Golden Globe Race design rules?

The Golden Globe Race looks like it is going to be an ongoing thing.

Already, two contemporary runnings have occurred. In the first one, 18 boats entered. Five finished. in the second one, 15 boats entered, and only 3 finished. The next running, which is scheduled for next year, has 30 entrants.

I am much more interested in this race than I am in the other around-the-world-alone races because this one is non-stop and it happens in boats that I can relate to. These are not foiling speed machines, which need an engine running constantly to cant the keel when needed. They are also not that fast. They are limited to displacement speeds, and there size is limited to the extent that lighter hulls, that can surf, are out of the question. This race can theoretically be completed in no less than 180 days. It has been completed in as few as 214 days, already.

I think it would be an interesting challenge to design a boat for this race. But such is not allowed under the present rules. I would like to help change that. Below, I have suggested 9 design limits for a possible design rule for this race. One of the most important goals of this proposed rule is to not make older designs allowed in it obsolete.

Proposed Design Rules for Golden Globe Racing Sailboats

Right now, there are no Class Design rules except the following:

1.) Boats must be at least 32 ft (9.76 m) and no greater than 36 ft (11.0 m) long.
2.) Boats must have a “full Keel” with an attached rudder.
3.) Boats must be based on designs created no later than the year 1988.

This means no new boat designs are welcome. I think this may be a bit short-sighted.

Here, I’m going to suggest a set of design rules which will help define the class while not making designs, presently in the fleet, obsolete.

Here are my suggestions:

1.) Boats must have a pointed bow with the taper starting at no less the 1/3 deck length aft of the top of the bow and the very tip being 0.00 to 1/16 Beam wide. The bow must also be so pointed at a height of no more than 6 inches (15 cm) above the Light Ship* Load Waterline
2.) Boats must have a Hull Length of at least 32 ft (9.76 M) but no greater than 36 ft (11.0 m).
3.) Hull Beam must be at least 3/10 the Hull Length.
4.) Displacement must be at least 1.2 * ((Beam ^2) * Length)/20 in Cubic Units.
5.) Displacement/ Length ratio (at Full Load Waterline) must be at least 300.**
6.) Keel, measured from its highest point forward to its highest point aft, must be at least 2.50 times as long as it is deep (measured from its highest point to its lowest point), and have no centerboard or other retractable leeway preventing device.
7.) Ballast must be at least 0.40 times, but no greater than 0.60 times the Light Ship Displacement
8.) Light Ship displacement must be at least 2/3 the Loaded Displacement***.
9.) Rudder must attach to the aft edge of Keel and extend no deeper than the keel.

* "Light Ship" means vessel with working sails and rig, engine, anchor and anchor rode, but with empty tanks, and no other stores aboard.
** Calculated by: Displacement Volume * 28.6/((0.10 LWL)^3).
*** "Loaded Displacement" means total displacement at time of departure.

With these rules, a minimal Golden Globe racer would: displace 177 cubic feet (5.02 cubic meters), when loaded, 117 cubic feet (3.31 cubic Meters) Light Ship; be 32 feet (9.76 meters) long, be 9.6 feet (2.93 Meters)in Beam; have a 25.6 foot (7.8 Meter) LWL at Loaded Displacement; and have somewhere between 3020 pounds (1,373 kg) and 4,530 pounds (2,059 kg) of ballast.

Although it would be somewhat easy to design a boat to these minimums, I doubt doing so would give very much of an advantage.

What does anyone think? Did I meet my stated goals with these proposed rules? Have i left any glaring loopholes?

 

I answered 'no'\to the question - simply because I think if new designs were allowed, then the costs would skyrocket, and the race concept would rapidly lose any connection to the original idea behind the GG.

Look at the Mini Transat Race - I think it originally just had one rule, to have an LOA of 6.5 metres or less - and in the early days, there were many small homebuilt corinthian boats on a shoe string taking part.
Now these boats are so high tech, with canting keels, foils, scow shaped hulls, and high tech materials that a corinthian entry is pretty much impossible now, unless somebody has extremely deep pockets.

 

I concur, the GG is about the sailors, not the tech. Notice how the Kiwi Kup (ex AMERICA's Cup) made itself totaly irrelevent.

 

Save your time and effort unless for fun. It wont happen unless Don thinks of it first. As for "affordable", his claim for the 580 was less than $10k, and boats are coming in at $60k, for a 20ft boat. All part of Dons Circus.

 

It is the word« race » which seems not in tune with the spirit of such initiative, it is more a « raid » propose to amateurs for which to finish is more important than to win.
Your specifications are too oriented to heavy long keel sailboat, which could not be the best choice for very rough seas with breaking waves able to roll you upside down (probability is high). An ULDB design at contrary seems to me more relevant, a low money for easy speed solution, and more safe in rough seas in my opinion.
The « raid » would be more social and friendly with stops at Cape Town, Sydney, Auckland, Rio.

 

I agree with the ULDB as being a more cost effective option, as long as it will perform when loaded down. A multi-stop-over event just becomes another ARC style rally. People with money seem to be attracted to such events. I do not understand why people will pay others to organise them to sail around the world, for me, completely counter intuitive.

 

I will avoid commenting on the Golden Globe,but confine my remarks to the Mini-Transat.It may not appeal universally,but the imminent race does have 90 competitors preparing for the start.They will be led by boats achieving speeds that were beyond anybody's dreams a few years ago.Which indicates a race in good health and a trend of producing faster boats.I'd call that a success.Rather a lot more useful than the competition that existed in the last few years of the 12 metres in the America's Cup when hundreds of millions of dollars was expended in making marginally seaworthy boats with 80% ballast ratios go a couple of hundredths of a knot faster.

 

I was once offered a salvage Mini 21 with a carbon keel but no rig. I was gung-ho on taking part until the actual fees put it beyond reach without significant sponsorship. Bonkers to cross the Atlantic on a 21ft boat with averages over 16 knots.

The Setka challange seems to be the go-to "non-race", for those on tight budgets.

 

Thank you for voting and commenting.

I agree with you on what happened to the mini class.

But it is clear that the design cart was always ahead of the rule horse.

Length being the only design limit, invites extreme measures to get the most speed per length. And this is what happened

In my mind, a sailboat's potential speed is governed by this simple formula:
('RM'/W) + 'SE' - D.

RM is righting moment. W is weight. SE is sail efficiency. An D is drag.

The most effective way to get speed is to reduce the weight and keep the righting moment the same. If this is done effectively enough, the boat can exceed 'displacement speed'. And this is what happened with the Minis.

The newer boats quickly so outpaced the older ones that the older ones were made obsolete. Now, this is great fun to see just how fast a monohull of a given length can be made to go.

With hydrofoils and canting keels, the answer is nearly unbelievably fast.

OK. Now we know.

The goal of my proposed design rule was to allow some innovation, but not enough to make older boats obsolete

The fact that these boats are so limited in speed is part of their appeal to me. I also think they are more durable. In the two recent GGRs, only one sank. And it likely did so due to an engineering mistake made when it was rebuilt.

These boats have to carry heavy loads due to their limited speed. I think this makes them more relevant than an ultra light flyer with a professional athlete as crew.

I also think that, in the end, they are less expensive, though probably not as much so as some might wish to believe.

But a boat that can carry a heavy load for its size makes for a good, compact live-aboard ocean roamer.

An ultra- light displacement can do the same job, but it has to be much larger in length and beam, and it likely has a more uncomfortable motion. It also often requires a deep draft to get sufficient capsize stability. And it needs to be made of more expensive materials. Great if one can afford it I am watching a YouTube video of one being refitted for a live-aboard purpose.

But every expense is going to be greater--long after it is launched.
This includes: haul out fees, docking fees, and maybe even mooring fees. Other maintenance is likely to cost more, too.

I am seeing the cruising life style going to higher end boats and higher end people. The boats are getting bigger and bigger.

I think the cruising community always tends to shadow the racing one.

This is the main reason I am interested in this race, and by extension, writing a design rule that helps define this boat type, so future ones can be designed and built.

 

Hello, nice to 'see' you.

In a parallel world, this regatta could be the perfect opportunity to create capable sailboats.

My point of view is, on the one hand, small, light sailboats for the Atlantic and heavy sailboats for other oceans, like this round-the-world trip.

It would be a good opportunity to design heavy, classic-style surfboards.

(1) In the oceans, there are waves, big waves
(2) The oceans are crossed downwind

Therefore (1 + 2 =) Surfing is the way to go

And in fact, the yachts of the 1930s surfed wonderfully, while those of the 1980s were incapable of surfing.

"lighter hulls, that can surf, are out of the question"

one issue is "planing"
another issue is "surf"

the Force for Surfing is = Mass x 9.8 Gravity x Sin Wave Slope = Newtons

the heavy one can Surf better

It is a Control Question

Pitch Control
Yaw Control

 

Why

Why my boat Surf so fast

Why my heavy boat Surf so fast

Why does my boat surf so fast? https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/why-does-my-boat-surf-so-fast.50195/

Because

Drive Force Surfing = Yacht Mass x 9.8 Gravity x Sin Wave Slope = Sir Isaac Newton

 

Sir Isaac Newton

 

Surfing

 

It's not a question of heavy versus light.

It's a question of control:

Pitch Control
Yaw Control

The Question is Falling with Style

 

For Example

Z4

Harrison Butler 'Z' 4-tonner archive details - Yachtsnet Ltd. online UK yacht brokers - yacht brokerage and boat sales https://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/archives/z-4-tonner/z-4-tonner.htm

... is better SurfBoard than "Wanderer II"

Wanderer II – Laurent Giles Archive https://laurentgilesarchive.co.uk/product/wanderer-ii/