Why humans are even faster on some courses
In a further articles we presented the new "Malizia 4" concept. A great deal of information was still subject to secrecy. The designer and team are talking comparatively openly about another success factor, without, of course, laying all the cards on the table and giving detailed insights: The new boat is to be designed to be steered by hand more than ever before.
This seems absurd at first, because the autopilot on the Vendée Globe takes over 99 per cent of the course keeping and hardly any of the four crew members had ever touched the V-shaped tiller of "Malizia 3" during The Ocean Race 2023. Which, incidentally, would have been hard work because the system was not designed for it. However, a process of rethinking has now taken place in the Imoca class.
Because even the most sophisticated electronic systems, which cost more than 250,000 euros, are not yet able to keep the boats on the foils in marginal conditions, manual steering has proven to be more efficient in some areas. Especially on deep courses and on the borderline between planing and flying mode, helmsmen are faster than the autopilot.
This only applies in daylight, when the crew can see or anticipate waves and gusts of wind. But, says Will Harris, these can be "race-deciding moments": "It often adds two knots to your speed, sometimes more. But even if it's only one nautical mile per hour, over ten or twelve hours, it's worth every effort."
This enabled him and co-skipper Francesca Clapcich, who took over "Malizia 3" last autumn, to secure second place in the Transat Café l'Or. Looking back, Harris regrets not having steered more by hand in the Ocean Race three years ago - "very much so!"
"Malizia 4" is also being built for manual control
"Malizia 4" is therefore designed for manual operation from the outset. This requires a comfortable steering position, good visibility ahead and into the sails, as well as good feedback from the rudder blades with low operating forces. The latter would actually speak in favour of wheel steering. However, this era is long gone for Imocas; the last boat to be designed in this way dates back to 2007: the ex-Pindar developed by Juan Kouyoumdijan, which was modified for Alex Thomson in 2010 ("Hugo Boss 3").
Will wheel steering return?
Is Team Malizia reactivating the topic? "No comment," they say. What is interesting in this context, however, is that the simulator on which the crew is already sailing virtually with the new boat has a steering wheel. It is one from the video game range and therefore does not necessarily allow any conclusions to be drawn.
What the new autopilot should be able to do in future
Irrespective of the trend towards manual control, autopilot development is also continuing. However, major progress is not expected for another year or two.
Initially, a two-level system will remain on board "Malizia 4": The basis is a redundantly designed H5000 system from B&G, above which lies an Exocet Silver system from Pixel sur Mer, which provides the relevant impulses. This processes the data from the encoders independently and almost in real time. It calculates true wind speed and wind angle in the highest possible resolution, but now also provides optimised course data independently. Previously, this was only done as an overlay.
The aim is to move away from previous reactive systems that are based on so-called PID controllers (proportional-integral-derivative) and follow set target or threshold values. The holy grail that all leading teams are researching is model predictive controllers (MPC).
How the simulator and AI should boost performance
"We are trying to integrate the simulator, which the ship has, and in which all the physical equations are stored, i.e. not just speed forecasts for certain courses and wind conditions, but all the dynamic maths into the model," explains Boris.
As a first step and with the help of artificial intelligence, the aim is to automate the analysis of training and race data. "This would allow deviations between the model and reality to be recorded". This in turn would greatly improve the precision of the autopilot.
In fact, the skipper and his team have left no stone unturned to make "Malizia 4" the winning boat. They have even tweaked the weight of the design. Because the colour scheme of the old sails added 18 kilograms to the weight, the new look should be much lighter. But even that is still a secret.
The launch of the new development, which cost a good nine million euros, is due to take place in Lorient on 29 June. By then at the latest, there will be hardly any secrets left.
Jochen Rieker
Herausgeber YACHT
