The weapon that is Numbers

Ernesto Bertarelli and Brad Butterworth discuss the all-conquering Judel Vrolijk 66 footer and some latest Cup banter

Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli was a surprise guest in Porto Cervo last week for the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, behind the wheel of Dan Meyers’ all conquering Judel Vrolijk 66, Numbers. During a post Cork Week golf match with Brad Butterworth, Meyers managed to capsize a golf cart and ended up underneath it. Injuries sustained during this accident resulted in him being unable to sail for the rest of this year and so, seeing as the boat is already crewed by the majority of the Alinghi sailing team, Meyers passed the wheel over to Bertarelli, just days before the start of the regatta.

“The boat was in Europe, the crew already lined up - it was a difficult offer to refuse with such an amazing yacht,” claims Bertarelli - the happiest we have seen him since winning the America’s Cup last year in Valencia, clearly overjoyed to be back afloat with the majority of his Cup team for the first time since July 2007. He was also no doubt enjoying the fact that once again Numbers was showing her winning ways, scoring four bullets in five races, losing just one to Roger Sturgeon’s STP65 Rosebud/Team DYT.

“It is probably one of the best boats I’ve sailed on,” Bertarelli said of Numbers. “It is a real racing machine. A lot of the development of this boat comes from the America’s Cup and our Alinghi design team. You see the results - we are a lot faster than some bigger boats. It is probably one of the easiest and nicest boats to sail upwind that I’ve ever sailed.”

Numbers is noticeably different from her Mini Maxi rivals. Compared to the new Reichel Pugh-designed Alfa Romeo 3, for example, her stern sections are a lot less powerful and generally, as Bertarelli says, she has proved a weapon upwind.

“I think Numbers is a nice boat all round,” claims Brad Butterworth. “And we haven’t learned how to sail it properly downwind. We have been a bit conservative in the way we sail downwind in the past and even here. But we have optimised the boat pretty much for upwind and it is the strongest boat for that.”

Obviously in the Mini Maxi class, designing a boat that will allow the crew to sail in clear air is important and while building the biggest boat allowed in the 60-80ft band defining the class would achieve this (albeit with a severe rating hit) with Numbers they have managed this with their upwind performance. Butterworth compares Numbers with the turboed TP52s they raced in Cork: “They go downwind just the same speed as us - when they are up and planning you can’t get rid of them. They do their time on you downwind in a breeze. We do all our time on them upwind in a breeze, but the weird thing with the rule we normally end up really close at the end. So it depends upon which leg of the course you finish.”

As to why they have been so dominant to date Butterworth reckons that is also partly because they have optimised the boat well for the supposedly secret IRC rule and having been in the water for a year now, are just ahead of the game compared to the other Mini Maxi campaigns. “The more modern boats - they haven’t optimised them as well. They will end up catching this boat in time, but there is room for improvement with this boat also. There is still two years of pretty good racing left in this boat I’d say.”

Given his health at the moment, Meyers is keen to sell Numbers and with the impressive track record of the boat over the year she has been sailing, there is likely to be a keen market for her. However according to Brad Butterworth, Meyers will be looking to replace her. Will he go bigger, as seems to be current trend in the ‘Mini Maxi’ class? “No, I think he likes this size. There are not too many people. We are into 20 people on board here already,” says Butterworth.

However before this we can expect other Judel-Vrolijk designs to pitch up in the Mini Maxi class. The latest STP65 Container for German owner Udo Schütz is now sailing in Germany and is to take part in her first race soon at the Voiles de St Tropez. According to designer Rolf Vrolijk she looks similar to Numbers but with less beam due to the restrictions of the STP65 class rule. The Judel-Vrolijk office are also working on two new IRC Mini-Maxis for British owners, one bigger, the other smaller than Numbers.

Clearly with most of the sailing team now focussing on multihulls, the D35 and Extreme 40s having compact crews, Numbers has been one of the few occasions the Alinghi sailing team can get together en masse. Despite this temptation Bertarelli says he is not really contemplating buying Numbers. He has plenty of boats already and is trying to focus on other things. “I think the boat is for sale. You have to ask Dan. For me it is just one stop. I would love to do more, but it is not for me to decide.”

Interestingly the last time Bertarelli sailed at the Maxi Worlds was around a decade ago with the Grand Mistral offshore one design fleet that he owned at one time. So what happened to all of them? “Almost all of the boats have been sold. Some very converted to racer cruisers. Some are used for training. They will be obsolete today, when you look at boats like Numbers. The world has moved on.”



America’s Cup

While we try to avoid the painful subject that is the America’s Cup at present, no conversation with Bertarelli is complete without giving this a mention. Sailing Numbers has put him in mind of what the next incarnation of the America’s Cup monohull will be as it may not be the AC90 as everyone expects. “I am looking forward to a discussion with the challengers on deciding what sort of class we are going to be competing in the next America’s Cup. I think the good thing is that we have a white piece of paper that we have to fill with everyone’s ideas and commitment and best thought. I think we have to be positive about it. We were very successful and did very good work a year ago with the Challengers. There is no reason why we couldn’t renew that process and come out with what I think could be a nice boat.

“I don’t think we will stay with the AC90 because it would definitely give an advantage to anyone who has spent money on the class at this stage. We’ll come up with a class that will be just as exciting.”

So bigger or smaller? “It is not for me to decide. It has to be a consensus. All the teams, including mine have less resources than they possibly would have had a year ago for two reasons: This year has been an expensive year of litigation and also the momentum we had acquired as a result of the success of the America’s Cup in Valencia in 2007 has gone. So we have to me a bit more modest and more realistic about the state of the economy and choose something that will be affordable for as many teams as possible to participate without taking away from the fascination and the fact that the America’s Cup is the pinnacle of the sport.”

That does not suggest bigger…

Port America’s Cup in Valencia of course recently featured in Formula 1’s Grand Prix of Europe where the new ‘city’ race track looped the marina, but Bertarelli says he wasn’t there to see it first hand. “I think the F1 grand prix was a success. I didn’t go it because I don’t get to see my family much, so I was on vacation with my kids. I heard that as always Valencia did an excellent job. And the race course is a good one. So, all the best. If sailing and Formula 1 can marry to make Valencia a place for this sort of competition to take place it is all the best for everyone.”

As regards the big black 90ft trimaran over in Anacortes, Butterworth says it looks like a large Groupama. “You have to give those guys their dues. It is looks like it will be a good boat. They should get it out there in some big breeze as soon as possible!”

Meanwhile construction of the Alinghi equivalent is progressing in Switzerland. As the moment she consists of a lot of parts… “It is very interesting. It is new, you are not locked into anything,” says Rolf Vrolijk, who has decamped from Valencia to Switzerland for the build. As to the new BMW Oracle Racing trimaran he adds: “It is exactly what you would expect. It is a nice boat, a simple boat and it is nicely done. But staying with that concept is also a risk - it is a matter of how much you can blow up the forces and loads. We haven’t seen it powered up yet. Then it will be interesting…”

Read our full technical feature on Numbers here