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SolOceans

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October 25, 2009
SolOceans

Bostik extends its stopover in Cape Town

Monday February 4th 2008 News RSS

After having left Cape Town (South Africa) on Saturday morning and sailing around 200 nautical miles in a light wind followed suddenly by a wind Force 4 to 5, Bostik sailed by Charles Caudrelier, Liz Wardley and Erwan Lebec turned round on Sunday and went back to the South African port this morning at around 5.00 am (3.00 UT). Charles Caudrelier explains: "The bobstay (cable in Vectran holding the extremity of the bowsprit from the base of the stem) broke. This lead to a slight local sinking of the deck where is located the back support of the pole. It’s not a major problem, but we need to apply carbon reinforcements under the deck. We have the necessary equipment on board to repair but we’d rather have this reparation made in the port by a carbon specialist than mending it at sea while we still have to sail 6,500 nautical miles in very hard conditions before reaching Wellington. We plan to get back on track before the end of the week".

Bostik in Cape Town (South Africa) - January 31st, 2008 Bostik is running sailing tests in Cape Town (South Africa) before heading back to Wellington (New Zealand)
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Photo Jean-Marie Liot - SailingOne

Bostik’s crew got into the heart of the matter of the Roaring Forties during its first sailing night in a sailing zone with a terrible reputation due to the roughness of the elements. "It was 2.00 UT in the middle of the night and we were switching watch", told Erwan Lebec, Bostik’s boat captain. "We had the gennaker and the full main sail, under a 15-knot wind (Force 3) when a shower that we had spotted on the radar system arrived suddenly. The wind rose to 22-23 knots (Force 5). It’s at that moment that the bobstay broke. The breeze got stronger and reached 30 knots (Force 7). We left on the winward side (leaving the track athwart the wind) and Liz, who was at the helm, managed to restart Bostik in the rear wind allowing us to roll up the gennaker and to bring it back on the deck. In the manœuvre we only broke two battens in the main sail. A good job! It’s only in the morning in the daylight that Liz detected a weakness at the bow of the deck. As we were still close to Cape Town, we decided it was safer to repair in the port than using our emergency material kit we keep in case failures happen once far from any land".

"The bowsprit of the Veolia Oceans® one-design allows the spi and gennaker’s tack (the part at the head of the sail on the deck level) to be at 2.50 metres ahead of the stem as opposed to 1.80 metre on the IMOCA 60 prototypes", explained Jean-Baptiste Daramy, SailingOne’s technical project manager of the Veolia Oceans® one-design. "In those conditions, the Veolia Oceans® one-design is sustained and plans even faster. The stem never dives in the waves. She doesn’t dig in. It’s an acceleration criteria enabling the boat to reach high speeds and keep them during a long period. Most importantly, it’s a safety element when the sea is rough and the waves abrupt. Thanks to that the sailors can keep the rear winds’ sails (spi and gennaker) longer, in stronger winds.

In return to this asset, the implementation of this original form of bowsprit, characteristic of the Veolia Oceans® one-design is a delicate process. Thanks to Bostik’s crew during this sailing test around the world, we are making progress in the adjustment of the material. We have now a precise idea of the way we want to manage the evolution of the series production, in collaboration with Pascal Conq (Group Finot Conq and Associés, naval architects).

However we would like to finish this round-the-world Reconnaissance Tour of the SolOceans with the current system. For this purpose, we need to harmonize the zones of efforts in order to get back to a homogeneous whole. It’s the plan for the next 48 hours. Then, Bostik's crew will be able to head back towards Wellington enjoying great slides on the long swell and maybe beating some records while going easy with her".


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