Reader's views

On the Virbac-Paprec trim tab and the new Coutts-Cayard World Sailing League

Last week we published our interview with Jean-Pierre Dick and Russ Bowler about the former's new Open 60 Virbac-Paprec and the novel trim tab on her stern.

Basking on the beach brandishing a stiff gin in Fremantle, eminent journalist John Roberson pointed out a possible fundamental flaw with our article:

Am I being pedantic, or have I got something wrong? I have always thought of a trim tab as a vertical, adjustable appendage on the trailing edge of the keel.

The device on the stern of Virbac I thought was called a 'planing board'.


Robo has a point, although technically the tab does also adjust the fore and aft trim of the boat. I think from now on we'll call it a 'planing board' just to differentiate it from the tabs found on vertical appendages like the keels of Cup boats and the daggerboards on ORMA 60s.


Steven Tattersall sends us his thoughts on the planing board.

Dear Sir,

The use of trim tabs is an interesting development, but I have been expecting it in cruising yachts for some time.

Many, many, years ago I remember a yacht that offered exceptional speed under motor by the use of such devices, but it seems to have disappeared.

I would be interested to hear from the experts what effect this development would have under the IRC rule.


Seems a bit complex for a cruising yacht, and also most cruising yachts surely don't have the speed to make use of it? James Dadd - where are you when we need you?

RORC Rating Office Chief Measurer James Dadd responds:

Since you asked! We first had a think about these trim tabs (I still think of them as trim tabs as seen on powerboats) after Hugh Welbourn tried them out on Bols in 2003. I understand from Hugh that they were very useful in some conditions. As far as IRC is concerned, I think we will have to find out how successful these things are for the Open 60s before we can rate them appropriately. Suffice to say, whatever we do, I don’t think any of us want to see them retro fitted to the IRC fleet because they are thought to be 'cheap'. On the other hand, and with my Volvo hat on, maybe this is a sensible development into the future for high speed boats. It definitely appears more user friendly than trim ballast tanks, and easier to fix if there is a problem. We will be keeping our eyes on how it goes, but we must remember that it is only likely to work well on the high speed machines, not your average cruiser/racer. I may be proven wrong there though!


Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard's announcement on Friday and our subsequent interview with the dynamic duo has illicitted surprisingly small reaction from you. Is this shock and disbelief? Do we think it is pie in the sky and won't happen? Are we not interested in 70ft catamarans? Is it same old, same old?

From Bristol, Christian Humphrey writes:

C&C don't seem to have mentioned how they will address perhaps one of the most fundamental issues with this sort of high profile sailing, and that is how the racing will be covered. 70 footers may look great on video and be fantastic to sail, but if there isn't heavy investment in innovative coverage which actually gives you a good picture of what is happening on the course at any time, then I can see it going the same way as the past professional sailing endeavours. I would be much more excited about the WSL if they addressed this issue, and I knew how I will be able to get involved. I wish them luck.

We suspect that there are a lot of thing C&C haven't either worked out or announced yet about their new circuit


Also from the UK William Tucker writes:

I wish Coutts/Cayard well and if the concept is financially sustainable this could be very interesting. I'm not sure however that the 1 boat per coountry is workable given multinational aspect to both sailing and sponsors with deep enough pockets. My main point though is that this is going to be a head to head competition with the Volvo VX 40 circuit unless some very cute footwork takes place between the parties. Unless the parties can agree a way forward together I suspect that one or the other will wither. The main selling point of the VX 40 (other than cost to the sponsor) is the ability to put on races in very confined spaces within urban centres - or at least within ports. This ability to focus interest may ultimately be the key ingredient that the VX 40 has and the WSL could struggle with.

It will be interesting to see what suffers as a result of their new circuit. One would think that the Grand Prix element of the MultiCup for the ORMA 60s might pack up, leaving those boats to revert to being offshore boats again. That might be one way of saving that class from disappearing. One suspects it wouldn't take much to get someone like Franck Cammas interested in the new WSL, particularly as he already knows Coutts who's come sailing on Groupama II with him. As the VX40 I would imagine that the price point is so markedly different to the astronomic sums C&C are proposing that it won't have much effect on them.


All the way from Australia Farrier trimaran owner Peter Jackson send this:

About time common sense finally prevailed and 'the dinosaurs of the sea' put gently to rest in some obscure museum. Oh, by the way, trimarans are much more exciting but that's for another time.

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