Pride of Ireland

The Daily Sail talks to Kingfisher2's Damian Foxall

Alongside Gordon Maguire, Damian Foxall is now one of Ireland's most capped offshore sailors.

Multihulls and the French genre of sailing are Foxall's metier. An accomplished dinghy cat sailor, he is also the only person in recent years from this side of the Channel to have had a serious crack at a Figaro campaign, living in France and training out of the class' training centre in Port la Foret. He was top first timer in the Solitaire du Figaro in 1997, won a leg in 1998 and finished 10th overall the following year, but outright win in the unofficial world championship of singlehanded offshore racing always just eluded him.

Over 2000-1 Foxall sailed most of the Volvo Ocean Race on Kevin Shoebridge’s Team Tyco but his real passion is in campaigning big multihulls. He has raced on Steve Fossett’s PlayStation and is part of Karine Fauconnier's Sergio Tacchini 60ft trimaran team. With the European trimaran season over and Fauconnier's trimaran undergoing major surgery after it was nearly lost in the Route du Rhum, Foxall has now joined the crew on Kingfisher2 for the present Jules Verne Trophy attempt.

"I did the Round Britain and Ireland with the boat when it was still Orange, when they were putting the crew together," says the quietly spoken Irishman of his recruitment by Offshore Challenges. "That was a good sail with Neal, Jason and Albert, Hendo - a few of the current crew were on board. Then I did the Clairefontaine Trophy with Ellen. But I've been quite busy with other things, with Karine's project, but whenever possible I came to sail on the boat. Then after we recovered the boat off Portugal for Karine, I pretty much came straight over and started with the guys who were already in Cherbourg getting the mast ready and putting it in the boat."

Between putting the mast in and their departure on the round the world record attempt they were frantically busy preparing the boat. In Cherbourg with the mast in they spent most of the time tuning up the mast rotating wingmast and tested their new suit of 3DL sails. "The largest sail we did was down to Lorient and we did a 24 hour sail and then a three day sail which was quite windy which was really good," commented Foxall before their departure - in short not a great deal. "We basically did a large windward-leeward up and down Brittany coast for three days. That gave us the chance to put the boat and the full crew through its paces for the first time. I guess you never get as much training in as you really want. Given the amount of time we've had I think we've really optimised it. We've worked hard to get the boat ready. It is probably readier now than it ever was and certainly with the calibre crew we are ready to go. There is nothing left to do really."

Foxall says that the crew on board Kingfisher2 is exceptional in the depth and diversity of its experience and its international make-up. "I don't think it is a wise thing to blow your own trumpet, but Ellen and Mark [Turner] have done a very good job putting together quite a formidable team for this. I think that is one of their strong points - they have gone out there to find the best and most compatible crew. So I think we're in really good shape in that respect - we have as good a team as any that has started the Jules Verne. And the boat is in good shape."

Following its refit the boat is now faster than it has ever been, although Foxall says they haven't had the chance to quantify this yet. "We haven't had the time to run enough data to say we are 'so much' faster. But having taken 1.5 tonnes of weight out of the boat, taken off the props and the shafts out of the bottom of the boat, really good sails - theoretically we are faster, just how much remains to be seen. That is obviously a function of how hard you push. Being theoretically faster on the water, enables you achieve a faster speed without pushing so hard and ultimately that has got to be good for a trip like this."

On board Kingfisher2 Foxall has set tasks, but says that the arrangement is considerably more flexible than it was on the Volvo. "I look after the safety gear. I'm one of the mechanical engineers and in terms of manoeuvres on the boat I am bowman/helmsman. On these boats you swap and change around a bit. It's not like the Volvo where you are fixed in your position. I think we'll find a lot of the guys can drive."

He says his responsibilities as safety officer were mainly before the start: "It is just making sure we have all of the equipment and everyone is aware of the procedures for eventualities such as capsize, man overboard or abandonment."

Obviously the worst that can befall a crew on a round the world trip on a big cat is man overboard or capsize. "Capsize isn't great (!) because if you capsize you have to expect injured and men overboard and no manoverability obviously. There is a slim chance of capsize [there is frantic touching of wood]. Of the 11 Jules Verne attempts no one has capsized yet. In The Race a couple of the boats came close, but again even in a racing format with an experienced group of sailors, you'd either have to have some serious technical failure or bad luck to put yourselves in that position I think."

Kingfisher2 run the normal on, off and standby three watch system for their 14 crew with Ellen and Andrew Preece out of the water system. Foxall is on Guillermo Altadill's watch with Benoit Briand and Kevin McKeel.

"The standby and the on deck watches can pretty much cover everything, plus we can use Ellen or Andrew if we need a ninth body," says Foxall. "Generally speaking it is only a genniker change or a reef out when you need more manpower on these boats. But then there's an awful lot of sitting around as well so there's really no problem with calling guys up because they'll get plenty of rest later on in the watch."

Foxall is one of a handful people to have sailed both Steve Fossett's 125ft PlayStation - the best racing cat in the world - and the smaller Ollier designs such as Kingfisher2. So how do the two compare?

"The ORMA 60 tris are to this boat, as this boat is to Playstation - is I think the best way I can put it," comments Foxall. "When you get off this boat and get on to a 60ft tri it feels like a dinghy. When you get off PlayStation, and get onto this boat it feels like a dinghy. It is just lighter, more responsive. Playstation is a very heavy, hugely powerful boat, and it is certainly good for what it was built for - it is very good for going in a straight line fast. It is not very good on the corners."

In terms of their prospects for breaking the record, Foxall prior to the start said it was hard to predict what will happen. "If you're going to produce a number then I would think 60 days is a good goal and if we went fast and we got the right weather I think we could bring it below that as well. It is quite a dangerous thing to predict.

"To be honest you're going to pick your weather to get you down across the Bay of Biscay and into the Trades and on a full round the world you'd have to think things would have to even themselves out a little bit. Certainly there are going to be fast trips round and slow trips round. I'd like to think that as long as you can get down to the Trades in good shape then after that everyone might get a reasonably evenly dealt hand of good and bad weather, provided you go at the right time of year.

"It is a case of being well prepared and sailing the boat correctly - fast enough but not too fast and making sure you do cross the finish line. I think only one boat has finished the Jules Verne and not broken the record. Meaning that if you cross the finish line the chances are you are going to break the record." At present Kingfisher2 looks like she may be the second...

While Orange's time is the present Jules Verne Trophy benchmark, Olivier de Kersauson is blazing around the world at present well ahead of the record on board Geronimo. But the consensus view is that this is due to luck with the weather and de Kersauson's experience sailing big tris and not because the boat is outstandingly quick.

"I know that Geronimo is not optimised," confirms Foxall. "It is a trimaran with only one rudder so that says something right there. But it is a long way round and certainly he seems to be setting a very even and regular pace. I think at the pace he is going he should break the record. But in terms of setting a fast record you still have to go fast. When you have got the ideal conditions, when the water is flat and you've got stable wind going in and out of the high pressure and the likelihood of breaking something is really low - - that's what these boats are made for, that's really when you can put the miles on and if you can't arc the boat up it has got to be a bit of a handicap. I would have to think we should be able to sail the boat faster than Geronimo."

Personally Foxall is not working on any projects of his own in the short term. Once the Jules Verne is out of the way he will resume his role with Karine Fauconnier's team with the carrot at the end of the year of crewing for her on the two handed Transat Jacques Vabre. In the meantime there is the small prospect of getting the almost completely destroyed trimaran back in working order.

"It's a major operation, but it's nothing which hasn't been done before, and she's in good company!" says Foxall. "We won't be ready for the first Grand Prix and I think we'll be struggling to get to the Challenge Mondial. We will certainly be in the Mediterranean."

Foxall says that there will be a few new faces in the crew this year - Brian Thompson is believed to be one. "There will be a few changes - three new faces all very good sailors. The sails are going to be optimised for the Grand Prix as well. It was a little bit of a pity to be set back with the Route du Rhum problems because the boat was starting to work well and was beginning to show speed in the Grand Prix. Certainly by the time we get to the end of the year and the Jacques Vabre, we should be ready as anyone else is then. I'm really looking forward to that. It will be my first time back into short handed racing since the Figaro."

Foxall says that his ambition further down the track is to get his own Irish 60ft trimaran program together (no jokes please). As training for this he would certainly return to the Figaro class for a season as the tri was in build. "I'm doing quite well at the moment sailing with other people, but I think I am at stage where the next step is to get back into putting my own project together." He hopes that the tri program might get off the ground in 2005.

In Ireland there is the money to support a 60ft trimaran campaign and Foxall through his Figaro campaign already has a background in being sponsored there. Despite spending a majority of his time in France, he maintains a base in Kinsale from where he occasionally runs training sessions for Figaro sailors.

This ambitious Irishman is certainly a name to watch out for in the future.