Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008 - (Page 54)

VOLVO OCEAN RACE ©O. Kihlborg/EricssonRacingTeam The current Ericsson is none other than the former ABN AMRO 1. The Swedish team is working with Juan Kouyoumdjian Have the sail plans changed significantly? No, sail plans are the same as before, except that they have allowed masthead code zeros now, which help the performance of boats in light airs. The Ericsson team has bought ABN AMRO 1, the winner of the last Volvo, and is training on board. What comment can you make about that? The biggest difference between ABN 1 and Ericsson 1 is the power available, because of the righting moment and the two rudders, which made it possible to make use of this power. The crewmembers, who sailed aboard in 2005-2006 and who are today on board the former ABN AMRO 1 all agree that the boats are very different, and they understand now why it was so hard to beat ABN 1. However, if you want to know more, you should ask them, as I am not completely unbiased… How is the programme going to be organised with the two boats? Will the first be used as a development platform, as with the ABN project? There is no time to do this, in fact, as last time with ABN, construction started on the second boat before the first one was out of the yard. Unfortunately and due to the non-confirmation of the route and points by VEMUK, we are considering only building one boat. The deadline for this decision is coming up very quickly. Shaun Carkeek Puma Better known for their brilliance in IMS, in the Cup (in particular with the recent Team New Zealand) or in TP52, Marcelo Botin and Shaun Carkeek, based in Santander in Spain, have been signed up by the Puma team, which is currently training aboard the former ABN AMRO 2. The team’s VO70 sailed by Ken Read is due to be launched in April 2008, following her construction at the Goetz Custom Boats Yard in Newport (RI). Shaun Carkeek explained to us: "We worked on a very adaptable boat, because of the new route, which will require fine performance upwind and in a range of moderate conditions. It will also be necessary to be comfortable around the cans. We saw from the last edition that there were two very diffeent concepts, and we quickly learnt which was right: that should give you a clue about the next generation, which will follow the path taken by the winner in 2006 (editor’s note: Shaun Carkeek admitted that Puma will have a clear chine and two rudders). Our way of working was to test out our ideas on the sailors themselves to see if they were realistic. We didn’t want to get things underway with any prejudiced views – The new Ericsson is being built at Kista in Sweden ©O. Kihlborg/EricssonRacingTeam

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008

Cover
Edito
Contents
What they said
News
Portfolio - The news in the picture
Transat Jacques Vabre - Monohulls in power
In the words of the skipper - Michel Desjoyaux, A little bit more
Barcelona World Race - A couple sailing around the world
Imoca - Growth crisis in the Imoca class
Transat 6.5 - A whole series of records
Mini Class - Anatomy of a winner
Multihulls - What sort of trimarans tomorrow ?
Volvo Ocean Race - Second generation
Trials - Mach 45 : an unusual IRC
Match Racing - King Richard
Tactics - A good start
Portrait - Jacques Caraës
Lab - Tubular or wing mast ?
Forty years ago - Chichester, the lonely sea and the sky
Equipment - Shop window
New products - From the drawing board to the boatyard
Opinion - The mirage of worshipping technology

Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008