Matthew Sheahan
AS AUTOPILOTS GET EVER MORE ACCURATE, HOW MUCH SHOULD WE ALLOW MACHINES TO HELM IN OFFSHORE RACES?
The use of autopilots offshore is not new but the current level of development has meant that modern pilots can now steer highperformance boats faster and more safely than humans. In some fleets hull shapes, sail plans and deck layouts are being designed around new levels of performance that have been made possible through the use of advanced pilots. Modern technology is starting to take the tiller out of our hands.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Both military and civilian aircraft rely on a computer somewhere in the chain of command to either fly the plane entirely or make decisions on whether the human input is appropriate.
Some boats in the IMOCA 60 fleet are already in similar territory where sustained speeds in excess of 30 knots are forcing designers to balance rudder blades in such a way as to avoid them becoming dangerously twitchy at speed.
The problem is that at lower speeds the helm becomes much heavier, which not only means stronger components and mountings for the autopilot are required, but makes manual steering much harder.
I talked to a number of skippers before the start of the recent Transat Jacques Vabre double-handed race from France to Brazil about this and the jump in performance that many in the class are now experiencing. While some claimed there isn’t an autopilot in the world that can outperform a human, there were others, such as Sam Davies (who has a great deal of experience in the new world of advanced control systems), who were clear about the state of play.
“My autopilot definitely sails faster than I do,” she told me. “But when you’re sailing single-handed or double-handed there are times when you cannot trim the sails fast enough to keep up with the autopilot. You have to sail differently and there is a new style of sailing to be learned.
“I’ve been working with Madintech for the pilot system aboard my boat Initiatives Coeur. They provide pilot systems for many of the Ultime multihulls and among the various settings that are available there is one that steers the boat to maintain an apparent wind angle and speed that does things that I hadn’t dreamed of trying if I was steering, and it makes for quite a violent ride at times,” she said.
And it’s not just the big boats in the long distance offshore world that are using autopilots to their advantage. Ian Lipinski and Adrien Hardy set a new Class 40 24-hour record of 415.86 miles aboard Crédit Mutuel during the TJV. As well as describing the violent motion of the boat that required them to move around on all fours during their record-breaking run past the Canary Islands, they also said that they hadn’t touched the helm since Ushant.
There can be little doubt that advanced pilot systems are helping to boost the performance of short-handed racers. But as the technology trickles down, what could it do for fully crewed offshore boats?
The rise in popularity and success of the double-handed class in the Rolex Fastnet Race has led some to question whether sailing two-up with an autopilot is now quicker than manually with a full crew.
The 2020 season will see a change of approach for the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s events where pilots will be allowed to be used in offshore races aboard fully crewed boats as well as short-handed entries.
But here the rationale for change is slightly different.
“We have looked into this very carefully and the short-handed sailors argue that it is still quicker to hand steer in our races,” said RORC racing manager Chris Stone.
“Our view is that autopilots enhance the opportunities to sail by allowing teams to sail with less than their full complement. For boats that sail with, say, five or more, a pilot would help if it came to sailing the boat short-handed.”
Interestingly, in Junior Offshore Group (JOG) races, which remain popular in the UK for boats up to around 40ft, the rules have always allowed autopilots.
“In the 1950s when JOG started there were boats that had wind vane self steering,” said secretary Martin Bamfield. “Although few people seem to know it, pilots have always been allowed, we just ask crews to declare it so that we can monitor how much they are used.”
Whatever the benefit, it seems the development of slicker algorithms and the availability of affordable motion sensors means that smarter pilots are heading downstream. Some crews might be able to out-sail the software, others maybe not. So what might this mean for the future?
Despite allowing active control systems in 2001 after a ban in 1994, Formula 1’s governing body ended up returning to a ban on traction control systems in 2008 to place a greater emphasis on driver skill over performance.
Will we be doing the same?
‘Some crews might be able to out-sail the software, others not’