The 2016-2017 Vendée Globe’s First and Second:
The one who wins is the best, no one will doubt it. However, in a solo round the world, there may be so many unforeseen parameters or parameters independent of the qualities of the sailboat, that one will attribute the victory to one who has made the most of all the circumstances, including those totally independent of his will.
So, Bravo to Armel Le Cléac’h on Banque Populaire VIII!
Yet, the second, Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss, was not unworthy, and his
performance remains remarkable.
During the Vendée Globe, architects’
communications on the IMOCA foils suggested that the loners used them only
parsimoniously, while the first four were equipped and pranced at the head of
the fleet. Knowing that the sailboat is lightening on its foil, it seems
obvious that it uses it as soon as it can. But this is not particularly true
for foils, which do not have the same shape on the first two podiums, but the
striking difference between the two hulls.
One might have thought that the two
sailboats, ordered by the architects VPLP and Guillaume Verdier would be close
to the point of leaving the same mold. However, it is not. Satisfied, Alex
Thomson wanted an extreme hull, but Armel Le Cléac’h certainly did not ask to
design anything but a hull to win.
A first observation of the two
sailboats at the time of their reversal test can reveal a number of remarks. Banque Populaire VIII is wider,
obviously, about twenty centimeters. This may seem light as a difference,
compared to Hugo Boss’s 5.60 meters, but it remains noticeable, and one reaches
peaks.
The sight of the back of the hull
of Armel’s sailboat in the basin on the edge shows a small redan, reminiscent
of a certain Pen Duick V and the good
finds of Eric Tabarly, followed by a curve tense to finish gently in the center
of the transom. Given the speeds attained, the inspiration of the high speeds
of the speedboats cannot be a bad idea. If one turns a little along the axis of
the sailboat, one finds that the bottom of the hull is practically horizontal
on a first part, forming a curved line before descending in a practically
rectilinear way to the axis of the keel. We are very far from the generous back
shapes of our cruising sailboats! But this characteristic, coming from the
catamaran hull of sport, is not new, and since the Cheminée Poujoulat of Bernard Stam, designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian,
the 60-foot IMOCA benefits.
While we are on the stern, admiring
the softness of these curves, the hull above the chine is slightly inclined
downwards, offering a more efficient carrying plane to the heel. This part,
which runs along the length of the hull, a little domed, becomes vertical in
its central part, and reverses up to the front to rejoin the inverted part of
the stem. On the front half, the sheer line is widely rounded over twenty-five
centimeters thick. Everything helps to reduce the shocks of the waves despite
an enormous reserve of buoyancy at the level of the chine.
This also reduces the development of the surface of the hull and deck, to decrease the weight of the whole. The keel, properly so called, under the chine, is fairly regular over its whole length, with a broad flotation and curved bottoms, favoring a diminution of the surface wetted at the heel, and planing forms at bearing paces. Nothing to say about the round bow, limited and imposed by the new IMOCA rule. The water lines, seen above the deck plane, all converge from two fifths of the length rectilinearly on the stem in order to present the minimum resistance to forward travel. A hull that resembles her skipper, crafty and agile.
This also reduces the development of the surface of the hull and deck, to decrease the weight of the whole. The keel, properly so called, under the chine, is fairly regular over its whole length, with a broad flotation and curved bottoms, favoring a diminution of the surface wetted at the heel, and planing forms at bearing paces. Nothing to say about the round bow, limited and imposed by the new IMOCA rule. The water lines, seen above the deck plane, all converge from two fifths of the length rectilinearly on the stem in order to present the minimum resistance to forward travel. A hull that resembles her skipper, crafty and agile.
Alex Thomson's racer, Hugo Boss, is a bit like the image that
the navigator presents us willingly, determined and tenacious. The complexity
of the shapes of its mount proves that it is also reflected! What a hull. Cut
with a knife, cut in the quick! A vertical plane running from front to rear,
truncated at the front by a recessed sheer line, which dips towards the stem, a
rear hanging flat at the heel, and flat bottoms on the front to initiate this
planning as quickly as possible, a small cant under the chine in the front to
repel the spray, and create an ejection rail.
A shell narrower than that of
Armel, but where efficiency and speed research are gross foundry. Alex
testified as soon as his first outings, it seemed to him that the sailboat
slipped under his feet!
Tell me what shape your boat has
and I’ll tell you who you are…
YACHTS DATA
Banque
Populaire VIII
IMOCA 60’
Sloop FRA 18
Designer: VPLP — Guillaume Verdier
Builder: CDK Technologies
Launched: 9 June 2015
Length: 18.28 m
Load Waterline Length: 18.28 m
Beam: 5.80 m
Draft: 4.50 m
Mast: 29 m
Displacement: 7.6 metric tonnes
Up wind sail area: 300sqm
Maximum downwind sail area: 600sqm
Hugo
Boss
IMOCA 60’
Sloop GBR 99
Designer: VPLP — Guillaume Verdier
Builder: Green Marine (GB)
Launched: 5 September 2015
Length: 18.28 m
Load Waterline Length: 18.28 m
Beam: 5.60 m
Draft: 4.50 m
Mast: 29 m
Displacement: 7.5 metric tonnes
Up wind sail area: 340sqm
Maximum
downwind sail area: 570sqm
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