New boat for the Volvo pt3

Today yacht designers Mani Frers Jim Pugh Marc Lombard and Merfyn Owen give their views

Following on from madfor sailing's interview with Bruce Farr, we asked other yacht designers for their views on what Volvo should be considering for the new boat for the 2005/6 race. Over the following pages we get the opinions of Mani Frers, Merfyn Owen and Jim Pugh of Riechel/Pugh and Marc Lombard.

Marc Lombard

Leading French designer Marc Lombard, who has been responsible for the Open 60 Sill Plein Fruit and the 60ft trimarans Banque Populaire and Sopra Group, feels that the Volvo Ocean Race is too expensive because the boats have too many crew members and too many sails to handle and the race itself has too many legs.

Compared to Open 60s he says the Volvo Ocean 60s are relatively slow downwind and reaching, due to their relatively large displacement and poor directional stability (a VO60 weighs in at around 13.5 tonnes compared to 7-9 tonnes for a marginally smaller Open 60).

Lombard also feels strongly that having the sails stacked up to weather along the toerail and having to move it around while sailing in the Southern Ocean is "stupid and dangerous".

The stability of the new Volvo boat should not rely on the positioning of crew weight or 'the stack', Lombard continues. "I think we should limit the number of crew to seven people, the number of sails on board should also be limited to a maximum of 5/6 upwind sails, and 3/4 spinnakers/gennakers. The total number of sails used during the Volvo should also be limited to a reasonable maximum."

Lombard would also like to see the new boat fitted with a swing keel rather than movable water ballast. He says this would allow more tactical options on reaching legs and would be safer.

In conclusion he thinks that the boats should be around 70ft long and a new 'Open 70' rule developed for the class with no limitations on the rig configuration - to allow development in this area, but, rules to govern stability as in the Open 60 rule.

A suitable boat might be something along the lines of this swing keel Open 85, he has designed for ocean record breaking.

LOA - 26.00m (85ft)
Hull length - 24.40m (80ft)
LWL - 24.00m (78.7ft)
BOA - 6.43m (15.8ft)
Waterline beam - 4.83m (15.8m)
Forward freeboard - 1.95m (6.4ft)
Mid freeboard - 1.48m (4.85ft)
Aft freeboard - 1.25m (4.1ft)
Air draft (fixed mast version) 37.4m (122.67ft)
Draft (keel vertical) 0 4.75m (15.58ft)
Draft (keel swing 35°, heel 10°) - 4.30m (14.1ft)
Mast height (carbon) - 24.48m (80.3ft)
Sails area - Main - 251.0 M2
Genoa: 175.0 M2
Staysail: 95.0 M2
O.R.C: 50.50 M2
Light displacement - around 17 000 Kg
Displacement ready to 'race': around 19 000 Kg
Sailing Displacement around 20 500 Kg
Lead bulb + Steel keel - around 6500 +2000 Kg
Angle of "swing" keel : 35 deg.
Twin rudders and twin dagger boards
Engine Diesel Yannmar 165 HP
Racing Crew : 7 to 9

Click here to go to Marc Lombard's website