Yachting World — February 2018

back into the database and check if there is something

there. Sometimes there is nothing, but we do as much as

we can. And I know the other [teams], the good ones, are

doing it with us.”

Hence the team briefed their Leg 2 OBR: “We said to

Jeremie Lecaudey, look, there’s a couple of things we

would like you not to show the world. We are still very

transparent, there are just a couple of things that we

would like to keep for ourselves, and there’s nothing

wrong with that.”

Among the things teams are looking for are clues as to

which sail combinations produced best performance in

given conditions – which the teams can only try to

determine by comparing footage with their own polars,

and the publicly available tracker information.

However, the Race Experts receive full telemetry from

every boat, and Dubois has concerns that sometimes their

commentary can inadvertently reveal more than

intended about the boats’ relative performance.

“I’m personally not for everything going out,” Dubois

explains. “To take an example: Dongfeng. When I tried to

talk them into going back into this race, I told them that I

would like to sail earlier. And they asked me why do that? All

the boats are the same, why not just start later with better

sailors? I told them no, there is still performance to gain.

“That’s the reason why we went testing with Mapfre, it’s

the reason why we started earlier and we did it, step by step,

the way we do it in the America’s Cup, and it costs money.

“Now, our sponsor is not happy,

they say ‘Why did we pay for that if

everybody can get it now?’ Charles

is furious because he can see on

the Race Experts there is some

information those guys are using.”

Dubois says that understanding

the nuances of what telemetry

data can be discussed is a very fine

judgement call. “If you’ve never

been sailing on those boats you

‘The Drone potential is a grey

arEA THAT NEEDS TO BE POLICED’

VOLVO RACE

Drones raise the

temptation of

crews using them

to check on rivals’

set-ups, offering

a far clearer view

than traditional

binoculars

An OBR launches
a camera drone,
controlled using
an iPhone. They
can also be flown
using a larger
screen iPad
control
Jesus Renedo/Volvo Ocean Race

Sam Greenfield/Volvo Ocean Race

32 February 2018