Survey Positioning Wins 2011 Class40 World Championship

Aloys Le Claquin and his ‘Jack in the Box' team won the 2011 Class40 World Championship on 11th September 2011 guided by Trimble's marine technology. Aloys talked to Olivier Hamelin from PrimeGPS, Trimble's distributor for Marine Construction products for France. They decided to use the Trimble SPS361 GPS Heading Receiver which delivers both precise GPS heading and Differential GPS (DGPS) positioning information to the crew.  

The SPS361 supports MSK Beacon, external RTCM, SBAS and RTK correction data delivered by an internal/external radio or Internet-enabled cellular modem. On board of Aloys' sailing boat both MSK Radio Beacon and Egnos was used. The SPS receiver was further used to calculate an optimal trim so that they could achieve the highest possible speed.

 

The Class40 is a sea-oriented race for monohulled sailboats with a maximum length of 40 feet. The original goal of the class was to make offshore races accessible to amateur sailors. The success of the class has moved it beyond these parameters, with more and more professional sailors attracted to it.

 

In 2009, 28 year old  Aloys Le Claquin, after some years in the smaller mini 6.50 category moved up into the Class40 category and decided to build a new generation sailing boat; the Mach 40, designed by Samuel Manuard (Sam Manuard Yacht design). Aloys dedicated an entire year on evaluating and selecting the best technological partners, aerodynamic engineers, designers, materials, composites and embedded electronics etc. to position him with regard to the architecture and technological side of the boat ahead of his competitors. He then spent another year constructing the boat while training himself on other rented Class40 sailboats. The launch of his boat was two months behind schedule so that the 2011 Class40 World Championship was the first official race for the "Jack in the box" (boat number 104). The event took place from 8th to 11th September 2011 in Bénodet, France and consisted of seven regattas ranging from rounding three buoys to coastal sailing. Aloys won five out of the seven regattas which drew attention to the skipper, his crew and of course the brand new boat with its on-board technology.

 

As the regattas were raced with a complete crew, the helm was never unattended, one might think that the precision of the GPS heading receivers isn't as crucial as when sailing a boat single handed but Aloys has another opinion here. "A very responsive and precise GPS allows me to take the shortest way, constantly saving precious time and allowing me to overtake competitors. It isn't there just to replace us, it is a very trustful co-pilot you heavily rely on."