Now the dust has settled

John Roberson gives the official reaction to the reaction on the new Antarctica Cup RTW race

What will the boats be like?

The design of the boats is still very much in the concept stage, and will not be finalised until after the Antarctica Cup Conference in July, when all interested parties will have a chance to discuss the project. However Ron Holland has given some indications of the way he is thinking, but says it is a refreshing change to find a race organiser seeking input from the competitors.

He says that, "one design opens up more interesting options than people immediately think," and while the aim is to produce a very fast maxi boat, he will be keeping in mind such things as safety factors, and the need for the boats to have a life after the race.

"This race is very much conditions specific," he commented, likening it to the Transpac. "The race to Honolulu is the only other race where you've got such a consistently predictable set of conditions that you are going to be sailing in."

On the subject of the general hull shape he says, "the experience with the turbo sleds in California, for the Honolulu race is pretty interesting. Those boats really, undoubtedly are the fastest down wind monohulls, and they gain a lot of it by being narrow, and I'm not sure if we want to be that extreme in beam/length ratio. In the Honolulu race they have proved over and over again that long, narrow, light boats are the fastest down wind.

"Our beam is probably not going to be as much as if it was an all round, normal ocean racing boat. I think the downwind influence might mean that we are fractionally narrower. The fact that the boats need to have a use after the race pulls you back into a non-extreme proportion boat."

Talking about how the one design format allows more latitude for safety and comfort than would be expected in a development style design race, he discussed freeboard and rudders.

"Maybe one key thing would be freeboard, I think we should go a little higher in the freeboard than is the convention at the moment, and I don't mean by much, but you'd err on slightly higher freeboard. Because, why not? When all the boats are the same, you're not trying to lower the centre of gravity by being lower with your deck than your competitor, which is the main reason to go low freeboard.

"This gives us less green water on deck, and a slightly more useable interior volume. I don't see any down side of that.

"Another example I think could be the design of the rudder, where in an open class, you are just paring away your rudder area to the bare minimum, because it's less drag than the guy next door to you with a bit bigger rudder. You've taken the risk of spinning out a little earlier than him, or gambling on having better helmsmen than your competitor has got, so that you don't spin out."

He added, "but when you look at the boat, it will look like a modern race boat. It's not going to be obvious when you are looking at it, that it's anything other than what the trend is at the moment for these fast, fairly light boats."

He echoed these sentiments with his thought on the rig, "I just see a fractional rigged boat, I don't see any reason not to follow a normal fractional rig, with pretty generous sail area, and I think the fun side of the thing also supports code zero type sails. I think that makes sense."

The interior he believes is an area of the design which will be strongly influenced by the conference to be held in July, and he has a very open mind on what the concensus will be. "As far as the interior is concerned, I'm going to be fascinated to see what the feed back is at the conference.

"In the extreme you might do a Swan style interior, made from lighter weight materials, but you could have a bit of teak trim, and make it look fairly yachtie. That is one possibility. We're talking about a difference in displacement that might equate to 4 or 500 kilos, whether you shift one way or the other. Whether it's just simple and clean as you can do, or whether you just give up a little displacement, and make it a step more user friendly inside."

So the rumours that have been spreading, that we are having thoughts of a BT Global Challenge, heavyweight style of boat, are completely unfounded. There is no doubt that a fast, exciting boat is the target.