Yachts & Yachting — February 2018

ELOI STICHELBAUT/DONGFENG RACE TEAM

In contrast Pascal Bidégorry from

Dongfeng, on his third Volvo Ocean

Race – in his own right a talented driver

• takes a dierent approach. “During
  the race, I look at boat performance
  between each watch and each of the
  drivers. I go sometimes on the deck
  to discuss trim. So, while I’m not
  driving a lot during this race, I drive
  during training and this feedback helps
  everyone concentrate on speed.”
  Joan Vila says: “I am on deck for all
  manoeuvres, not driving, I just trim
  and grind, I let the good drivers drive
  and keep the boat going fast. I am out
  of the watch system, I just manage
  myself, depending on tasks ahead.”
  Salter meanwhile, says: “While I
  drive a bit when the weather is nice,

in the Southern Ocean there is not a

lot happening on deck, just a lot of

water owing over it; I might have a

few short periods up there and do a bit

of driving or grinding, but generally

you can’t do much up there as there is

too much water on the deck and you

can’t see much if it is misty or foggy.

You can look at any cloud formations

coming or any front lines coming but

most of the work unfortunately is

below deck looking at these models.”

So, it’s a matter of routing. As

SiFi pointed out during the leg

into Melbourne, routing soware

does not factor in possible damage

to boats or sailors, it’s fearless.

He adds: “Risk management

perspective may produce other

decisions, for instance you want to be

on one side of the eet or the other, so

positions in the eet go hand in hand.

“If you are leading the pack,

sometimes you need to use up some of

your lead to shore up your position, but

you do have more options. Sometimes

when you are behind, and the weather

situation means that it’s going to be

hard to get back, then that is the time

you must take more risk. But all the

time we are weighing up the risk

versus reward ratio and trying to make

the best decisions based on that.

“Decision making, it’s a combination

of small tactical decisions that make the

dierence. In leg one going inshore at

the headland at Cabo de Gata gave us

a nice little buer that translated into

a leg win. Counterbalancing are times

we should have been more aggressive.”

(Mapfre and Dongfeng went into the

Cape of Good Hope and beneted,

while Vestas did not, as SiFi later rued).

Of course, it’s always risky when you

split from the eet, as Vila describes:

“You keep having second thoughts about

your decision, wanting to check that

if no-one follows you, your decision

was correct. If you get it right you can

nish rst, but if you are wrong you

can end up last. At the back, you may

make a risky move and do it all at

once or be patient one boat at a time.

When you’re in the front, you do not

necessarily sail your optimum course;

in covering you might give up some of

your distance lead to stay in front.”

Preparation, studying

the weather and

decision making:

advice for navigators

Vila: “The most

important thing is good

preparation. Study the

weather and the

currents, know your

navigation software, the routing

programmes, when it’s useful,

when it’s not. Learn about your

boat’s performance, the polars,

have them as accurate as you can.

That helps you with the software to

make the right decisions.”

Salter: “Understand and

get involved in the

sailing side of the boat.

Know the sails and how

the guys on deck are

using the sails and how they drive

and how they look at their

numbers. Understand that numbers

are just numbers and are only as

good as how well calibrated or

managed they are, so make sure

you are on top of that and realise

the inadequacies of that and

similarly with the outside

information too.

“Weather models are models.

They are not real-life pictures

all the time. You need to think

too, your best local ‘now cast’

comes from your barometer and

the windows and sea state.”

Bidgégorry: “Have the

big picture about the

weather forecast, about

tide, about sea state.

Keep it simple. Know

your boat and its strengths, what

can give you a speed advantage...

You want to go that way, so you

can go a little bit high or a little bit

low or try using di‚erent sails.”

SiFi: “Stay objective,

keep on an even keel

emotionally, listen to

the guys on board, and

make sure you keep

your eyes out of the boat to see the

local weather.

“It’s important to have a

mindset that you can always

be learning. I think navigating is

one of those roles when you can

never really know it all, so make

sure your preparation is good

and keep listening and learning.”

NAVIGATORS FEATURE

Above

Dongfeng blasts

downwind in

perfect conditions

in the Volvo

Ocean Race

We are weighing up the risk versus reward

ratio and trying to make the best decisions

38 Yachts & Yachting February 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk

NAV_VOR_hg_GCAMENDS_TH-GC.indd 38 19/12/2017 12:33