Where next?

Nigel Irens, who designed Pascal Bidégorry's winning Banque Populaire, had (briefly) hoped that another article on the Orma 60 Class's structural integrity and its suitability for ocean racing might not prove necessary...

After the carnage of the 2002 Route du Rhum you might have hoped - or even assumed - that the 60ft Orma Class trimarans would have learned a few lessons and cleaned up their act before setting out on another gruelling short-handed winter dash across the Atlantic. Sadly the statistics for the recent edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre appear to prove otherwise (10 starters and four finishers, compared to 18 starters and three finishers in 2002). The problems encountered this year were the usual depressing mixture of capsizes or breakages... or both.

To read the remainder of this and many other topical technical articles, please purchase your copy of the February 2006 edition of Seahorse International Sailing, available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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