SolOceans - News - The SolOceans one-design is "fit for service" (07/09/2009)

The SolOceans one-design is "fit for service"

Thursday July 9th 2009 News RSS

After a final sailing session on Friday 26 June 2009 with Michel Desjoyeaux, Technical Consultant of the SolOceans one-design Class and Yann Régniau, North Sails France Designer, preceded by a sailing session on the 12^th June with the architects Jean-Marie Finot, Pascal Conq and Erwan Gourdon (Group Finot Conq and Associates), the list of the SolOceans one-design is now complete. This concludes the twenty-month test-sail over 30,000 nautical miles dedicated to testing and to the optimisation of the oceanic one-design and supervised by Jean-Baptiste Daramy, manager of the series production at SailingOne. Such an intense work has never been done before to fine-tune a one-design series, moreover an oceanic one-design series. The result lives up to the efforts made and takes into account the remarks given by the 25 sailors* who came on board along the 30,000 nautical miles covered. The 2011-2012 SolOceans** target is now in the stem of the SolOceans one-design under construction.

Last sailing session - June 26th, 2009 From left to right : Jean-Baptiste Daramy (manager of the series production of the SolOceans one-design), Yann Régniau (North Sails France Designer) and Michel Desjoyeaux (SolOceans one-design Technical Consultant) at the helm, during a last sailing session on Friday 26 June 2009, before announcing the SolOceans one-design "Fit for service".
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"It is good like that". With those five words, Michel Desjoyeaux concluded a work started on 2 December 2005, the official launch date of the SolOceans project and as a consequence of the creation of the high-tech 16-metre (52.5-foot) one-design. Jean-Baptiste Daramy, Manager of the series production of the oceanic one-design at SailingOne added: "After the great work done by Charles Caudrelier, Erwan Tabarly and Liz Wardley on Bostik in 2007-2008, we took a certain number of decisions. We did some changes during the months that followed and when the boat underwent a summer and winter refit. That’s when we added the coffee grinder asked by Liz Wardley for example. Additional technical decisions, like the addition of a Maxi spinnaker or the sails matching the rigging following Charles Caudrelier’s advice will be effective when we will receive the new sail wardrobe from North Sails France next Autumn. Today, we are proud to say that we have taken into account ALL the remarks made by the sailors, without exception, as long as they took into account the philosophy of the oceanic one-design and the sportive programme, with the SolOceans as the major race".

"Since the origin of the project, we have established three clear stages for the preparation of the SolOceans one-design", Yvan Griboval, CEO of SailingOne and creator of the SolOceans and of the SolOceans one-design explained. "Once the first unit was launched in October 2007, it was necessary to validate her whole reliability and to make sure that she matches with the philosophy of the SolOceans concept as soon as possible. That is why we covered more than 28,000 nautical miles in test-sail between Caen, Wellington in New Zealand, Sweden, New York City and Malta, in all possible sailing conditions and in particular in the most demanding conditions, conditions the sailors will mainly encounter on the racecourse of the SolOceans".

"We have successfully concluded this first stage as the sailing yacht designed by Group Finot Conq and Associates answered all our expectations and matches the sailing programme. The construction of this first unit by JMV Industries at Cherbourg is remarkable and the work done by Jean-Baptiste Daramy’s team at SailingOne has now reached a stage where the series production at the lowest cost of the one-design can start".

"The second stage was a coastal series of test which started in October 2008 with the participation in the Rolex Middle Sea Race extended by navigations in Normandy and Brittany between March and June 2009 including speed-tests during the Grand Prix Petit Navire de Douarnenez (with Nicolas Bérenger and Fabien Delahaye) and the Transmanche en double (with Vincent Riou and Gildas Morvan). Even if those atmospheric conditions and the state of the sea encountered during those three months will only represent a small proportion of the real sailing conditions skippers will encounter on the oceanic racecourse of the Official Programme of the SolOceans one-design Class, this enabled us to optimize the boat and incidentally to discover that she was faster than we hoped compared to the last generation of IMOCA 60 prototypes, especially with less than twelve knots of wind. What happened in Douarnenez during the speed test was a good surprise which cut short all the groundless rumours heard on the pontoons".

"The third stage immediately started on 29 June, on two different sides. On the technical side, we are implementing the OceanoScientific Kit and on the 6th of July Vinciane Unger’s team (Météo France) installed the humidity and air temperature probe under the SolOceans one-design radar. At the same time, on the administrative side, we will soon start writing the SolOceans One-design Class Rules. There again, Michel Desjoyeaux’ opinion as well as the opinion of the dozen of skippers concerned by this one-design Class will be very useful. But let’s not forget the incredible experience acquired in the existing one-design Class, such as the Figaro Bénéteau one-design class. We are going to break new grounds in terms of Insurance, Maintenance and Media Coverage. Our will to mutualise the costs, to offer guaranteed Media Coverage to the companies (owners and sponsors) and to make sure that there is no increase at all of the price, except the skippers wages, will show its worth", said Yvan Griboval, who concluded: "The next navigation will be focused on the first OceanoScientific Campaign based on a return transatlantic in November - December 2009: double-handed from East to West and then single-handed back to Caen. In fact, we would like to have a crew entered in the Transat Jacques Vabre starting from Le Havre on Sunday 8 November, in the experimental Class i.e. without being ranked in any specific Class taking part to the competition".

Yann Régniau (North Sails France) presents the modification of the sailplan decided in order to optimise the efficiency of this rigging particularly fit to the ocean sailing programme of the SolOceans one-design. "The surface of the mainsail will stay identical but its belly was too big so we will make a flatter sail in conformity with what we do for IMOCA 60 prototypes. The three inferior battens will be floating in order to take into account the backstays, which are really at the back on this one-design. The Solent will be 4.20 square metres bigger at 84.20 square metres. The Staysail will gain 5 square metres at 39 square metres. The Gennaker Code 0 used upwind in light conditions and in the breeze when reaching, will be 111 square metres - at the moment it is 90 square metres - with its tack at the end of the boom and a distant clew. The Gennaker Code 5 will be the main downwind sail in the breeze and even in the strong breeze. Charles Caudrelier and Liz Wardley showed that the SolOceans one-design is powerful in the strong breeze and a rough sea, conditions you encounter in the Great South. This sail had to be optimised and it will go from 150 square metres to 172 square metres. Thanks to its shape and the gain of surface, the boat will be more powerful without loosing her stability, which is important. The surface of the spinnaker on hounds won’t be changed (250 m2) but slightly its shape. We planned on having a 290-square metre Maxi Spi but we will eventually have a 313-square metre one." Yvan Griboval added: "This Maxi Spinnaker is to be used in the light weather conditions so the fabric will be light: 0.75 oz and 0.9 oz". And Michel Desjoyeaux added with a touch of mischievousness: "I have the same onboard Foncia (IMOCA 60 prototype) and I can bear it up to 30 knots of real wind... ". Take note.

For Jean-Marie Finot: "With those modifications, we will really have a faster boat in all types of conditions and in particular in light conditions - under 8-10 knots of wind. At the moment, with the 90 square-metre Code 0, the speed is close to the speed of the real wind, or slightly above in certain conditions. With those modifications, we shall be about 15% faster than the real wind". Pascal Conq added: "In general, the gain will mainly come from the complementarities of the sails so each change of sail allows the boat to accelerate, either when reducing or increasing the sail surface. Nevertheless, the SolOceans one-design is not less easy to manoeuvre as those square metres won’t change anything. However, the skipper will have to be in a good physical shape in order to master the machine with the 300-square metre Maxi Spinnaker or in the strong breeze with the Gennaker Code 5. The average speed on 24 hours will be interesting...".

The most significant technical modification concerns the steering system. "We will reduce the diametre of the gears", Pascal Conq explained on 12 June. Jean-Baptiste Daramy and his team have already made the modification to port side. It immediately made a difference: "Now it’s as easy to steer as Groupe Bel (Kito de Pavant’s IMOCA 60 prototype)", François Gabart said after a sailing session in the Bay of Quiberon last 25 June.

* The 25 sailors who have contributed to the fine-tuning of the SolOceans one-design in addition to Michel Desjoyeaux, Technical Consultant, are as they came on board the project: Erwan Tabarly (Athema), Liz Wardley (Sojasun), Eric Peron (Skipper Macif), Quentin Monégier, Charles Caudrelier (Bostik), Yann Clavier, Boris Herrmann (Beluga Racer), Alexia Barrier, Phil Paxton, Patrice Carpentier, François Gabart (Espoir Région Bretagne), Thomas Rouxel (Défi Mousquetaires), Franck Ferey, Eric Loizeau, Fabien Delahaye (Port de Caen - Ouistreham), Servane Escoffier, Philippe Vicariot, Nicolas Bérenger (KONE Elevators), Halvard Mabire, Miranda Merron (40 Degrees), Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert), Vincent Riou (PRB), Pierre Brasseur (Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais - Ripolin), Sébastien Rogues (EOLE Generation - GDF SUEZ), James Burwick.

** The SolOceans is the first single-handed round-the-world sailing race on equal footing on high-tech 16-metre monohulls (52.5 foot) all identical: the SolOceans one-designs. They will all be fitted out with an OceanoScientific Kit enabling them to collect the scientific information needed to study the world climate changes in unexplored areas of our planet for the Scientists all around the world. The first edition of this circumnavigation will leave Caen la mer (Normandy - France) on 23 October 2011 after the prologue at Cherbourg (Normandy - France). The solo sailors will stopover at Wellington, the Capital of New Zealand and will then resume their voyage towards Lower Normandy with the arrival line off Cherbourg (Normandy - France). This round-the-world race is composed by two legs and rounds the three Capes: Good Hope in South Africa, Leeuwin in Australia and Horn in South America. Each leg will last between 50 to 55 days for a total of 26 000 nautical miles (48 000 kilometres) sailed around the planet. The SolOceans will be raced every two years in-between the Vendée Globe, the Route du Rhum and The Artemis Transat.