Rolex Sydney Hobart -Wild Oats XI sails make the difference

by Julian Plante on 2 Jan 2009 Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI re-wrote the history books again to take a fourth successive line honours. North Sails Australia Managing Director Michael Coxon was invited on board as part of the afterguard by Bob and Wild Oats Skipper Mark Richards.

Reflecting on the trip, Michael commented that given the predominately fast downwind conditions it was a relatively easy race by Hobart standards, and one highlight was that 'I did not put on my wet weather jacket which is a first in 27 races for me!'

When asked what sails made the difference, Michael noted that 'the new 3DL thermo-moulded R2 Reaching Jib, Upwind Code Zero and Downwind Code Zero were the race winners for Wild Oats XI.

'Once the winds eased into the range of these sails the boat really streeted the opposition. What I find with these boats is it’s not so much the top speed; it’s how they maintain a high average speed.

'They can sit on 22 to 24 knots, where you’ll find other more light displacement, surfie type boats such as the TP52’s, might hit a 30 but then they’ll be sitting on 16-20 for a while.

'The only way you’re going to get to hull speeds of 30 plus will be on a wave, and these maxi yachts are like knives and they don’t catch waves. They’re longer than the wave pattern, so you tend to not get the very high bursts but you get an incredibly high average speed out.

On the all important sail selection front, the use of more and more sophisticated weather and routing software has given the afterguard more detailed information for that decision making process. According to Michael, ‘Before the race the models were giving us two different scenarios for wind and race length, and I was a little bit worried, especially as one of our navigators had taken the sail selection chart I gave him, and listed what sails they thought were going to have on to win.

The problem is it only added up to 31 hours based on the routing estimation of the best case weather scenario. So I was wondering whether it was to be bare poles for the rest of the race if the model was wrong! In the end we chose not to carry the A1 Spinnaker, J5 Jib and R3 Heavy Jib Top to save weight based on the downwind forecast.’

'We made 31 sail changes during the race which had the foredeck and sewer team sweating the whole way, but they responded well to the challenge.'