Winners!

While all about were losing their heads — or at least their keel systems — boats engineered by the "artists" at Italian hydraulics firm Cariboni just carried on including ABN Amro One and Two. We asked Giovanni Cariboni to reflect upon each of his VO70 installations (with apologies to Rudyard Kipling)

SH: Please can you describe the key characteristics of the three different canting systems that you supplied to the VO70s?

Giovanni Cariboni: On ABN Amro Two the keel pin rotates within adjustable bearings with the system supported from the two main bulkheads. Each of these bulkheads also has an adjustable bearing between which we hang a yoke that carries the cylinders. And these two yokes (one each side) are quite largeŠ because the bulkheads are widely spaced and quite far from the cylinder position.

On ABN Amro One the pin rotates on adjustable bearings but here the canting cylinders hang off their own mini-bulkheads (ie not on the main bulkheads) — hence it was possible to reduce the span considerably and thus dispense with the large yokes.

Brasil 1 was simpler; there are no adjustable pin bearings and no special bearings for the yoke. Again the cylinders connect to their own bulkheads, specifically installed to accept the system. The hydraulics (including the control system) are similar on all three boats, although we carefully optimised each one separately, particularly in terms of fine-tuning canting speed and optimising the use of energy.

To read the remainder of this and many other articles, please purchase your copy of the March 2007 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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