Monday, October 29, 2007

New Foils for Estrella Damm




With time rolling on, the number of days left to work on Estrella Damm before the start of the Barcelona World Race are becoming few and the activity around the boat continues to pick up pace. In spite of a visit from fashion designer Custo, the team has continued to prepare the boat for the approaching round the world race.

Recent changes have seen a new set of daggerboards fitted for Estrella Damm. After several months of training these replacements will give skippers Guillermo Altadill and Jonathan McKee increased reliability during the journey. These pieces of laminated carbon help the boat maintain its course and act as a complement to the canting keel. When sailing, the windward daggerboard is lifted and the leeward daggerboard lowered in order to reduce drag and maintain the direction of the boat.

Estrella Damm’s newly fitted daggerboards are expected to be stronger and more reliable than the former pair but remain similar in design and construction. This replacement equipment will give the sailors slight peace of mind that they have strong foils in place as they enter the Southern Ocean. - http://www.estrelladammsailingteam.com/