La Taberna del Puerto

[Ocell (3NY)]

Winning machine
We examine how Vincent Riou came to win the Vendee Globe in a four year old boat
Vincent Riou and PRB's victory in what has been a highly competitive 2004-5 Vendee Globe marks the first occasion that the same boat has won a round the world race - singlehanded, non-stop or otherwise - twice in a row.
But to say that PRB is the same boat as Michel Desjoyeaux sailed to victory in 2000-1 is some way from the truth. Both PRB and her stable mate, Sebastien Josse's VMI have undergone wholescale modifications since the last Vendee.

Modifying an existing boat rather than building anew makes particular sense for singlehanded offshore races where the boat plays less of a crucial role than the crew in the overall performance package than it does in for example the Volvo Ocean Race. While in the Vendee the boat is responsible for perhaps 50% of the performance potential in the Volvo, where the boat is driven closer to the max, it represents perhaps 90%.

The origins

Both VMI and PRB are Groupe Finot designs. Back in 1999-2000 Desjoyeaux' PRB was built using the same hull mould as VMI (known then as Sodebo), this mould producing a hull with slightly less volume than the other 2000 generation Finot designs such as Hellomoto, Arcelor Dunkerque and Gartmore. Unusually PRB's deck was taken from the mould of the Marc Lombard design Whirlpool (now Marc Thiercelin's ProForm).

While PRB was fitted with a canting keel (this was appropriate as Michel Desjoyeaux had been the first to try this in the Mini class), Sodebo had a more old fashioned fixed keel and water ballast arrangement, but was unique in having a wingmast rig that could be canted. With the canting-rig set-up Sodebo won the 1999 Transat Jacques Vabre in the hands of Thomas Coville and Herve Jan, but this rig was subsequently outlawed by IMOCA, the Open 60 class association.

PRB was also bristling with innovation. She had a wingmast but instead of having deckspreaders like the other Groupe Finot designs had a rotating wingmast but with fixed shrouds, the mast able to rotate through the use of hinged spreaders. This idea, originally used on Tony Bullimore's ill-fated Open 60 schooner Exide Challenger has since developed into the rig used on Mike Golding's Ecover.

Besides her canting keel, below the waterline PRB was unique in having a single daggerboard just forward of the mast rather than the prefered option of twin asymmetric boards. This solution is lighter and meant there was one less operation for her skipper to carry out during manoeuvres. PRB was also one of the first Open 60s to be fitted with twin kick-up rudders - rudder breakage through collision was the principle reason why boats retired from the 1996 Vendee. Compared to some of the more recent solutions to this, her transom-hung rudders at the time appeared heavy and agricultural.

Down below on PRB rather than simply having a navigator's seat that could be canted to remain on the vertical, Desjoyeaux had the ability to cant his entire nav station, galley and sink area - an area he dubbed 'le Maison'.



What's new?

Since the last Vendee Globe Vincent Riou, Michel Desjoyeaux's technical manager for the last Vendee Globe, took over the helm of PRB while Figaro sailor Sebastien Josse persuaded his sponsor VMI to graduate up to an Open 60. Both Riou and Josse are managed by Michel Desjoyeaux's company Mer Agitee, that is best described as the French version of Offshore Challenges. For this Vendee Globe they formed a loose two boat team with many pooled resources particularly in terms of technical know-how and their development. (One significant area where they remained independent was in their sail wardrobes, PRB going with Incidences and VMI with North France and Star Voiles). Ultimately the modifications to the two boats have resulted in them ending up almost as sisterships, despite having different movable ballast systems.

Modifications to both were conjured up by Groupe Finot's Pascal Conq and designer Guillaume Verdier. Verdier was originally part of Groupe Finot where he had been responsible for the original conception of Sodebo/VMI. He has since set up shop in his own right and last year was part of the design team behind Yves Parlier's hydroplaning catamaran while he is now with K-Challenge.

With the constraints of not changing the hull shape or the internal structure the aim of the modifications to both boats was to remove weight, to lower the centre of gravity and reduce drag.

Conveniently among the catalogue of disaster in the 2002 Route du Rhum (at which point Sebastien Josse had just taken over VMI while PRB had been chartered to Jean-Pierre Dick) both boats dismasted. The new 26m tall replacement carbon fibre spars were both built by CDK Composites in Port la Foret and were very much simpler than the originals, both having a small section and two full width spreaders. A spare mast was also built that would fit either boat. On Open 60s about the only class rule affecting the rig, is the boat's minimum angle of vanishing stability (AVS) of 127deg, thus it pays handsomely to remove as much weight aloft as possible.

Desjoyeaux is said to have been keel to fit another wingmast to PRB, but Riou wasn't keen on a complex rig and Verdier believes that given the AVS requirements of the IMOCA class rule, the wingmast option may have been too heavy. "The problem we have with wingmasts is that when you turn it you don't align the point of rotation so the ball is not in the same axis as the intermediate forestay," he says. "And you have a problem with the babystay because that is quite low so when you turn it makes a big twist in the mast and it is hard to calculate. Certainly Vincent didn't want to go to a complicated risky business."

In fact the rig on PRB has the ability to rotate, but during this Vendee Globe the pin was never removed to allow this.

Both boats were fitted with new keels, although the original foil for the canting keel was retained on PRB. On VMI Verdier says they dramatically altered the profile of the keel and made the fin thinner.

Tungsten was used in both the new bulbs as it is not banned from keels in the Open 60 class. Philippe Poupon is believed to have been the first to use it in the IOR-style keel of his Briand-designed Open 60 ketch in the first Vendee Globe. Today a majority of the top boats in this Vendee Globe are believed to have some tungsten in their keels the advantage being that its density is just over 50% more than that of lead. Tungsten cannot be cast as it has the highest melting point of all metals at 3,410degC (and boiling point at 5,530degC!) thus a more practical way of adding tungsten to a bulb is to create a lead envelope into which tungsten bars are added, the remaining volume filled with lead. The result is a bulb unusually comprising around equal parts tungsten and lead.

On PRB a new daggerboard was fitted that is deeper (larger daggerboards were a feature of most boats in this Vendee, to improve their upwind performance) and to make up for the lack of asymmetry in her single centre board, the entire board was allowed to rotate. While during Desjoyeaux's Vendee the mast could rotate but the board could not, in PRB's present configuration the mast is fixed but the board can rotate by 4-5 degrees, self tacking due to the pressure change on it during manoeuvres. "In terms of lift to drag ratio it is quite similar to a trim tab," says Verdier. "In theory it is better to have it all rotating because you don't have the break between the tab and the main appendage."



Balance is the key

Despite having a fixed keel, VMI was also fitted with a daggerboard (this is relatively small and can't be seen from on deck). "It is more to keep the boat in line with waves, it is not to provide the boat with more side force," says Verdier. "We tried it because it was stepping sideways. The centre of gravity is very aft and you have a long distance between the bow and the keel so on each wave it moves slightly to leeward. The keel has enough area but when you have a fixed keel the boat is so wide you never have the correct entry angle of attack of the keel fin."

This aspect of VMI's modifications were part of the program carried out on both boats to improve their balance. When it comes to balance there are significant differences between crewed and solo race boats. As the latter spend most of their time being helmed by the autopilot it is crucial that there is minimum helm in order to reduce the amount of load on the pilot. If less power is required to drive the pilot then less fuel for the generator need be carried to recharge the batteries.

Verdier says that to improve the balance of the two boats required two different approaches: "On VMI we tried to add power sailing upwind and the centre of gravity was too much aft so we tried to move it forward. On PRB we did the opposite [ie moved the centre of gravity aft]. So we had the two extremes. It is interesting because now both boats have the same righting moment, so when you put full load on both boats they have nearly the same weight and nearly the same righting moment."

Thus the Vendee Globe has provided one of the ultimate performance comparisons between a fixed keel boat with water ballast tanks in her sides and a canting keel boat. And the verdict is that there is surprisingly little to choose between them that cannot be put down to difference in weather or sail wardrobe. Physically VMI should be lighter without the keel canting mechanism or PRB's big daggerboard, but in moderate conditions, before PRB has to fill up her centreline water ballast tanks (more on this later), she will be heavier with her side tanks full.

In their quest for balance they also altered the fore-triangle arrangements and reefing points in the main in order that the helm remained relatively neutral when the boat was reefed.



While PRB retained her transom-hung kick-up rudder arrangement, Verdier came up with an improved system for this and the rope connection to the helm was also replaced with solid bars. For this Vendee VMI was also fitted with the PRB rudder arrangement. "The principle is the same but it is much lighter and more balanced," says Verdier of the new rudder design. "The cord is shorter for the same depth so you have more aspect ratio for the rudders. And you always have this problem that you would ideally make deeper rudders but you so easily hit something on the surface with the windward one - not the leeward one. After that Vincent did the work himself to ensure that the rudder releases at the correct load." So that they release when they collide with a submerged objects the rudders are fitted with 'fuses' that can break allowing the rudder to kick up.

To increase the power/righting moment of both so they were more comparible with the new generation Marc Lombard and Owen-Clarke Open 60s, the amount of centreline water ballast was increased on both PRB and VMI. PRB currently has three pairs of centreline water tanks fitted around the existing internal structure.

Verdier says that Riou stopped him from making the centreline ballast tanks huge as this can make Open 60s dangerous. Ironically while it would seem that an accidental gybe would leave the boat at its most vulnerable - heavily heeled over with the keel and internal ballast to leeward - in fact it is at its most stable. The real danger comes from capsizing to leeward in a gust when the difference between the normal angle of heel with canting keel and centreline ballast up to weather and that of the angle of vanishing stability is much less. With the ballast to leeward the AVS is around 135degrees, while when it is to weather it is around 110-115degrees, says Verdier. A big gust when sailing to weather for example could see the keel bulb lift clean out of the water, whereas a crash gybe ends up with the canted keel point pointing straight down.

While the Open 60s needed to be 'turboed' to keep up with the new generation boats, Verdier says that having the 'right' power rather than ultimate power is what is required for Open 60s to be sailed singlehanded, echoing Michel Desjoyeaux's thoughts on this subject. "If you push the architecture to the extreme and make a super powerful boat you have to find a man able to use it. These two boats are the right size for the man. You could have a 35m mast with 50 tonne metres of righting moment - but how will you change the sails? I think these two boats, even though they are less powerful than the new generation they are perhaps used at 80% of their capabilities, whereas the Lombards can't be used at more than 70% of their capability. They aren't the correct numbers but it is a guide.

"So one reason for Vincent's win is that he is using more of the potential of his boat than the others are capable of. The boat is easier, it has less righting moment than Bonduelle. And he wanted to be well prepared."

Another development Riou made for this Vendee Globe was to start the race with as light a boat as possible. Leaving Les Sables d'Olonne PRB was around 600kg lighter than she had been in 2000.

PRB's result

Aged 32 (he turned 33 on 9 January), Vincent Riou started the Vendee Globe with a good track record in a wide variety of classes including a fourth place in the 2002 Solitaire du Figaro. But his CV pales when compared to the three Figaro wins and 20 years of first place results of the supremely talented Jean le Cam or the Transat win plus the huge Open 60 mileage of Mike Golding.

However Riou's association with the Open 60 class has lasted for longer than a decade when he first competed in the then singlehanded Route de Cafe (now the Transat Jacques Vabre) in 1993. Riou set out on the Figaro class in 1996 and during that time met Michel Desjoyeaux with whom he shares not only a very similar mild-mannered temperament (he is in fact shyer and less outspoken than Desjoyeaux) but a profound understanding of the technical minutae of boats.

Riou was brought on board to run the technical side of Desjoyeaux's winning 2000-1 Vendee campaign and was present from the outset in the decision-making going into every aspect of that program from working with the designers and builders to specing the boat and its equipment.

Like Desjoyeaux he is also highly inventive. During the 2000-1 Vendee Globe Riou, ashore in France, effectively was with Desjoyeaux as he sailed around the world. When Desjoyeaux was unable to start his generator while approaching Cape Horn, it was Riou who came up with the unorthadox but effective solution of turning the engine over by harnessing the power of the boom.

Ironically Riou spent the 2001 season crewing on Bonduelle, the trimaran of Jean le Cam whom he would eventually beat to second place in the Vendee Globe. He has since been a regular crew on Michel Desjoyeaux's Geant trimaran and even was responsible for routing Desjoyeaux to victory in the 2002 Route du Rhum.



Come December 2002 PRB, the Les Sables d'Olonne-based company that specialises in making stone cladding for houses, decided that they once again wanted an entry in the Vendee having supported boats in the race since Jean-Yves Hasselin in 1992, Isabelle Autissier in 1996 and the 2000 winner Michel Desjoyeaux. With Desjoyeaux committed to his trimaran campaign, Riou was chosen as his successor.

With the rig modifications carried out to the boat over the winter of 2002-3 Riou won the first major offshore race he entered in his old steed - the 2003 Calais Round Britain Race. He subsequently finished fourth in the Transat Jacques Vabre later that year while disaster struck in the 2004 Transat when PRB dismasted one week into the race.

Come the Vendee Globe start and we placed Riou and PRB in the top five, but found it hard to believe that he would beat Golding, le Cam or Roland Jourdain, all with more experience and all sailing new boats.

Clearly Riou's technical knowledge and his background heading Desjoyeaux's shore team paid handsomely because he suffered precious little in the way of breakage during the race. When he arrived in Les Sables d'Olonne and broke the corks in two bottles of victor's champagne this prompted one witty journalist to heckle him about whether this was his first technical failure.

In fact this was not the case as Riou explains: "We suffered damage in two areas: On entering the Indian Ocean I suffered problems with my keel, the hydraulics in particular, that prevented me from canting the keel. I also had trouble with one of the ballast tanks. The water would come in and the air would go out and then the tank would become pressurised to the extent that it finally exploded. When on port tack I lacked 1.5 tonnes of water. Fortunately a lot of the climb up the Atlantic was on starboard tack."

Perhaps also significant was that while both Golding and le Cam spent most of the race without their Fleet 77 satcoms working, PRB's made it all the way round. Thus Riou was able to download more weather information and could spend considerably less time (not to mention money) doing so. Riou believes that if le Cam had had his Fleet 77 working as he rounded Cape Horn he may not been becalmed so badly allowing him and Golding to catch up so dramatically.

On the race course Riou was rarely out of contention. PRB led the early section of the race south to the Cape Verdes when she was overtaken by Bonduelle who pulled off one of the most significant fliers of the race heading east, closer to the African coast. Approaching the Southern Ocean PRB once again moved into the lead and Riou and le Cam virtually match raced across the Indian Ocean. Le Cam once again took the lead as the two boats passed to the south of New Zealand, the two skippers adopting very different strategies - le Cam prefering to stay south risking the chance of encountering icebergs and enjoying a shorter course, while Riou took a more prudent route to the north. Four days out from the Horn and PRB was trailing Bonduelle by 200 miles.

At this point the race should have been in the bag for Jean le Cam, except he chose a more easterly track up the South Atlantic, leaving the Falklands to starboard a move that saw him fall back to third, regularly sailing in lighter winds compared to Golding and Riou.

Twice Riou's lead coming up the south Atlantic was challenged by Golding, but on neither occasion was the British skipper able to consolidate this lead due to either the weather or main halyard breakage. While there was some brief tension on the approach to the finish line that Riou was sailing too close to the centre of the high pressure system located to the west of Ireland, in fact this proved not to be the case and aside from allowing Golding and le Cam to close him down, his lead was pretty much unchallenged from Recife on.

Beyond the Vendee Globe Riou says he would like to continue racing the Open 60, but also has his eyes on another Figaro campaign.










Ocell
_________________
CLICKAR EN LOS ANUNTIOS DE BABOR!!!!!

[Bocaccio]

Tios, habeis hecho algunavez el ejercicio mental de imaginar loque representa dar la vuelta al mundo en solitario, sin escalas, en un pepino semejante?

No es por nada, de verdad, pero para mi que los tios que afrontan eso deben tener trajes de navegar con holguras especiales para que les quepan los huevos.

Si, ya se que hay una tal Ellen.... jo, y encima no esta mal... pero al menos de forma virtual debe ir adornada como un bisonte.

Porque no es solo hace eso, sino que es hacerlo contra reloj, exprimiendo el barco, buscando las rachas mas fuertes.

[mpineda]

Hola Ernestian, de nuevo, (nos vimos ayer en Puerto, orgulloso padre esperando a su hija que salió al mar con el frío y todo)

Tú con la "peaso" niña valiente y regatera que tienes, vete cuidando el vocabulario, (y lo digo por experiencia propia, es todo un arte de adiestramiento decir según que vocablos con los amigos y reprimirlos en presencia de los niños) y que sepas que los ovarios también ocupan su sitio, que no hará falta que la Ellen, tenga huevos, los ovarios dan mucha fuerza y además van por dentro, no se les puede golpear con lo cual son menos frágiles, jeje.

Bromas aparte, te recomiendo que te leas el libro de la MacArthur, para ver que como bien dice el refrán "Mäs vale maña que fuerza". Ella misma reconoce que antes de la Vendée no pudo llevar a cabo la preparación física que creyó que le iba a ser necesaria, por estar apurada con entrevistas, preparativos, etc, y se vio que falta no le hizo.

En todo caso y no es por restarle valentía a nadie, que no es el caso, arriesgan la vida por elección propia y por pura diversión.

Coraje, serenidad, constancia, fuerza de voluntad, y un talante como pocos sí, pero quizásla fuerza no sea tan necesaria, yo al menos necesito creerlo. Sayonara eso me dijo, y yo le creí, sino con mi metro y medio apañada iba.

Un saludo Ernestian y buen viento.


Mpineda



"El signo más cierto de la sabiduría es la serenidad constante"

[Bocaccio]

Siempre es un placer coincidir con vosotros, en tierra o en mar. Lo del lenguaje es cierto, absolutamente. A uno le sale el rudo pirata que lleva dentro, pero delante de la descendencia, y sobre todo si sin niñas, debe salcar lo mas florido del diccionario.

Un dia tenemos que coincidir en el mar, pero en un solo barco .

Cuando mejore un poco el viento te "colgaré" del mío, que es tan divertido como parece.

Un besote

E

PS invitacion que hago extensiva a todos los colegas tabernicolas. Quien quiera sentir lo que es planear, incluso en ceñida, esta invitado.