Many paths lead down to the Vieux Port of Saint-Tropez. But "Magic Carpet e" can never be overlooked. The white masthead, which can always be seen even from the narrow alleyways, serves as an anchor. The 46 metre long carbon spar even towers over the church tower of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption. "Magic Carpet e" is the only yacht that is allowed to stay in the Vieux Port without interruption during the season.
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The welcome goes out to skipper Danny Gallichan. The native Jersey Islander came to the fishing village for the third Nioulargue, the forerunner of the Les Voiles regatta, on "Mistress Quickly". It was here that he met Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, who built the first "Magic Carpet" with him in the mid-1990s, the 77-foot sistership to the legendary Wally "Genie of the Lamp". This was followed by two Wallys in 94 and 100 feet, always heavily modified. Gallichan welcomes us into the cockpit of the new carbon construction and says of its creation: "We were busy with an improvement or refit project almost every winter. But this time the step forward is bigger than anything we've tackled before."
Mast amidships, long tilting keel and sharp chine. "MCe" looks like a domesticated Imoca racer - at first.
Most recently, the long-standing CEO of L'Oréal sailed for twelve years on "Magic Carpet 3" ("Cubed"), a 100-foot Wally. After years of racing together, the arms race began, in which Owen-Jones also took part. Modifications took on extreme proportions, complete interiors disappeared. The only exception was the keel, as the box rule prohibited tilt variants.
Target: Be the fastest 100-foot yacht
Six years ago, the Magic Carpet team started thinking about a more sophisticated sailing base. Owen-Jones retained the requirement to be able to live on it for a week or two. "Gradually, the idea of a more radical departure from the status quo emerged. We got in touch with Guillaume Verdier."
The specifications for maxi yacht number four from the "Flying Carpet" fleet were clear: the fastest 100-foot yacht to sail up and down off Porto Cervo and around the islands at ten to twelve knots, and with a reasonable rating. The way there was a journey from the extreme to the feasible and usable: It was only after Verdier's 50th proposal that Owen-Jones was satisfied. Eight more iterations followed before the final crack flickered across the screens. Owen-Jones recalls: "I knew the design would be exciting, but when we saw the renderings, it was love at first sight. And so much more modern and exuding speed, even at anchor."
Verdier remained within the basic parameters of its predecessor: 30.48 metres long and 7.20 metres wide. The mast is positioned amidships on deck, and below it the keel swings out to windward by up to 45 degrees. The freeboard is characterised by a chine at the bottom, a spray rail in the middle and a tapered chamfer at the top. The deck - with cork instead of teak - makes a negative leap, dropping dramatically both fore and aft. It is easy to be tempted to see a domesticated Imoca in "Magic Carpet e". Verdier's colleague Hervé Penfornis waves it off while standing on deck. The rig and underwater hull are massively different, as the hull neither lifts nor is optimised for winds of over 20 knots.
"Magic Carpet e" is the most revolutionary ship on the maxi scene
The Breton designers also took design aspects into account. Project manager Penfornis responds to the questioning look at the concave recesses of the genoa rails with: "A sleek look was important to us, as was the aero aspect and the extra sail area. We didn't want to interrupt the deck planing with a block that would have raised the rail and created a tripping hazard." The same applies to the "dent" in the foredeck, which gives the Bowman support, but primarily stiffens the deck structure.
The light wind target was a considerable challenge: "In reality, you have to be very good at seven to eight knots. That was one of the factors that drove us to the high aspect ratio rig," Verdier explains. In general, he utilised the sail area to the maximum; the lowered main boom for an extra-high P-measurement is exemplary. Again, the headsail (J2) set that day already has a significantly longer foot than the main. As a result, the North laminate generates considerable loads, with the backstay tugging at the stern with almost 18 tonnes during the test run. Nevertheless, at 37 tonnes, Persico built the 100-footer a full ten tonnes lighter than the previous full carbon construction of the same volume.
CEO Marcello Persico puts it in perspective: "It is the most revolutionary ship that has enriched the maxi scene for more than a decade. We approached this project like a yacht for the America's Cup or a state-of-the-art TP52." This included the use of an Automated Tape Laying Machine (ATM) from the aerospace industry, which had never assisted on a yacht of this size before. Apart from laminating the hull, Persico produced all parts with the ATM. The multiaxial robot used less material, laid the prepreg fibres more precisely and around curves. The first-class surface quality was demonstrated by the exposed structures in the finished 100-footer, which did not require any post-processing by humans.
"I was inspired by classic images of rockets, where everything is designed for functionality and precise weight."
Well-rehearsed race crew on "Magic Carpet e"
However, before the project team took a step towards mould construction, they had to order steel. This is where the phrase "laying on a keel" literally comes into play, which is actually an impossibility with a composite construction. Instead of welding or a lucky coin, it was a matter of melting the stainless steel for the almost seven metre long keel fin in the blast furnace and then casting it into the profiled mould.
There are hardly any new faces in the race crew, even though the complete switch to furling headsails and six winches instead of eight has reduced the number of crew from 28 to 22. On the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, with ten knots of wind and equally high boat speed, preparations are made to set the gennaker. The "Spanish sector" begins from the shrouds: Two of the pros, Pecas and Neti, were still competing in the Sydney Hobart Race on the fastest 100-footers. Otherwise, the nations are mixed. On the piano is Axel, a Belgian and amateur who, like most of them, has been sailing with "Sir Lindsay" for over a decade. Arriving deep in the bay, student Willie works up a sweat recovering the A2, which is rolled up and rattles down to eight hands like a wildly meandering anaconda.
Stewardess Margeaux places halyards and sheets in figure eights on the dikes, veteran Adrien Savary from Mougins near Cannes points out another furling advantage on the unusually round edge: Previously, four people prepared the 1,000 square metre gennaker below deck in a sweaty, twelve-minute packing procedure. Now it is always furled even in jibes. If this is done too quickly and uncleanly, it can lead to an egg timer when furling comes to a halt.
Hydraulic muscles
Slack in the forestay was countered by a combined variant of furlers and halyard blocks specially developed with Rigging Projects, which carry the full load in places. New to the team is Italian Francesco de Angelis, who replaces Jochen Schümann as tactician and takes the helm when Sir Lindsay takes a break. Which rarely happens. He even switched from double to single rudder in the previous team to ensure a good feeling on the wheel. The steering was correspondingly important to him: "It wasn't just about precision, feedback and manageable loads, but also a significant part of the overall hydrodynamic lift. And drag! In other words, long, thin and preferably vertical twin rudders. Ideally with only one in the water." The daggerboard-like four-metre blades control cable pulls without hydraulics, but should not be caught up on the transom. "Hence the cylinders with lifting systems, which are a typical feature of 'Magic Carpet e'."
A camera provides information about the complex underwater activity. It documents the complex choreography of the triple keel folding mechanism. As soon as the harbour wall is astern, Captain Danny turns and flexes the muscles of the hydraulics. Now the keel fin does not tilt to the sides as usual, but aft by 60 degrees. So far, so familiar from smaller yachts. The difference is that a piston is also located in the keel bulb and moves the lead spindle forwards by around 45 degrees using water pressure. As a result, the entire unit manufactured by Cariboni nestles closer to the aft underwater hull, and the draught is reduced from 7.10 (!) metres to 4.60 metres. A measure to enable the boat to remain moored in its home harbour of Saint-Tropez.
A combination of lift and canting keel already existed, but was not an option for Guillaume Verdier due to the heavy structure with a high centre of gravity. However, the tilting keel required a canard, a profiled centreboard that rotates a few degrees around the longitudinal axis and - something that did not yet exist - also swings to the side like the keel behind it for more lift. Between the canard and keel, Verdier placed the mast almost in the centre of the deck: "The configuration of large headsails and several headsails works particularly well with a tilting keel and canard."
"On the bike, it wasn't just about feedback, but also about a significant part of the lift."
"e" in the yacht name stands first and foremost for Electric
Continuous movement of the keel and sails placed high demands on the hydraulic system. This is where the "e" in the yacht's name comes into play, which first and foremost stands for Electric. Project manager Ed Bell invites us below deck and opens with: "Hydraulics are still the most efficient. If you combine it with electrical energy, it becomes even more efficient."
Bell leads us into a clinically clean room next to the titanium keel tilting device. This is what the equipment room of an actual rocket should look like. In the centre is a two-metre tower with two high-voltage E-motors as its base. The compact power packs drive two sets of hydraulic pumps and the foresail ballet: like all foresails, the A2 is furled and set on the stay. On the flat bow, the foresailor stands securely on a concave cork deck. from Helix, which appeals to customers from the motorsport and aviation sectors with its low power-to-weight ratio. Owen-Jones is known as an enthusiastic racing driver. "Sir Lindsay, Danny and I only wanted to realise the hybrid project if it delivered the same performance as the thermal option. We developed that on paper and used these three-stage electric motors, each weighing 38kg, instead of a V12 diesel unit."
One hydraulic pump moves the keel, jib and mainsheet and the other the rest. However, a single pump can also handle the entire operation. Bell, who joined the team in 2010, highlights another advantage: "With 700 volts, we were able to reduce the weight because the current drops as the voltage increases and the cables become smaller." A handy 20-kilowatt charger fills the power storage unit with harbour power in around five hours. Williams Advanced Engineering (now Fortescue Zero), the official battery supplier to Formula E, supplied the lithium-ion batteries, which weigh a total of 500 kilograms and have a total capacity of 107 kWh. Ed Bell has another surprise in store and points to a DC converter the size of a thick computer keyboard: "This little thing weighs seven kilograms and converts 700 volts into 24 volts. The output of ten kilowatts corresponds to that of a Fischer Panda generator." When the batteries are full, you can use it to run the air conditioning at anchor all night.
Inspired by the functionality of a rocket
During the crossing from La Spezia in Italy to Saint-Tropez, the boat sailed for 16 hours with many manoeuvres and arrived in the Vieux Port with a battery level of 28 percent. Nevertheless, a range extender is on board, which, with its 150 kilowatts, charges the batteries under full load in 40 minutes or, in "Safe to Port" mode, supplies the electric motor of the retractable drive unit almost directly. Despite the batteries, the overall system weighs the same as the combustion engine. The team even considered operating the winches electrically, but then you would have to work with 700-volt motors and very high peak outputs. And: "The trimmers generally want that soft feeling that hydraulic pistons give," says Ed Bell.
In addition to appearances at Mediterranean classics such as Giraglia, Maxi Cup and the home race at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, small Mediterranean rounds and day trips are on the agenda as usual.
Persico produced the interior, which weighs just two tonnes, according to the ideas of Axel de Beaufort, who also works for Maison Hermès. "Axel came up with a fantastic concept, which was originally based on the oval doors, which are structurally stronger and lighter than a normal, angled door," says the owner enthusiastically.
The Frenchman also had a say in the deck shape, colour scheme and steering positions. "I was inspired by classic images of rockets, where everything is designed for functionality and precise weight," says Beaufort, who studied shipbuilding engineering. He also found the perfect combination of form and function in vintage English sports cars: "The cockpits of these cars often feature leather surfaces - but only where necessary and exquisitely finished. The sat nav station is a good example of this." Hermès leather can also be found on the beds of the three double cabins.
No diesel engine conceivable in the future
With J2, we reached speeds of up to 20 knots in around 18 knots of wind. It always felt like it was on rails. The Verdier construction literally glided over the small sea; instead of diving in, it briefly dipped into the wave trough and acknowledged this with some spray, which the centre chine fanned out. Guillaume Verdier summarises: "A light, narrow boat with an undistorted hull shape and a righting moment generated by the front of the boat are some of the most important performance elements."
Ed Bell is satisfied with the battery charge level in the harbour: 57 percent, with Danny Gallichan adjusting the keel, canard and rudder blades by remote control. As soon as they have collected enough data, an algorithm could direct the movements of the three appendages. Speed up, consumption down. For example, the keel doesn't have to be parked at a full 45 degrees when the boat is sailing full sail. Or, in a flat breeze, the keel can generate a position to achieve the optimum heeling angle of between 25 and 30 degrees.
Project manager Bell and Captain Gallichan could even imagine the diesel generator being taken off board in the next few years. The conditions for a minimally invasive upgrade have been created as a precaution. Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones summarises: "The electric system has given Guillaume a real performance advantage."
Technical data "Magic Carpet e"
- Shipyard: Persico Marine
- Construction: Guillaume Verdier
- Length over everything: 30,48 m
- Width: 7,20 m
- Depth: 4,60-7,10 m
- Mast height: 46,0 m
- Displacement: 37 t
- Motor: Helix, 700 Volt
- Sail area on the wind: 640 square metres
