my own team I have a chance to build on those experiences.

Q: Do you ever go sailing for pleasure?

HD: Occasionally, but not as much as I would like.

Q: Do you expect to see big differences in the new America's Cup boats in 2006? This time around the boats will be grouped more closely under the rule to start with?

HD: I think that we will see considerable innovation and refinement with small and moderate details of the new boats. But I do not expect big differences in shape and configuration with respect to the boats we saw during the 2005 ACT season.

Q: Any other forecasts for 2006?

HD: The design and sailing teams have worked hard on our first new boat and we are very optimistic that it will be a considerable improvement over ITA77. We look forward to seeing her perform well in the 2006 ACTs.

Q: And in 2007? Can we already tell something about the 2007 generation boats?

HD: The new boats that we’ve seen and the 2005 ACTs suggest that the developments in the class are more evolutionary than revolutionary. My earlier statement about major
innovation only in small and moderate details will, I think, be valid through the 2007
season.

Q: What will the boats be like for the next Cup?

HD: We live in a very innovative period for racing yacht design. Several decades ago course records for major ocean races could easily stand for several years or even decades. Nowadays they seem to fall every season. This is a testament to rapid performance improvements of the latest generation of sailing yachts. These improvements have come about for several reasons including widespread use of high tech materials, the adaptation of high performance dinghy techniques and design concepts into larger vessels, and the gradual replacement of speed constraining rating systems like the IOR and IMS by more performance friendly systems like IRC and box rules like the Transpac 52. The bottom line is that we are in the midst of a performance revolution and some of these technologies should be incorporated into the next Cup.

Q: What do think about the latest changes [version 5] in the AC rule?

HD: It looks like they're lessening the ability to push boats into the 'corners' of the rule… The biggest change is that the size of the 'box' for the boats has become extremely small for the 2007 series. This has narrowed the playing field considerably and decreased the range of basic design parameters which need to be explored.

Q: In the past the weather has always played an important part in the starting point for designers…what about Valencia?

HD: The weather is of course critical. Our weather analysis has all been coordinated by our team meteorologist. Our approach, as far as the design work is concerned, is to augment the data available to all teams with data and analysis of our own. This data is then statistically reduced and worked into the VPP analysis. Major design decisions are based on this analysis.

Q: Increasing the downwind sail area was seen as a way of increasing the chances of overtaking downwind…

HD: There is more downwind sail area and the boats are generally lighter than last time, so the offwind legs could be slightly more exciting.

Q: Deeper keels and lighter rigs…

HD: Yes. The combination of these two will help the boats perform slightly better upwind and manoeuvring.

Q: No canting keels, no hulas, no kites…

HD: Not this time. Maybe with the next rule.

Q: What about the two new boats for MLCT?

HD: There is not much we can say at this stage. Our model tank work, CFD, and VPP analysis suggest that they will be substantial improvements over our existing boats, so we are all very eager to get them sailing.

Q: In your opinion the current ACC design has reached its limit? Could you elaborate on that?

HD: Earlier in this interview I pointed out how restrictive the ACC rule has become. As a consequence there appears to be little opportunity for bold innovation of the kind that we are seeing in other fleets.

Q: How would you describe “the perfect campaign”?

HD: Early start, unlimited budget, team harmony, great management, designers, and
sailors, and, of course, victory.

Q: How relevant is the money to the America's Cup?

HD: It cannot be argued that it is very, very important. Money buys more research, equipment, and the best people. But Alinghi showed in the last Cup that it is possible to
dominate the event without necessarily having the biggest budget. The bottom line is
that money is critical, but past a certain threshold the most important ingredient is
talent.

Q: As a yacht designer, where does the America’s Cup rate in your career?

HD: The America’s Cup is always a high point for any yacht designer because the research budgets tends to be higher than for most projects. But significant design budgets are becoming more common for other high profile projects as well. Volvo Ocean Race, large canting keel maxi yachts, and even smaller yachts are now being designed using techniques and technologies that were formerly used exclusively for America’s Cup design work.

Q: Technically speaking, what has changed the most since 2000 in the AC?

HD: Many improvements with the current fleet can be traced to new materials and our better understanding of how to use the materials which were available in 2000. On the design side we now have faster computers, better CFD and tank testing techniques and better validation of these tools because we have had more opportunity to compare their predictions with actual on-water performance.

Q: Conner….Vascotto... how creative can the dialogue be between designer and skipper?

HD: Both Vasco Vascotto and Dennis Conner are extremely talented, likeable individuals who have had tremendous success as racing yachtsmen. Both have a tremendous desire to win. Their opinions and advice during the design process is a crucial component for developing a successful boat.

Q: Conner, Onorato... two persons so different but with the same 'insane' passion...

HD: Dennis and Vincenzo are similar in some respects. They are both incredibly driven to succeed and proven winners at the highest levels of our sport. But their personal styles are quite different. Dennis is very much an informal Californian whereas Vincenzo embodies the best elements of European style and refinement. They are both great people to work with.

Q: Every team has its own approach... how would you define the one in Mascalzone Latino?

HD: Our team is a very close. There is great cooperation between the management, shore and sailing teams. This is quite different from some other campaigns that I have been involved with where the design group functioned very independently from the rest of the team. But I feel that our current approach is the best. It allows the design team to incorporate the many good ideas generated by others in the organization. The resulting atmosphere is very productive and will allow us to close the gap between ourselves and
some of the more established yet organizationally dispersed teams.