Vrolijk designs new Mean Machine Volvo Open 70

by Volvo media on 31 Jan 2007 The fact that the Alinghi designer Rolf Vrolijk has been named as the man to bring the Mean Machine Volvo 70 to life is no coincidence.

Over the last 20 years a considerable number of the team’s successes have had the Vrolijk touch

The last two decades of teamwork include a healthy list of successes, which are all down to the special chemistry that comes from putting talent such as the Mean Machine team, Vrolijk and Peter de Ridder together. It’s a unique and special formula.

'It’s built on a long term relationship of trust between Peter De Ridder, the team and I,' says Vrolijk. 'We’ve done several projects together and they have been very successful.'

'We have also always worked as a team with the sailors and the feedback in both directions has worked very well for us. I think I can say that my relationship with Peter is very much like a friendship and, over the years, we have got to know each other very well.'

Echoing these words, Peter de Ridder says that the special working relationship really has yielded a recipe for success: 'I have had a very good and longstanding relationship with Rolf since the mid-eighties. We work very well together and each time the design process has become even more of a dialogue, which has ultimately meant that we’ve always built the boat with the exact characteristics we were aiming for. Also Rolf and Fietje Judel and all their staff are very easy to approach and to share ideas with.'

It all began back in 1985 with the very first Mean Machine (former Rubin), a Judel/Vrolijk One Tonner that Peter de Ridder took to the 1986 One Ton Cup in Mallorca. The boat finished in sixth place overall out of a fleet of thirty-five, and that was with a 100% amateur crew.

Following this success the Mean Machine fleet continued to grow, mainly under the watchful eye of the Judel/Vrolijk team. This saw brand new additions to the fleet, as successful as the ILC 40 Mean Machine and the TP 52, which Peter de Ridder, along with Ray Davies and Dirk de Ridder sailed to victory in 2006 taking the most coveted of Mediterranean titles, the Breitling MedCup 2006.

Now there’s another design challenge on the drawing board, as Vrolijk, his team, Peter de Ridder and Mean Machine prepare to build a new piece of team history together. A compact expert group has been brought together boasting names such as Judel/Vrolijk & Co Engineering in charge of design and design team coordination, Dirk Kramers & Steve Koopman SDK on structural engineering, and Michael Richelsen overlooking CFD/VPP and tank testing support.

The 2008-09 Volvo will bring this Dutch dream-team together yet again. Peter de Ridder knows they’ve made the right choices: 'Rolf is a very talented and gifted designer who is still very much engaged with and committed to the projects he’s running. With such a talented designer with such a good team of people around him, I don’t see any reason at all why we can’t go on to build a potential winner'.

Meanwhile, Rolf is very hopeful about this latest challenge: 'This is a great challenge for our design team. We have been involved in several round the world projects in the past with a great deal of success such as Philips Innovator, Equity and Law, BrunelSunergy, and Bank von Bremen. This is the most professional approach I’ve seen so far and that’s what is so attractive to us. It’s clear to us that without an outstanding sailing team and expert organisation you are never going to win this race.'

Builder Bushe Back in Business

The new boat for Ericsson Racing Team will be built in Kista, Sweden, 10 kilometres north of Stockholm, right next door to Ericsson’s offices. Irish-born Killian Bushe, builder of both ABN AMRO boats, as well as illbruck, the winner of the 2001-02 Volvo, will be managing the construction which will start in March this year.

'As a team, we have set high targets for our performance, both commercially and on the sports side,' explains Richard Brisius, managing director of Ericsson Racing Team. 'Killian and his professional boat-builders are setting up a state-of-the-art yard in Kista which will provide us with the best possible build package and tools to reach our targets,' he adds.

Bushe will set up his camp right in the middle of Kista, in a building that belongs to Klõvern, a real estate company which will host the team offices and the boat yard during the build stage. 'A boat such as Ericsson can be built anywhere, as long as there is enough space, cleanliness, the right temperature control and good ventilation,' says Bushe. And this is exactly what Klõvern is providing. The rest is about getting the right people, building the king-sized ovens used for ‘baking’ the carbon fibre parts of the boat and bringing in the special tools needed.

Being based adjacent to Ericsson’s offices, the team will be able to welcome the company’s customers and employees who will have the opportunity to see the different steps of the construction and watch the boat grow into a full-blown racing machine.

Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org