Global Ocean Race - Jenner and Renken complete self-righting test

by Oliver Dewar on 15 Aug 2011 Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR) The all-girl, Anglo-German team of Hannah Jenner and Anna-Maria Renken has successfully completed the mandatory 180 degree self-righting test required by the GOR, on their second attempt. Jenner and Renken are now fully qualified for the GOR and will shortly be heading to Palma for pre-race preparation in the build-up to the start on 25 September.

At Victoria Quay, Gosport, on Friday, Jenner and Renken with their two year-old Owen Clarke Design Class40, 40 Degrees, self-righted in just over 14 minutes; the fourth fastest righting of the ten GOR Class40’s to undertake the test and only 13 seconds slower than the new Pogo 40S² Campagne de France of the Franco-British GOR duo, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron.

However, these impressive statistics conceal that the failure of 40 Degrees to self-right during a 180 test two weeks earlier threatened to destroy Jenner and Renken’s GOR campaign and attracted an unusually large crowd of supporters to witness the team’s second attempt, including Jenner’s parents; the yacht’s owner, Peter Harding; Alan Clarke from Owen Clarke Design and the South African Phesheya-Racing team and GOR entries of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire. There was a palpably tense atmosphere as the safety team from RSDivers attached a strop to the yacht’s keel bulb in preparation for the inversion. Dafydd Hughes, Project Manager for the all-girl team and an integral part of the campaign, explained the consequences of a second failure as Jenner and Renken disappeared from view through the foredeck hatch: 'The outcome is so black-and-white,' confirmed Hughes. 'Failure would mean being out of the race which would mean 18 months of hard work will all be over and the GOR circumnavigation is off.'

Failure during the test two weeks earlier was due to insufficient lateral water ballast and despite making a second attempt on the same day, Jenner and Renken’s determination was hampered by severe water ingress through the companionway hatch threatening to damage the on board electrical systems and swamp the interior. During the following two weeks, Jenner, Renken and Hughes were in consultation with Owen Clarke Design and the outcome was the installation of six extra, flexible ballast tanks forward of the main bulkhead with the complex fitting and additional plumbing undertaken by Hughes, a trained mechanical engineer.

With the inversion complete, Tim Newell from Endeavour Quay co-ordinated the removal of the keel strop and advised Jenner and Renken to commence hand-pumping the ballast. As complete silence descended on the quay, the sound of the pumps knocking was clear. 'Anna was pumping at the back and I was pumping the front,' recalled Hannah Jenner immediately after the test. During the initial test, the failure of the companionway hatch seals in the inverted boat was a shock to both crew: 'When we were inverted this time and there was no water pouring through the companionway hatch, we just calmly started pumping,' commented Renken. During the 14 minutes and 27 seconds inverted and with between 900-950 litres of water pumped into the ballast tanks, barely any water leaked into the boat and the new bladder tanks and plumbing worked immaculately. 'It went far more smoothly than we thought,' admitted Jenner. 'We could just feel that the boat was going over and by the time Anna moved forward when she’d finished pumping, the boat rolled upright really quickly.'

For the 40 Degrees team, the relief was immense: 'This test is the culmination of two weeks of sleepless nights; feeling sick with worry every morning; always thinking about the ridiculous amounts of plumbing and the six flexible tanks,' Jenner explains. 'It was nearly curtains for the campaign,' she confirms. 'We were gutted about the first test and really weren’t sure if we could make it work, purely because of timing. If we’d had to build the hard tanks that were originally proposed, we’d still be building right now and we’d be spending thousands and thousands of pounds, but instead, we’ve found a solution that works really well.'

Keeping a close eye on the test, Alan Clarke, the boat’s co-designer, explained the sequence of events: 'When Hannah and Anna first approached us about the inversion test, we asked the software to do an equilibrium state for the boat and originally it calculated that only 150 litres was needed in the forward, main ballast tank,' says Clarke. 'When the test failed, we went back to first principles and actually worked it out by hand,' he added. 'Through going back to first principles and bypassing that part of the software, we found the correct numbers. So, we learnt from the software that you shouldn’t trust computers all the time!' Owen Clarke Design and the 40 Degrees team collaborated closely on a viable solution. 'I’m just really happy this has worked out for them,' said Clarke. 'We’re just disappointed it didn’t go right the first time although the solution wasn’t hard to come by,' he adds. 'We’d originally designed a rigid set of additional tanks, but the team opted for flexible tanks due to time constraints as they simply couldn’t do the composite work in time, so we re-ran the calculations again.'

For the 40 Degrees team and Project Manager Dafydd Hughes, this latest hurdle has been a considerable task: 'It’s been a very long two weeks,' admits Hughes, 'and I have to say that Owen Clarke Design has done a tremendous job in checking and re-checking the sums and calculating where the centre of gravity would be when we opted for the soft tanks.' With the qualification process complete, Hughes, Jenner and Renken can focus fully on their campaign. 'Our next hurdle is to secure some funding,' he adds.

During the dockside celebrations following the self-righting, the Class40’s owner, Peter Harding, was one of the happiest spectators: 'I’m ecstatic that they’ve passed their test and that it’s a really quick one,' says Harding, who completed numerous transatlantic races on 40 Degrees before chartering the yacht to Jenner and Renken. 'After the first test they were terribly disappointed and I came down to see them. It was all doom and gloom – just totally different from today!' he added as Renken leapt off 40 Degrees into the water in celebration. 'I’ll be just really happy to see the boat go round the world with two really good girls on board.'

GOR boats that have already completed the 180 test:

1. Groupe Picoty (FRA) Jacques Fournier and Jean Edouard Criquioche
Finot-Conq Design. Pogo 40S² Class40 (launched Structures Yard June 2010). Inversion at Structures Yard June 2010. Self-righting time 21mins

2. Peraspéra (ITA) Francesco Piva and Luca Zoccoli. Farr Yacht Design. Kiwi 40FC Class40 (launched Auckland December 2010). Inversion in Viaduct Basin, Auckland, December 2010. Self-righting time 24mins

3. Partner Wanted (FRA) Lionel Regnier and Pierre-Yves Cavan. Lombard Design. Akilaria RC2 Class40 (launched at MC-TEC yard, Tunisia, April 2011). Inversion at MC-TEC yard April 2011. Self-righting time 18mins

4. Mowgli (ITA) Marco Nannini and Paul Peggs. Lombard Design Akilaria first generation Class40. (launched 2007). Inversion in Lorient, France, April 2011. Self-righting time 54mins

5. Desafio Mallorca (Jasmine Flyer) (GBR/SPA). Conrad Colman and Hugo Ramón. Lombard Design Akilaria RC2 (launched at MC-TEC yard, Tunisia, May 2011). Inversion at MC-TEC yard May 2011. Self-righting time 11mins

6. BSL (Ex-Desafio Cabo de Hornos) (NZ) Ross and Campbell Field. Verdier Design Tyker Class40 (launched 2008). Inversion at Berthon Boatyard, Lymington, June 2011. Self-righting time 6mins

7. Roaring Forty 2 (BEL/GBR) Michel Kleinjans and David Thomson. BT Boats Kiwi 40FC (launched Zeeburugge, Belgium, May 2011). Inversion test Nieuwport, Belgium, July 2011. Self-righting time 25mins

8. Campagne de France (FRA/GBR) Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron. Pogo 40S² (launched Cherbourg, France, July 2011). Inversion test Cherbourg July 2011. Self-righting time 14mins 14sec

9. Phesheya-Racing (RSA) Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire. Akilaria (launched MC-TEC Tunisia, 2006). Inversion test Gosport July 2011. Self-righting time 55mins

10. 40 Degrees (GBR/GER) Hannah Jenner and Anna-Maria Renken. (launched Jaz Marine, Cape Town, 2009). Inversion test Gosport August 2011. Self-righting time 14mins Global Ocean Race website