Volvo Ocean Race 2005 pt2

James Boyd looks at the different boats that might be suitable and proposed a Volvo ocean racing circuit

Yesterday we concluded that a way needed to be found to cut the costs for campaigns taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race and that the biggest cuts could be made by reducing the amount of time spent in port.

The issue of over a new boat for the Volvo Ocean Race is slightly different. While the present generation of Volvo Ocean 60s are very sophisticated, finely tuned beasts, if the Volvo Ocean Race is to maintain its position as the premier ocean racing event, then a bigger, faster and more exciting boat is required.

This was the view of several skippers in the early 1990s when the giant maxi boat lead-mines were dropped in favour of the more nimble, water ballasted 60ft class. A decade on it is truer than ever. If a boat destined for the world's premier round the world race enters an event such as the Fastnet or the Round Gotland, then it should be at least in the running for line honours.

The situation has also changed in that the Volvo Ocean Race is no longer the only fully crewed grand prix yacht race sailing the 'right' way around the world.

The Race caused the creation of a new generation of giant multihulls. Yachts such as Club Med and PlayStation are faster than anything that has gone before them, capable of clocking up daily mileages that would have been unimaginable only five years ago. And they have a headline grabbing potential that a Volvo campaign could only dream about. When one of these boats rolls into port heads turn.

The Race is where Kevin Shoebridge believes the Volvo organisers should be getting their inspiration. He is no fan of the Volvo 60. "From the public point of view, they see eight small boats that aren't very impressive to look at. It's not that different to something that's come out of the local marina, but I think Volvo and the organisers are aware of that and they're addressing that.

"I know what I'd like to see, and that is going around the world in 120ft multihulls. That's the future. The budgets will be hardly any different to what they are now [because of fewer stopovers]. It would be an impressive sight." This is a view shared by djuice skipper Knut Frostad and News Corp's Ross Field. For crews an added benefit of a large multihull is that it would spell the end of the back breaking task of restacking the sails and gear after every tack or gybe.

And there is the pre- and post-race corporate entertainment aspect too. A platform of larger-than-tennis-court proportions enables skippers to not only take out corporate CEOs and managing directors, but a small army of staff.

While a 100+ft multihull is today's state of the art ocean racing machine, there are some reasons which might prevent Volvo choosing this as their new boat.

Firstly there is the safety aspect. The Volvo Ocean Race, and its predecessor the Whitbread Round the World Race, has an excellent safety record for an event potentially so dangerous. No lives have been lost since the 1989/90 race and the reports of crewmembers falling overboard have dramatically reduced. If a 100+ft multihull was raced as hard as the VO60s are now then there is a possibility that one would be capsized, with disastrous consequences. Would Volvo, a company who pride themselves on the safety record of their cars, want to take this risk?

Saying this there have been no instances of multihulls capsizing or crew losing their life in either The Race or the many Trophy Jules Verne attempts which have taken place. There have been in the 60ft trimaran circuit, but a 100+ft catamaran or trimaran is harder to capsize due to its sheer size.

If giant multihulls were chosen then it is also certain that, initially at least, the racing would be nowhere near as close as it is at present. Assa Abloy skipper Neal McDonald who took part in The Race on Club Medsays he prefers monohulls for this very reason. He likes the closeness of the competition at the moment and doesn't constantly feel that he could die at any moment as he claims, only half-jokingly, that he felt on Club Med. However he admits: "For me multihulls seem an obvious thing we should be looking at to keep up with technology. I'm sure they can be built cheaper and they certainly go faster. At the end of the day it's the sponsors and the public which need to be considered."

But the competitive aspect is simply a matter of time. The 60ft trimaran class in France has proven that you can have a highly competitive multihull fleet while keeping a fairly large degree of openness still in the rules. It took more than a decade for it to be this way, and with some heavyweight sponsorship and the calibre of Volvo teams it could definitely be faster.

There is also the issue of rules. At present there are 'no limits' in The Race, save that the sails must be handed without the use of powered winches. So for designers The Race presents a toss-up between a large, hard to handle boat at the limit of technology and therefore by definition not that reliable, or a smaller, more efficient boat with smaller sails that can be driven harder, by a happier crew. But how would an open rule withstand the scrutiny placed upon it by a group of Volvo campaigns determined to win?

It would also be prohibitively expensive. After The Race Grant Dalton said that if he took part in that event again he would be looking at a two boat campaign (as he would in the Volvo Ocean Race). The only conceivable way to go down this route would be with a one design (which in effect, with three identical Gilles Ollier catamarans, The Race effectively was after PlayStation's retirement) and perhaps to prohibit two boat campaigns somehow.

Continued on page 2...

How about this for the Volvo Ocean Race 2005?