Light touch

While at times all around seemed to be coming unravelled, the one technical area of the new VO70s that many regarded as being the most radical just kept on performing Ð and without fuss or drama. Philip Anniss of Future Fibres, which rigged the entire 2005/06 VO70 fleet with their clean and light PBO system, explains how the doubtful duckling turned quietly into a swan

Round-the-world yacht racing has evolved a long way since the Whitbread days, and the pressure on designers and crews for ultimate performance has never been greater. Three decades on, a grand prix approach has driven boats and crews alike to the limits. This is reflected in some truly staggering statistics: the 24-hour world monohull record of 484nm set in the 2001/2 Volvo Ocean Race was smashed by no less than 79 miles in this latest race Ð with an average speed of 23.4 kt.

Clearly, such advances increase the demands on the crews and boats and as early as the end of the second leg of the 2005/6 race, following a succession of breakdowns and retirements, concerns were voiced as to whether the boats were safe enough to continue. However, although there were certainly areas of failure there were plenty of technical successes being recorded in this tough event, among them a very public coming of age for PBO standing rigging, allowed for the first time in the Volvo fleet in 2005/6.

PBO, or poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole), is a synthetic polymer that...

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