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Nine Vendée boats and rising for Future Fibres


In the next Vendée Globe, one of the questions for the competitors is not whether they’ll use composite rigging, rather what type of composite rigging they’ll choose. For at least seven of those competitors, the answer will be Future Fibres.

Valencia-based Future Fibres has pioneered the use of lightweight PBO rigging in high-performance race yachts for 10 years, and provided all the standard rigging for Nick Moloney’s Open 60 Skandia, Mike Golding’s Ecover and Jean Pierre Dick’s Virbac in the last Vendée Globe three years ago.

Since then the company has supplied rigging to many of the current America’s Cup teams, and every one of the seven VO70s in the last Volvo Ocean Race chose Future Fibres to supply their rigging. While a number of the VO70s were dogged by keel problems on their way round the world, the 100% success of the PBO rigging was a story that largely went unnoticed. What the Volvo Ocean Race did in the marine industry, however, was cement Future Fibres’ reputation for being able to provide not only the lightest but also the most reliable rigging to the most demanding of customers.

Now Future Fibres is focusing its efforts on providing rigging solutions to the IMOCA Open 60 fleet, a challenge that Miles Amin, technical sales, is relishing. “It’s a very exciting time to be involved in this fleet, because at the moment we’re seeing a whole new wave of boats being built for the Vendée,” he says. “There could be 27 competitors in the race next year, of which up to 17 could be brand new boats. Future Fibres has already signed contracts to provide full rigging packages for nine Vendée competitors, and we’re on the verge of signing with more.”

Miles detects a sea change in the Open 60 fleet, as it develops from its strong French roots into a more global arena. “What we’re seeing is a more international race than ever before, not just in terms of the competitors, but also in terms of the designers, boat builders and mast manufacturers who are getting involved. For example on the yacht design front, it’s looking like you’ll have designers as diverse as Groupe Finot, Owen Clarke, Farr Yacht Design and Juan Kouyoumdjian represented on the start line. And Future Fibres is already working with several different mast designers on Open 60 projects including: Marstrom, Formula, Black Flag and Southern Spars.”

In addition to the breadth of talent and nationalities currently involved in the Open 60 market, there are a number of different rig configurations being tested. These can be categorised into conventional non-rotating rigs, rotating rigs, and deck-spreader rotating rigs. “The Open 60 class is living up to its image as a place for free-thinking and innovative ideas,” says Miles. “Open 60 sailors are driving development and really pushing the boundaries, which is great for a company like ours providing new answers to the traditional challenges of increasing strength and breaking strain whilst reducing weight aloft.”

In fact, composite rigging is hardly seen as an innovation in the Open 60 market any more. It’s simply a ‘must have’. Where sailors or designers might differ is in what type of composite rigging they want. One of the great advantages of the Future Fibres option is that unlike its competitors, it is capable of terminating a piece of rigging with a simple composite fibre loop. In certain applications this dispenses with the need for metal terminals – which further reduces weight.

However, as Miles admits, Future Fibres are not always the cheapest. “That’s not really our goal,” he says. “We are noted in the industry for having the best product, we’re a custom manufacturer, we don’t want to standardise our grand prix race products, and we’re prepared to test the boundaries. That’s why it’s important for us to remain so closely involved with the Open 60 market.”

Whereas some see the brutal world of the Volvo Ocean Race as the ultimate testing ground, Miles doesn’t necessarily agree. “There’s no doubt those guys push their boats harder than anyone, but you have 10 guys on board, the boat is being hand steered at all times, and you have multiple stops around the world, giving your shore crew time to replace any damaged or worn equipment.

“In a race like the Vendée Globe, by the very nature of it being singlehanded non-stop you simply can’t afford any risk with reliability. The singlehanded sailor does not have the time to go around his boat endlessly checking and maintaining, so wherever possible equipment must take care of itself for the full circumnavigation. Our composite rigging has proven to be capable of exactly that.”

So what has changed in the last three years since the likes of Ecover competed in the previous Vendée? Amin says: “We’ve developed our spreader ends, we’ve concentrated on reducing windage, reduced fittings sizes, we’re using different materials to make the rigging more chafe resistant, and we’ve improved our stretch figures. Our cables have a better modulus, and we can provide designers with more detailed information about how different cables behave under load.”

But what about the Holy Grail, that of reduced weight? “It would be interesting to do a comparison between Skandia last time and one of the new boats this time. I suspect the difference wouldn’t be that great, and that is because the new generation of Open 60s are so much more powerful than the previous. So we have to be careful to provide a rigging specification that will withstand the higher loads that these boats will generate.”

Hugo Boss II’s Alex Thomson is all too aware of the need for ultimate reliability, after the loss of his former Hugo Boss Open 60 at the end of last year during the Velux 5 Oceans Race. On being asked why he would be turning to Future Fibres as his rigging supplier for the new Hugo Boss, Thomson said: “For the new boat I need 100% reliability, I cannot afford any more hardware issues.”

When you absolutely, positively have got to get all the way round the world, accept no substitutes. Choose Future Fibres.
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