It’s the crossover... stupid

Composite standing rigging is creeping down the size-scale in the IRC racer fleet. IRC designer Mark Mills, aerodynamicist Dave Le Pelley and chief measurer Mike Urwin talk to Jonty Sherwill about what the future holds

With PBO rigging now proven in events like the Volvo Ocean Race and the Vendée Globe, the material’s typical weight savings of up to 80 per cent over Nitronic 50 rod rigging are becoming increasingly attractive to skippers of much smaller designs. However many rules, including IRC, still extract a rating penalty for these lighter but more costly rigging options, and so the question for the most competitive campaigns becomes one of rating-value, as well as the hard cash premium.

Mark Mills, designer of some outstandingly successful IRC boats, is also a RORC and US-IRC technical committee member. He uses the same WinVPP performance software that is used at the RORC rating office, although, like all designers, he is denied access to the complex IRC formula itself. Mills was recently asked to review the status of composite rigging under IRC using a detailed analysis of three sample boats.

Mills explains the methodology: ‘We were asked to look at the performance impact of composite rigging, particularly under IRC which has been the subject of speculation about under-accounting for the performance influence. Although liberal treatment of composite rigging would probably be acceptable in IRC at larger yacht sizes, the question was how far down the scale this treatment should extend...

Below: Well in the zone: Hasso Plattner’s Reichel-Pugh designed MaxZ86 Morning Glory on its way to winning the 2007 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo with a full compliment of PBO rigging

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