volvo goes both ways

MR.CLEAN

Moderator
The best-kept secret in sailing (outside of ETNZ's wing control) comes at the end of a long press conference from Volvo HQ in Gothenburg, SWE, and in our opinion, it's a mixed bag.  Here's a synopsis of Mark Turner's speech, in order of importance (to us): 

1) The 2020 Volvo Ocean Race will be contested in what the new design chief calls a 'Turbo IMOCA'; 60 foot foiling monohulls with adjustable-flap foils while the in-port racing will happen in foiling cats.  The 60 footer will be 'convertible' to an IMOCA, and the VOR in-house design team led by Guillaume Verdier.  The cats are being opened up to a design tender process starting today at between 32 and 50 feet.  Turner says the new lease program and pooled services program allows a similar budget for future races to that of today.

2) The 2020 Race has a wishlist of 8 teams, and all boats will be owned by VOR and leased to teams in an attempt to reduce the initial barriers to a new team/sponsor.

3) Sustainability looks to be a real goal this time rather than just more lip service to 'green' sponsors.  VOR spent the last ten years bowing primarily to the god of social media - their new pet deity is now a clean ocean, and they've got funding and support from 11th Hour, Akzo, and the United Nations, and their goal is a fleet of Zero Emission races.  2017/18 sustainable goals will be met with help of rules requiring team use of official RIBs, hydrogenerator minimums, fuel maximums, etc.

4) It's obvious the VOR has struggled pulling in team sponsors - that's why you saw the Hong Kong team's offer accepted yesterday, why there are still 3 empty boats, and why VOR is still trying to find someone to run a 'clean the oceans' entry for an all-women/all-youth/50/50 mixed team for the coming edition they say is already half funded.

5) Volvo and the VOR have formed a major partnership with World Sailing, principally to help create a pipeline for young sailors to become offshore pros and VOR crews.  This includes new VOR Academies (presumably in partnership with existing organizations) and keeps Turner and his hefty experience involved in the possibility of the offshore racing Olympic event that World Sailing has been chasing from the IOC.

6) Course may be radically different, especially for the 50th anniversary 2023 event.  More racing between races or a straight up 2-year race cycle, with race activity every year.  Maybe a crewed non-stop race around Antarctica.  

 
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STYacht.com

Super Anarchist
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Clean, 

how will they manage to carry VIPs on board the inshore foiling multihull?  Seems like having up to 3 guests on board the 60 foot mono for inshore was just too easy.

 

JeronimoII

Anarchist
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Europe
my main question to Turner is why to keep OD? It is clearly not working as team sponsors are still not coming. The technological race is lost by keeping OD. The VOR feels like a Clipper with Pros on board. 

 

shanghaisailor

Super Anarchist
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Jeronimoll - main reason for OD is cost. The additional cost of a design programme in terms of personnel and time is massive - then as Ian Walker discovered with the first Abu Dhabi you could end up losing the race before you start

SS

 

flaming2

New member
Do they feel that designing the boats so they could be IMOCA compliant will compromise what could be achieved performance wise in a 60ish foot foiling mono platform given a completely blank piece of paper? 

 

Francis Vaughan

Super Anarchist
How many crew on the new 60ft boat?  There was a very odd aside that mentioned 5 crew plus media person. That seems insanely low. Unless it was referring to one watch.  In which case it implies 10 crew plus media, which is more realistic, but also revealing in itself. 10 crew might imply more prescriptive rules on crew makeup.

 

STYacht.com

Super Anarchist
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Shanghai,

this new forum software has lost my user name "STYACHT". 

The question is to Clean for Mark Turner.  The GC32 is not part of the VOR, that is the Great Cup.  Besides, not really ideal for VIPs on board.  No VIPs on board GC32, AC45 or AC50.  It's an issue.

 
411
58
Good to know that the rumour was true, means I can trust some people to tell the truth and more than they should... :)

Question to MT,
- With the VO65 as corporate option: will they be sailing effectively the same course or will they not make it to each stopover port?
- How is having 2 boats (and very different types at that) going to make the event "simpeler" to follow to grow your follower/fan base (and therefore keep your event interesting to sponsors)?

 

Curious2

Anarchist
937
534
A question - since 1990 the VOR boats have been getting more and more different from the usual offshore racing mono. The biggest collapse in the fleet came when the VOR introduced its own class for the first time, and it got even smaller when they tightened the classes and threw away the last of the 'usual' boats.

If the fleet gets smaller when you take the race further away from the usual offshore racing scene and into tighter classes, why do you keep on doing it? 

 
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JeronimoII

Anarchist
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Europe
Jeronimoll - main reason for OD is cost. The additional cost of a design programme in terms of personnel and time is massive - then as Ian Walker discovered with the first Abu Dhabi you could end up losing the race before you start

SS
I know, I know, and the fact that we would likely not having a race now without OD introduced in the past edition. But fact is that team sponsors are still not coming (and most are not repeating). So cost is not the issue, the value delivered is. It is time to tell the emperor he is naked.  Get rid of OD! 

 

Potter

Super Anarchist
2,182
435
Shanghai,

this new forum software has lost my user name "STYACHT". 

The question is to Clean for Mark Turner.  The GC32 is not part of the VOR, that is the Great Cup.  Besides, not really ideal for VIPs on board.  No VIPs on board GC32, AC45 or AC50.  It's an issue.
The GC32 is on the GC32 Racing TOur and the Extreme Sailing Series. On the Extreme Sailing Series they carry VIP guests in every race that conditions permit.

The Great Cup is not an event, but the company that supplies the boats

So carrying guests is not an issue for the GC32

THe VOR is using M32s for this time round.  Lets be honest there are plenty of them around not being used very muc.

 

Potter

Super Anarchist
2,182
435
I know, I know, and the fact that we would likely not having a race now without OD introduced in the past edition. But fact is that team sponsors are still not coming (and most are not repeating). So cost is not the issue, the value delivered is. It is time to tell the emperor he is naked.  Get rid of OD! 
Three of the 5 teams announced so far are repeat sponsors...Dongfeng, Vestas, and Mapfre; whilst I agree that the OD aspect removes a lot of the pre race interest, as well as a huge amount of interest during the race (due to a lack of design sweet spots), I also understand that the initiation of OD has meant a controlling of costs.  

I think one of the issues with being more open design would be the stated desire to have a shorter cycle. 

 
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