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SailGP 2026 : Comment maîtriser la puissance d'un catamaran volant F50
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00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30We know that there's a lot more that goes into it, especially at this level.
00:33Maybe talk us through what are you actually trying to achieve as a wing trimmer?
00:36Red Bull Italy have nailed their first manoeuvre.
00:39The big thing is focusing on the speed, so you've got to have a good feeling.
00:42You've obviously got instrumentation there to help you see what the speeds are,
00:45but it's a lot about your feeling, you know, when the boat accelerates,
00:48how much of an adjustment you need to make on the wing sheet or the twist control,
00:53and kind of really trying to predict what's coming with the wind.
00:56So when the gust is hitting the boat, trying to anticipate how strong that wind is
01:02or how light it's getting, and that will determine how big a change you make.
01:05Is that 30 seconds?
01:06Yep.
01:06It's a drag versus power trade-off.
01:09So we're trying to reduce as much drag as possible,
01:11but not so much that the hull is hitting the water,
01:14because then we need to generate more power,
01:16and then when you generate power, it's drag.
01:18Well, let's pop up in the boat and see where all that data input and fuel comes in.
01:22Perfect. Let's go.
01:24Okay, so this is where you're sitting.
01:26You've got your wing sheet here.
01:27Tell us how much you can feel in that.
01:29What does that do as a wing trimmer to understand the power?
01:32Yeah, so you've got the wing sheet in your hand,
01:34and basically you'll see on the camera is the wing moving backwards and forwards, up and down,
01:39and that's basically this rope being let out and being pulled on.
01:43But we can't pull it on by ourselves, so we've got two grinders,
01:45and they're powering this winch, spinning the winch around,
01:48and that allows us to pull it back on.
01:49When you pull it on, you generate more power.
01:52When you let it down, you lose power.
01:54That combination of the work between the driver, the wing trimmer, and the flight controller,
01:59you have to be so ashamed to let the boat take off well.
02:01Obviously, you've got to work pretty closely with the grinders,
02:03so if it does touch down, it's not their fault,
02:05or you're always talking to them about what you need, what's coming up ahead?
02:08Got a nice gap here. No one behind, no threats right now.
02:11All lefty coming, just be careful, getting stuck low.
02:14Coming up.
02:16It's the grinders and the wing trimmer who's trimming the boat.
02:19It's not just the responsibility of the wing trimmer,
02:21because without the grinders, we can't sail.
02:23So it's really a lot of teamwork there,
02:26and what's important is to have the same feel.
02:28So when the hull's coming down, at what is the moment you start grinding,
02:33because we have two ways to generate power.
02:35One is with the wing sheet, but the other one is with the twist as well.
02:38And so the coordination between the grinders and the wing trimmer,
02:40whether you're using the sheet or the twist,
02:42that needs to be unspoken, because we don't have the time to communicate that.
02:45So, you know, that relationship is hugely important.
02:49There's so much information that you're inputting.
02:51Obviously, you've got the wing sheet in your hand,
02:53you've got the data that's coming at you,
02:54and obviously using your eyes.
02:56Just talk us through, what are you kind of processing in real time
02:59to help, you know, optimise performance?
03:01I think the best sensor on board is the people,
03:05and so your feeling is always number one,
03:07but it's important that you back that up and validate that with data.
03:10So we have the boat speed,
03:12which is probably the number one thing that I'm looking at,
03:14and also your angle to the wind.
03:16And so you want to be as high to the wind and as fast as possible,
03:20and you're using your feeling,
03:21and then you're always checking in with the data.
03:24Because if you're just sailing along, not looking at the data,
03:27it may feel great,
03:28but then your competitor will come ripping past you,
03:30and you'll realise,
03:31oh, actually, we could have done something differently.
03:32So it's always important to trust your feel,
03:35but be open with the data
03:37to make sure that you're checking in with where you're at.
03:39Got it, drive speed.
03:40And board, yeah.
03:41Three, two, five.
03:44Turning, H1 exit.
03:45Gonna be H2 here.
03:47We hear you talking those numbers all the time.
03:49Obviously, you talk about boat speed, angle,
03:52and that's really critical, I guess, in the foiling, not foiling.
03:55We hear you call modes like H1, H2 foiling.
03:58As a wing trimmer, does that responsibility rely on you?
04:01Because you've got, I guess, the most connection between,
04:03I guess, the front of the boat, the back of the boat,
04:05and the wing sail?
04:06The trimmer has the best feel of the power,
04:08and it's hard for the, without the rope in your hand,
04:11you can actually feel the load changing.
04:12So when you have a lot of power,
04:14this gets heavier and gets harder to hold.
04:16So when we're sailing in a windy venue,
04:18this is actually really difficult to hold onto this rope
04:20because there's so much load through it.
04:21So you can feel the power,
04:22whereas the helm can't feel that power in their hand.
04:26And so it's important that you're kind of the link
04:27between the feel that they have on the wheel
04:30and on the rudder
04:31and the power available in the sail.
04:40And there's a strong trend
04:42that the faster you enter a manoeuvre,
04:43the better the manoeuvre will be.
04:44And so with these courses being so short
04:47and narrow,
04:49that the manoeuvre loss is huge.
04:52So if you can be gaining 5 metres,
04:5410 metres in every manoeuvre,
04:56then that's going to put you
04:57to the front of the leaderboard.
04:58Whereas the differences in straight line
05:00are typically not so much,
05:01but it's really the manoeuvres
05:02where carrying a bit of extra speed
05:04into that manoeuvre,
05:06yeah, it's big gains.
05:08Coming up now.
05:10Coming up.
05:11Trim, Trim, Yana.
05:12Trim, please.
05:13There's a lot of pressure
05:14when it's those foiling,
05:15not foiling manoeuvres.
05:16As a wing trimmer,
05:16how much are you sort of
05:17calling that mode out of it?
05:19Foiling touch and go sort of things.
05:21Like how much pressure is on you
05:22to make that call?
05:24Yeah, I mean,
05:24every team does it differently
05:25on who's actually determining that call.
05:27But I mean,
05:28the key bits of information
05:29are what's your speed going into it?
05:30How efficient is the board
05:32dropping into the water?
05:33Because if it's a bad board drop,
05:35the boat will slow down,
05:36which means that when you get
05:37to the end of the turn,
05:38you'll be even slower.
05:39So you could be on the cusp
05:40for foiling or not foiling.
05:42So it's really a lot of feel
05:43and also looking at the wind
05:45because you need to know
05:46how much power
05:46you're going to have available
05:47on exit with what's coming
05:49with the breeze.
05:52One of the things
05:52that is obviously so critical
05:54in the F50
05:54is popping on the foils.
05:56Maybe talk us through your role
05:57as a wing trimmer
05:58to get the boat flying.
05:59Go full trim.
06:00Board down if you want.
06:01Go Yannick, go hard,
06:02go hard, full gas.
06:04Go foiling straight away here.
06:05Yeah, so the popping on the foils
06:07is a really important part
06:09of this, obviously,
06:11you know,
06:11especially in the marginal conditions.
06:12and the teams that do it best
06:13will win the race
06:14because you accelerate,
06:15you know, 15, 20, 30 kilometres
06:17as soon as you're up on the foil.
06:18And so for me,
06:19my focus is on the heel.
06:21So I keep the, you know,
06:22to go from H2 to H1,
06:24that's the hull coming out
06:25of the water.
06:26That's just monitoring
06:27the power in the wing.
06:28And then when you're popping
06:30onto the foils,
06:30it's all about reducing drag.
06:32So we're also, you know,
06:33when the hull comes out of the water,
06:35it's reducing drag on the hull.
06:36But we're also wanting
06:37to reduce aero drag.
06:39And it's really that balance
06:40between power and drag.
06:42You don't want to touch down
06:43on the windward hull
06:44when you pop on the foil.
06:46So, but you want to reduce
06:47as much drag as possible,
06:48which means losing power.
06:49So it's just a matter
06:50of finding that balance
06:52and, you know,
06:53making sure this windward hull
06:54never touches the water
06:55during a takeoff.
06:56The other thing that happens
06:57as you accelerate,
06:58the wind flowing across the wing,
06:59I imagine changes a lot as well.
07:01Let's get it foiling.
07:02Change your page.
07:04It's got to invest you guys.
07:05Popping, 30.
07:07Yeah, it's massive.
07:08And I mean, the drag is going up massively.
07:11The power is going up
07:12with the apparent wind speed.
07:13And so, you know,
07:14you can be sailing in,
07:16you know, 15 kilometres of wind speed.
07:19But then as soon as you start foiling,
07:21that wind speed that you feel
07:22on the boat will be 60.
07:24So the apparent wind speed
07:26and the massive changes
07:28in shape to the sail
07:29you have to make
07:30through these controls
07:31or this control panel
07:32is quite massive.
07:34The other thing that I love watching
07:35is obviously the pre-start.
07:36and you've got the driver
07:37that's trying to thread the needle here
07:39or lead the fleet in.
07:40And that really, I guess,
07:41changes the way that
07:42you as a wing trimmer
07:43have to respond.
07:43How much, I guess,
07:45role does a wing trimmer play
07:47in a start
07:48in managing that acceleration
07:49when, you know,
07:50it's really in your hand?
07:51I'm 50, a little early.
07:53Probably do a similar approach,
07:54but just try to get a bit lower.
07:55You really need to know
07:56what the driver's thinking
07:56and at times it's not easy
08:00for the driver
08:00to communicate
08:01what they want to do
08:02because the boats
08:03are travelling so quickly
08:04and the gap that they're going for
08:05may not be there in a second.
08:07So you need to have
08:08the instinct of the driver.
08:09So we spend a lot of time
08:10talking about the starts.
08:12I'm trying to get into Phil's head
08:13with what he's trying to achieve
08:14so I can kind of give him
08:15the platform
08:16to do whatever he wants, basically.
08:26He can do that turn
08:27or he can, you know, come up
08:29and so you're trying to be
08:30always ahead of the game
08:31because as soon as you're
08:32reactionary, you're behind.
08:33It is Red Bull Italy
08:34with Phil Robertson
08:35out in front
08:36as they are looking
08:37for their first win
08:38here this weekend.
08:39It's always fun being out in front
08:40because you've got
08:40what we call clear air
08:41but when you're kind of
08:42in the pack,
08:43there's disturbed air.
08:44How does that impact you
08:45as a wing trimmer?
08:45Can you feel that
08:46or is that getting
08:47being relayed in the data?
08:48The first way you see it
08:49is on the wind speed.
08:50So the, you know,
08:51the true wind speed
08:52that we see on board,
08:53you know, you get to the end
08:53of the race
08:54and if our true wind speed
08:55is lower than our competitors,
08:56we've clearly been sailing
08:58in less breeze than them.
09:00So, which means that
09:01we've been in bad air
09:02or disturbed air
09:02and you can definitely
09:03feel it on board.
09:04I mean, the performance
09:05of the boat just doesn't go,
09:07you know, so that
09:08disturbed air is huge
09:09and we basically spend
09:10all of our time,
09:11particularly with the
09:12mark-rounding decision,
09:13trying to decide,
09:14you know, where is the
09:15clear air going to be
09:16and trying to avoid
09:16the bad air as much as possible.
09:19One other variable
09:20you've got to play with
09:21is you've got three
09:22different wing sizes.
09:23So how does it change
09:24for you when you go
09:25from an 18 to 24
09:26to maybe a 27 and a half
09:27in terms of the way
09:29that you might do your job?
09:31The performance of the wings
09:32is massively different
09:33and again, it's due to drag.
09:35So the 8-meter wing is,
09:36you know, we think it's tiny,
09:38you know, and we love
09:39using that wing
09:39because when you tack
09:40with that wing,
09:42in the middle of the manoeuvre
09:43where you're not generating
09:44any power and it's all drag,
09:45you just coast through
09:47that middle part of the turn
09:48compared to the 27-meter wing
09:49where it's a lot more drag
09:50through the manoeuvre.
09:51So yeah, it changes
09:52your takeoff speeds,
09:54your manoeuvre entry speeds,
09:56and also your moding as well.
09:58When you have the big wing on
09:59and it's a lot of drag,
10:00we don't necessarily go
10:01to a fast reaching mode upwind
10:03because there's diminished returns
10:05because there's so much drag
10:06that you actually don't accelerate
10:07and go any faster.
10:08Whereas the little wing,
10:09it's not good to stay high and slow
10:11because you lack power.
10:14So you want to get the boat ripping
10:15and get the apparaid going.
10:17And turn it.
10:18The other thing that really,
10:20I guess, impacts you
10:20is the type of race course.
10:22So for example,
10:22if we do a longer race course,
10:24more consistent breeze.
10:25Whereas if you go to a harbour course,
10:27it's gusty, it's shifty.
10:28How much harder does that make your role
10:31when you're in those sort of gusty venues?
10:33The gusty venues mean the coordination
10:35between the grinders,
10:36the wing trimmer,
10:37the wing trimmer,
10:37the flight controller,
10:38wing trimmer and helm
10:39is that much more important.
10:41and everything's a lot more critical.
10:42So to keep the boat sailing at 100%,
10:44then that coordination needs to be flawless.
10:53Sharp gusts coming
10:54and you need to react quickly.
10:56That's where the really,
10:57the good teams come out on top.
11:02Red Bull Italy
11:03in a tight one right now
11:05with Everest TBR.
11:06I guess in all your years
11:07trimming a wing,
11:08what's the one thing that,
11:09you know,
11:10has really stuck with you
11:11that really,
11:11no matter what,
11:12that's the basic that you've,
11:13you've got to nail every time.
11:15Yeah, good question.
11:16I mean,
11:17if I come in from a day
11:18and,
11:19and this windward hull
11:20hasn't,
11:20hasn't touched the water,
11:22that's a good day.
11:22But also we don't want it too hard
11:24because then it's,
11:25it's, you know,
11:26it changes the cant on the foil.
11:27So, you know,
11:28if I can have good heel control for a day,
11:29then that's a win.
11:30It's a red bull.
11:31Italy will come across the line.
11:33They claim the victory
11:34in race three here in Rio.
11:36Awesome. Thank you so much, Kyle.
11:37I mean, I think that
11:38that was quite a lot of detail
11:39for everyone,
11:40but it just goes to show
11:41how much you're doing in real time,
11:43how much you're processing,
11:44multitasking,
11:45and sometimes you make it look easy,
11:46but there's a lot going on on the boat.
11:48Make sure you subscribe
11:49to SailGP's YouTube channel
11:50for the most exciting race on water.
12:04Thank you.
12:04Thank you.