Vendée Globe

Dee Caffari and Mike Golding, who between them have sailed around the world eight times, have drawn up a boat testing programme to prepare together for the next Vendée Globe. The two skippers announced the technical alliance, the first of its kind between British Open 60 teams, in March 2007. The alliance led to the construction of two identical sister-ships in Aviva and ECOVER 3 and this summer Caffari and Golding will be testing the two boats against each other to maximise performance.

The Aviva Ocean Racing and Ecover teams are taking a leaf out of Formula 1’s book and believe in the merits of testing against similar machines. One of the boats will be set as a control whilst the other makes changes to the sail trim, ballast and keel angle to determine the most effective set up.

A new keel too for Aviva
The testing, taking place in Plymouth later this August, was postponed earlier this year due to several full penetration cracks in ECOVER 3’s keel blade as well as other significant keel blade defects. As a result Golding replaced his keel in April and Caffari is planning a new keel to be fitted in the second week of August. Whilst the Aviva Ocean Racing team have not experienced any problems with the current keel, the team decided to fit the new keel as a precautionary measure ahead of the Vendée Globe.



Mike determined to win the Vendée Globe
Mike Golding, Britain’s most successful solo sailor, is looking to better his third position in the 2004/05 edition of the Vendée Globe and be the first Britain to win the race:
“This Vendée Globe is going to be the most competitive yet and with 30 boats aiming to be in the race ECOVER 3 has to be as competitive as possible. The technical alliance with Dee and the Aviva team mean that we are going to be in a strong position when we get to the start line. We suffered a set back in April but having replaced the keel I’m now feeling confident we’ll be able to get the most out of our time together in Plymouth. It’s not long to go till the start so every day on the water counts.”

Caffari supported by her sponsors Aviva since her record breaking voyage around the world against the prevailing winds and currents in 2006, added:
“The technical alliance has meant I’m able to line up in Les Sables d’Olonne with more confidence in how to get the most out of a new generation boat. We’re investing the time to test the two-boats against each other to maximise Aviva’s potential. This is my first Vendée Globe so working with Mike is exciting. That said neither of us are strangers to the Southern Ocean so I’ll be looking forward to racing him once we get started.”

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