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Prior to the Leg 3 start of the The Ocean Race – the 12,750 nm third leg from Cape Town in South Africa to Itajai in Brazil – Scuttlebutt editor Craig Leweck checked in with 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright for an update:
Due to the race postponement, your boat was effectively designed and launched between nine to 12 months earlier than your competitors. How had the design target moved during the postponement?
That’s actually a really interesting question because we designed our boat to go to China, and New Zealand and back, which were legs that got eliminated after we launched. So we have a much more reaching oriented, all-round boat, than we do a downwind heavy weather big seas boat. And you can see that most in the bow profile.
You had to replace your foils after Leg 2 due to damage. Any answers why?
Well, there’s a bit of science and a bit of art that goes into the design and construction of the foils. And the goal of the first set was to make something big and reliable and robust, and that was a little bit more draggy, a little bit more powerful, but less prone to ventilation and cavitation.
And when those came out and worked exceptionally well, we pushed a bit back in the other direction and tried to go a little smaller, a little less draggy. They were a bit more of a evolution than a revolution with maybe higher top speeds but definitely not as powerful and robust. And it just didn’t work out!
How will the boat behave with the replacement foils?
As it behaved with success for 16 months prior to launching the V2s…
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