New boat for the Volvo pt3

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

German 'Mani' Frers, Jnr, The designer of Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One, and currently principle designer of Victory Challenge's America's Cup Class boats thinks the rule should allow different designs to compete but that the amount of research/development time should be reduced by placing a limit on the time available for pre-race training and sail development.

Like Bruce Farr, he feels that considering the potential return syndicates taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race have and the size of budget, the price of the boats does not constitute that big an proportion of the overall budget.

The size of the new boat should be determined by the crew number and sex, while the performance of the boat should be faster than last time.

The rule should limit but not fix performance figures. Frers feels this would prevent campaign spending budget and time in trying to hit only one number, with no flexibility.

He strongly advocates a major improve - the accommodation. A 'living module' can be built by an independent sub-contractor to the same weight so crews are not put in the situation where every kilo saved on the GA will make them faster.

"Once all this is place you are going to see the best all round offshore monohulls ever produced," he says.

The designer of Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One, and currently principle designer of Victory Challenge's America's Cup Class boats thinks the rule should allow different designs to compete but that the amount of research/development time should be reduced by placing a limit on the time available for pre-race training and sail development.

Like Bruce Farr, he feels that considering the potential return syndicates taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race have and the size of budget, the price of the boats does not constitute that big an proportion of the overall budget.

The size of the new boat should be determined by the crew number and sex, while the performance of the boat should be faster than last time.

The rule should limit but not fix performance figures. Frers feels this would prevent campaign spending budget and time in trying to hit only one number, with no flexibility.

He strongly advocates a major improve - the accommodation. A 'living module' can be built by an independent sub-contractor to the same weight so crews are not put in the situation where every kilo saved on the GA will make them faster.

"Once all this is place you are going to see the best all round offshore monohulls ever produced," he says.

Click here to see the German Frers website