First solo race - the Vendee Globe

Artemis Ocean Racing skipper Jonny Malbon talks to thedailysail about his campaign

Impressive or naïve? For Artemis skipper Jonny Malbon the Vendee Globe - solo non-stop around the world for the best part of three months aboard one of the most powerful Open 60s in the fleet - is his first ever singlehanded race. Ouch!

“Yes, it is a good one! I try not to think about that because I think that would put the fear of God into me,” Malbon told thedailysail prior to the start. “It is a big ask, but I think I am realistic enough in my own mind - if I thought if that were ever to be a problem, I wouldn’t be here. I’ve been around long enough that you can make mistakes by trying to take on too much and if I thought I had done, I wouldn’t be putting myself through it. But it is a major - first solo race is the Vendee Globe against the best in the world. On a new boat…”

We admit to Malbon that considering his lack of track record, he appears in a lowly position in our form guide, considering he has a new shiny but relatively unproven boat, in the new Simon Rogers-designed Artemis 2. “To be quite honest that pushes me on. My expectations - I want to finish this race. I do care where, because it is a race and I am ultra-competitive. It is an adventure to me, yes, but it is a race. I am realistic about the time I have had in the boat. I’d almost be more comfortable in some ways on Artemis 1 [the Owen-Clarke former Hexagon/ Pindar], because I know her inside out - you know when you’re fast and when you’re not fast. For me on this boat we don’t know that yet. We haven’t matched up in anger against anyone let alone on my own. Getting around would be a massive achievement for me. But you think back three months and didn’t look like we would qualify, or measure or be here. We’ve ticked those boxes. So the next step is to get around and in the process of that, by sailing the way I normally sail, maybe a bit more cautiously until I know the boat, then hopefully we can pick some scalps up on the way around. I understand there are outside expectations.

“I am trying to temper the fact that we potentially have a very powerful boat and that in itself can raise expectations. On the flip side I also understand that I am a rank outsider. So it is a funny place to be in a way. I say to everyone around, you look at the people who are in this race. There are 15-18 boats who are competing for first or podium. I say to myself - 20-25th place [his ranking] is outrageous really, but that is the level of the fleet.”

To be frank, with the support of some of the UK’s most seasoned Open 60 shore crew including Graham Tourell and Ian McCabe, Artemis was looking in great shape prior to the start of the Vendee Globe. Malbon warns though that he is being cautious – and is going heavily laden with spares.

As to the beast he is sailing, he reckons the new Artemis is a similar weight to Brian Thompson’s massive Bahrain Team Pindar at 11.5 tonnes fully laden. Surprisingly though the new more powerful boat, he says, is not much harder to sail singlehanded than the previous Artemis.

“It is easier to handle the sails on this boat than it is on A1 because the gearing on the winches is so much better and the sizing of the drums. I think we have less friction, remarkably, than the old boat and she seems a lot easier, which I was surprised at. The sails aren’t that much bigger and they aren’t much heavier - in fact we are lighter on some of the sails because of the work we have done progressively with A1 going into this boat. The genoa is lighter than we’ve had before.”

The team will certainly have benefited from being able to study the Mike Sanderson tweaks applied to their first boat before they acquired it, in particular the sails and rig set-up. Malbon says the sails and the way they are used is similar to the former Pindar in terms of numbers and the way they are used. “We have a small Solent, which a lot of boats haven’t got ( Pindar interestingly has…) so there are lots of similarities between them and us. So lots of fractional gear, because we have overtaken bigger newer 60s on the old boat with fractional spinnakers – sailing higher and faster and safer.”

However he admits that with their lack of preparation time there are a lot of sails that they haven’t had the chance to test in anger. That process will be going on on the race course now…”By the end of the race I’m pretty sure I will know the boat pretty well!”

Malbon states that handling the new boat is also easier due to the new cockpit layout. “Because of the protection you are on deck more and the way we have the pilot set-up you can steer and change pilots over.” There is even a hatch beneath the sitcom dome at the back of the cockpit where he can change over the autopilots from on deck.

“Everything in the engine room is easier, all the electronics - there are more of them, but they are easier to get to. She will be more of a handful, absolutely no doubt, but then you have got the benefit of much more stability. We were right at the top end of our righting moment capabilities with the old boat, because she’s been doctored with a bigger rig and more water ballast and bigger sails. This is much more stable.”

The extra stability of the new generation Open 60s means that they can hold sail for longer and are more powerful as a result. While last week Bahrain Team Pindar skipper Brian Thompson told us he was putting his first reef in at 18 knots AWS, on Artemis Malbon reckons it will be lowered. “We have a bigger roach and the wing is bigger. We have a fraction more area in the rig. Pindar’s mast is significantly taller and is 750mm [cord] the whole way up and we re 900mm now at the highest point.”

Does he worry about Artemis' large wingmast when the breeze is up? “I have been out with the jib up, doing 25 knots reaching into the Channel in 50 knots. I know as well that if I get into trouble in 50 knots, she is safe as houses when you bear away. That is the beauty of the rig - the way it is stayed, we have an extra cable over everyone else and it ties in with all the points on the rig and that is amazing. If you look up it when you are slamming off waves, it is solid and that gives me a lot of confidence. So the mechanics of the boat are great, it is just the time issue. We haven’t had time to refine everything to the nth degree.”

Despite our reservations about the elliptical trailing edge of the mast, Malbon gives it a big thumbs up. “It is amazing the effect it has. Also with the way the vang is set up we have a lot more control of the leech than we’ve had on any other 60 any one of us [he and the shore crew] have sailed on. Downwind - we’ll be able to reef earlier, but have a much more powerful sail, because we are not twisting off the top so much. ”

Aside from the rig, the new Artemis also has an extraordinary number of go-faster widgets. In particular this includes an interceptor (similar to what Mike Golding and Dee Caffari are using on their boats) but also a ‘bubble maker’, essentially a lateral row of holes in the underside of the boat between the daggerboards that aerates the water flow beneath the boat, reducing drag - an idea first used about 20 years ago on an Open 60 with Warren Luhr’s Hunters Child.

“The interceptor we’ve played with a lot and it makes a big difference,” says Malbon. “We have a lot of rocker in the boat, so it is a necessary thing for us. It changes the mode of the boat upwind and reaching in flattish water. It is definitely a speed increase. Downwind obviously we can lift it up and get rid of it and we have a lot of rocker in the boat and a lot of volume in the bow and big aft ballast – one concern is nose diving which is a big issue for a lot of the boats, because they are so powerful. So we’ll be able to quantify that next year but we know why it is on there, in the tank we know why it is on there – so far it does what it says on the tin.”

As to the bubble maker… “The soda stream? That we haven’t got a clue whether it works or not! It is one of those things - you’ll have to have a really strict testing regime to see if it works. At the moment it is going to stay plugged.” However clearly there is some effect because when the boat is going along it has impressive suction, to the extent that you could use it as a bilge pump.

“The thing is if the soda stream turns out to be a total lemon then it will be gone in the refit. It is the same with the interceptor. I think the great thing about the class is that you can still try stuff like that .it is all about innovation and trying new things.”

For Malbon this Vendee Globe will primarily about being making it round. “For me it is my first foray into this world at a ridiculously high level, so it is up to me to try and push myself to try and do a good job and hopefully it will go on from that.”

Malbon hopes that next year there can be more solidarity between the British Open 60 fleet and they can get to carry out some training and tuning together. “The French guys are getting a massive leap on everyone spending so much time matching up against one another. We are all 20 miles apart in the Solent – so why not? I am really keen to push that. Get some other outside experience and expertise. There are so many people who could offer you so much more than what you know. We are guilty of ‘it’s our class and we know what we are talking about’ but like doesn’t work like that.”

Fingers crossed that the former DJ and Kingfisher boat preparateur and Artemis make it round.