13.01.2006
From: Gedanken zu den Schäden - ABN ONE DAY 12
Sent: 13 January 2006
Well well, and then there was four!! Very disappointing news this morning
to hear that Paul Cayard's Pirates have suffered structural damage. Man
this leg has been tough on the boats. It will be very interesting to see
what the race management and the measurers do in Melbourne with regards to
the boats’ current certificates, but then again, maybe it's not their
problem?
If Michael Schumacher goes out on dry tyres in the wet and drives at dry
speed and then spins off that's not Bernie's fault... I am sure that's not
what happened here as I know that Paul often talks about the lessons
learnt on this leg in the 97/98 race when both EF Language and the boat I
was on Merit Cup (the two boats that finished that race 1st and 2nd) were
beating ourselves to death towards the back of the pack with all sorts of
issues going on.
Quite clearly with these boats we are seeing some load cases that the
models that are used to design them can't predict. We have broken parts
both during the race and more so pre-race which I know that Juan and his
team just say isn't possible. Our tiller arm on the first leg was one
case, and the canting keel system break that we had on the white boat pre
race has had, until quite recently, plenty of people scratching heads.
A very famous French Single handed sailor Michel Desjoyeaux, a man that
has won the Vendee Globe race in a canting keel boat, and is the master of
sailing the very fragile Open 60 Trimaran's has said two pretty big
statements to me over the last year or so that I have really listened
too.
The first one was right before I started my first single handed race last
year, Mich came up to me and said "Mike, do you mind if I give you some
advice..." I was so excited, I was waiting for this great secret on how to
tack or gybe, or maybe find out the trick he uses at getting up the mast
when single handed, anyway out it came:
“I think you should move your Argos beacon!!! (A race supplied instrument
which they had put on the back of the boat.) “It might get washed off." I
was so disappointed. Here I was, about to learn from the master, and all
he spoke about was my Argos beacon!! However a few months later I was
talking to him about the new Volvo boat that we where building and once
again, just as we where wrapping up the conversation, Mich said: "Mike can
I give you some advice?" This time I was like... yeah sure... what this
time, thinking of the Argos situation and he said: " Nobody truly knows
the dynamic loads yet of a canting keel boat." And that hit home pretty
hard.
Now I know that Juan K will shoot me for saying this, even though I did go
on about it a lot during the design phase, and I am sure that Russ Bowler
and Bruce Farr who I know so well over the years will also think that I
have gone slightly mad out here, but it must be the case: All the boats
now in their lifetime have broken bits which they "shouldn't have", so
quite clearly there are dynamic loads going on which the models aren't
detecting.
We have to over build thing's and in doing so bury the gremlin and we have
to find the limits gently as to how hard we can push these new boats. Both
of which are possible. When ABN AMRO TWO broke the 24 hr record yesterday,
the conditions were too bouncy for us - we need flatter water than that,
but they are a stronger boat, and the price they have paid for that
stronger boat is less lead on the keel, so upwind and tighter reaching
they are slower then us.. Those are just both facts of life, so yesterday
for us we had to be at 90% while they where at 100%.
I think in Melbourne, the race management group will have to give us the
two weeks to do only the changes the teams and the designers think is
necessary to make the boats tough enough, and then we have to re-weigh and
take lead off our keels accordingly. It is the only solution I can see
that is going to get this fleet around the world.
So to wrap it up, a saying that I know I say too much when being
interviewed, "Time will tell."
Talk soon
Cheers
Mike Sanderson
Skipper ABN AMRO ONE
For media information on the Volvo Ocean Race, please contact:
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Tel: +44 1489 554 832, Mob: +44 7801 185 320
Email: lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org
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