JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #43 - September 2008 - 26

FEATURE “Marine” A very British Open 60 Artemis Ocean Racing II is a 60-foot carbon/epoxy racing yacht launched this year for the Vendee Globe single-handed non-stop around-the-world race. As the first Open 60 class yacht to be designed by Rogers Yacht Design (RYD), Artemis II builds on RYD’s experience in the smaller Class 40 and other offshore racing yachts. SP, the marine business of Gurit, has extensive experience in the structural design of several Open 60s, which made it the natural choice of partner for the boat’s design. critical feature. In many cases, the boat performance is not limited by its potential speed but by the sailor’s own levels of endurance. Anything that makes the boat easier to sail means that sailors can push it harder and longer in harsh conditions. ANDREW WHITTAKER, STRUCTURAL COMPOSITE ENGINEER FOR SP, THE MARINE BUSINESS OF GURIT Ergonomics The Open 60, because it is designed to be sailed by a single person, requires a very ergonomic layout. The rules allow the sailor to stack spare equipment on the windward side of the boat, so that the boat can fly larger sails and hence sail faster without heeling excessively. However, it can take 20 minutes on existing boats to move several hundred kilograms of sails up to the windward side, an exhausting process for the skipper which must be repeated every time the boat tacks or gybes. An ergonomic layout typically means compromising the structural design and increasing the weight of the boat. The design team decided a small weight increase would be worthwhile to provide the skipper with an easy route through the boat to move the vast sails, both in a transverse and longitudinal direction depending on the need to trim the boat. O pen 60s are an exciting arena for designers and engineers. As the class name suggests, the very open rules allow significant scope for innovation and it is no coincidence that many of the features seen on modern racing and performance cruising yachts were first seen on Open 60s. A close team Until recently, the class was dominated by French sailors and designers. This is the first all-British team of sponsor, skipper, designer, engineer and material supplier. The geographical proximity of all the parties allowed regular design review meetings to speed up the iterative process of designing such an innovative race boat. SP was able to work closely with the builders to ensure that the materials needed for the design were available at the right time, and to specify appropriate alternatives when the build schedule was too tight to use the original fabric choices. SP’s composite processing engineers were also on hand to help out on occasions when the yard needed advice on the best way to process the SE70 low-temperature prepreg selected for the build. Key design drivers This article discusses the most intriguing aspects of the composite structural design. Most of these were driven by the extreme demands of the Vendee Globe race: three months at sea, singlehanded, with no outside assistance allowed. The boats have to be ultra-reliable. Historically, one in three entrants in this gruelling race have suffered major structural failure. At the same time, the leading designs are now approaching the limit of weight optimisation so there is no room for excessive safety margins in a competitive boat. Ergonomics are also increasingly seen as a race- Artemis Ocean Racing mast bulkhead JEC Composites Magazine / No43 September 2008

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #43 - September 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #43 - September 2008