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After a slightly disappointing year last season when they were outgunned by the Vrolijk designs in what proved to be a breezier MedCup Circuit than the Botin Carkeek designs were optimised towards, Quantum Racing has so far proven a good all round performer.
“We have been making consistent gains.” Carkeek notes of the progress that Quantum Racing has made since the boat was launched, “ Obviously this season we have made a big effort to close the communication loop between all areas of the team, in other words moving into the construction phase, moving into the testing phase, and we have tried to learn from every area.”
In practical terms what does that mean, before during and after regattas?
“ Bascially we deal with Terry, Morgan, Dave Armitage, Ian Moore and the key trimmers, and then internally from our office. And that is basically how the system works. We receive data and analyse that and that is processed from the different parts of the boat, analysed by us and then we have various meetings looking at the data, the fleet performances across each of the races and the different conditions.”
“ For development once the boat has gone in the water then it is a question of moding the boat for the different events, the sail concepts for each set of different conditions, and how those sails are trimmed and how they are moded for the conditions we expect the boat to be able to handle.”
And how successful do you feel you have been so far in terms of these targets at the three regattas so far?
What has been the key to developing the performance package so far with Quantum Racing?
“ It is important to get the boat early, and with Quantum we had it a few weeks before the first event. Other teams had their boats slightly longer. It is very important to hit those targets on time. We have seen this year that the boats are relatively close in terms of concept, closer than they have ever been before, so there is a certain amount of type forming now, as there is with any box rule, but there is a big emphasis now placed on other areas of the project and those are sail development, the coordination between the sail design team and the boat design team, at this level, those two are very integrated. We know exactly what the sail designers are doing and they know what we are doing and there is a strong iterative process going on, between the two groups, so that each is always in tune with the other. You can’t do one thing without the other. And that is what we managed to do in the design process as well, so we had a very good handle on the aerodynamics. We were very involved in the sail design process, more than we have been in the past. That is about helping the sail designers analyse the design shapes and implementing those into our speed analysis so we know what shapes work with certain modes.”
What are the particular challenges in terms of the design and optimising process with regard to the TP52, and how do they compare with the America’s Cup and the Volvo and do these events enhance the platform you work from for the TP52?
“ We involved those shapes with what works for our team and our type of boat. It is not just a case having a sail design team and a hull design team. The ideal situation would be where all the design components would be sitting in the same room, making the decisions at a very short distance, but in a TP52 programme you always have people dotted all over the world, and an event finishes and everyone scatters and then a few weeks later come back together, so it is important that what is learned at that event is processed correctly and then you have the structure in place to make decisions on time to carry them out. The Volvo you experience similar problems that you do with the TP52, various people working in various places around the world, and so the communication and the management structures and the coordination has to be very good. In the America’s Cup you have the same thing but it is usually under the one roof and you have more time and more resources at your fingertips, and it makes it easier but you generally go a lot deeper.”
“ In some ways the TP52 and Volvo process can be even more challenging, for example with people dotted around the world it is not easy to come to conclusions easily, and that is an area we have really tried to push hard. We are learning from our previous campaigns, and one area you can never be good enough is in working with the design team and the sail design team, even the construction and shore teams. We have conversations with them all, and we really do have a very lateral management system where that is concerned. We feel that is working very well, but we also have a presence at every single TP52 regatta, at least two designers from our office. They are there before the events and look at any changes and them once the regatta has started we can go away ,. During the event we are really looking ahead to the next event.”
What’s the immediate future for the TP52 class?
“ I think that Rob Weiland is very good for the class on the technical side, keeping things fresh. It is not a bad idea to implement some changes to the class, but always keeping a careful eye on not alienating too many of the boats, but developing what the market wants, at the end of the day this is a class which is owned or managed effectively by the owners. We have been working very closely, as have other designers with Rob Weiland to develop these changes to keep the boat as exciting as possible, and maybe bring some new life into the class, and maybe make some worthwhile improvements. Some are cosmetic, some are perfromance, some are structural. We are looking at areas which will keep it at the front end of Grand Prix racing which is where it is at the moment. I think it is an expensive boat, but it always has been.”
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