The Sardinha Cup is the first meeting of the Figaro class riders with their new one-design, the Figaro 3. However, during the previous stage, many retirements and doubts about the rigging led the race director, Francis Le Goff, to postpone the start of the third stage.
Indeed, before the race, the Figaro riders had reported problems with the spreaders that could lead to the mast breaking.
But what is a bar of flèche??
The spreader bar is a male part that allows the spreader to be fixed to the mast by interlocking. The role of the spreaders is to spread the shrouds away from the mast in order to optimize their work. They are subject to high compressive forces.
In addition, spreader spreaders can also be used to anchor shrouds. In this case, there will also be pull-out and torsional forces.
On the Figaro 3, the lower and intermediate shrouds are anchored to the spreader headers, so this part is very stressed.
A problem already reported
Two months ago, the editorial staff of Bateaux.com made some visits to the Figaro 3 site. Riders and preparers had already expressed significant doubts about these parts.
We were told that the piece would be cut according to the dotted lines. We were shown that there was too little material to resist the pull-out forces and that the adjustment of the spreaders on the mast did not allow the compression forces to be transmitted correctly.
And at the beginning of March 2019, while we were participating in the first training sessions in Lorient, the first incident was reported. On the second day of the course, Erwan Le Draoulec returned to port because his port intermediate shroud had fallen on pont?! Fortunately, the mast didn't break. The alert was sent out, and everyone went back to training with a concerned look at the spar.
A review before the race
As the first race of the season approached, Sparcraft, supplier of the carbon masts, intervened at the request of the Figaro Class to carry out a revision of the rigging. It was a major operation that required the dismasting of all the boats for a shore-based overhaul.
However, this measure proved insufficient, as many competitors experienced technical problems during the race.
To take stock from the inside, we contacted Gildas Mahé, author of a very nice race on Breizh Cola.
"Before the race, Sparcraft had already made reinforcements on all the boats of the existing part, which had been glued with epoxy and reinforcement sheets.
In fact, we do not know exactly how many runners are involved. There are those who gave up on the previous stage and those who finished it and discovered the breakage on land. The spreader may hold, but the spreader may be broken inside.
This is the case with Tom Dolan. They noticed this when they climbed into the mast, they had to dismantle and change the part. It's the same for Erwan Le Draoulec, whose second broken spreader."
Which suite technique??
Gildas Mahé gives us his point of view on the immediate consequences.
"For now, we have to see if we can get some bars. And we won't have that technical information until Monday, it conditions everything else. Because when changing the spreader spreaders, it is also necessary to replace the D2 (the intermediate shrouds between the two spreader levels). So there are 2 feasibility problems, those of the bars and the provision of 60 D2."
And what do the coureurs?'s think about it? "The fleet would like to have the rigging repaired for one last round. But we shouldn't put too much pressure on them, because otherwise we'll still have problems. We shouldn't jeopardise the future of the boat and the Solitaire du Figaro on a poorly adjusted spreader problem during the first race."
A postponement or cancellation of course??
Thus, the Race Director, Francis Le Goff, considers it prudent to postpone the start of the 3rd round of the Sardinha Cup. A courageous decision taken this Saturday 6th April 2019, after consultation with all the skippers, in agreement with Estelle Graveleau, Director of Team Vendée Formation, who is co-organising this inaugural event of the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship.
Francis Le Goff, explains," Under these conditions, for the safety of the entire fleet, we are not in a position to launch the third stage until these technical problems have been resolved by Sparcraft, which supplies the masts, NDLR]. All the boats will be equipped with new bars in the coming days, which should allow us to launch a start. I would like to thank all the skippers who understood the decision and expressed their desire to compete in the third stage of the Sardinha Cup" . You can access it by typing the name of the port in the search engine, zooming in on the map of France or searching for ports according to many criteria such as the size of the boat or the presence of a slipway...
The departure date will be announced later.
