Doyle Sails have not traditionally been linked to the IMOCA class but with more Doyle-powered high performance Grand Prix yachts around the world than ever before the success and performance of Doyle Sails is hard to ignore, especially amongst French skippers. After contributing to Alex Thomson’s second place in the 2016-17 Vendée Globe and before that to his third place in 2012-13, Doyle Sails’ long and fruitful collaboration with the British skipper and his team continues, as they are the chosen sailmakers for Clarisse Crémer’s L’Occitane en Provence Vendée Globe challenge which is managed by Alex Thomson Racing (ATR).
The decision to go with Doyle Sails is largely an ATR team choice, one certainly influenced by the long standing relationship with Doyle Sails Design Director Richard Bouzaid, who sailed regularly with Alex, and has designed the new sails for the IMOCA L’Occitane en Provence. When Alex and Clarisse joined forces last year, sail design and sail maker choice was a hot topic. The way ATR works is that the skipper has a big voice in all major decisions and the sail choice was made as a collective team decision. It took some time for Clarisse to be comfortable with a new sail maker and moving to a new supplier was a big step.
ATR’s Chief Operating Officer Richard Mason commented: “Doyle Sails have a large offshore sailing team with a huge depth of knowledge and experience to draw on in the design processes, so they understand what we need. With Richard Bouzaid heading up the design and technology team, they have a unique ability to translate design into real time flying shapes. Combined with big technological developments in their product means that they are constantly pushing development and creating a competitive edge.”
Getting to know Clarisse has been central to the whole process, how she sails, how she makes choices, how she optimizes her boat and sails etc. The brief to the Doyle Sails design team was to push for max optimisation across all sails for L’Occitane en Provence. Doyle Sails are the changemakers of the industry, leading the world of innovation with their Cableless and Structured Luff sails. Chief Technology Officer Brad Marsh explains the advances incorporated into Cremer’s new Doyle sails: “Now on the IMOCA there are so many sails set in front of the mast and every additional sail you add has traditionally increased compression to the mast itself. Structured Luff sails don’t increase compression so with more sails, there is no more compression or load and means you can achieve a better flying shape.”
With Structured Luff sails the load is shared through the lens of the sail and into the rest of the sail through custom load paths, this means less luff sag, less load, and the luff often projects forwards. With less sag the sail shape changes less in a gust, with the designed shape always a reality. With conventional sails, the sail sags to leeward, the front flattens, and the leech closes and the draft moves aft. With Doyle’s Structured Luff technology, the luff stays projected and remains deeper on the entry and stays twisted on the leech. With several offwind sails flying at the same time the gains are multiplied.
According to Brad Marsh, the biggest focus is to maximise the power of the sails from the outset to ensure the IMOCA is up and foiling as early as possible, and to find the balance so they don’t become too deep or draggy when foiling. This leads to staysails now being designed and set to create slots inside of each other which hold the apparent wind forward by keeping the average speeds higher. This same method then applies through the entire range. As the boats become overpowered, they are still looking to keep two or three sails up and have a number of slots to hold the apparent wind forward.
Crémer’s project is currently the only IMOCA programme for Doyle Sails and while they want to grow into the French Grand Prix ocean racing scene, CEO Mike Sanderson, a well-known former IMOCA racer himself as well as winning skipper in the Volvo Ocean Race, highlights: “We have had a great run of success with Alex Thomson Racing in the past and to be able to share this knowledge and experience with Clarisse is very cool. The world class project team (with Doyle and ATR members) surrounding the sail design and production will ensure Clarisse’s sails are second to none.”
Doyle Sails are fully certified by IMOCA as one of the sail makers that met and exceed the class’s ‘green sail’ criteria. The overall objective of the rule is to reduce the impact that sail production has on the environment. Doyle Sails are a proud that they been pioneers in this area and scored well and truly above the requirements.
Photo: PKC Media / L’Occitane Sailing team
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