Optimizing marginal gains
For the past four years, as part of the "from carbon to olympic gold financed by the "high performance sport of the French National Research Agency (ANR), scientists are working with the French Sailing Federation to optimize the performance of French athletes.
"The development of the foil in several Olympic series has pushed us to optimize our search for performance." confides Pierre Noesmoen. " It's just a detail that makes the difference between a gold and a silver medal. We have to give ourselves every chance to succeed in bringing home as many medals as possible."
Five series equipped with foils
In 2024, the Olympic Games will welcome 3 foil-equipped supports, which will be present on 5 series. Each one will feature the following athletes:
- IQ Foil: Hélène Noesmoen and Nicolas Goyard
- Kitefoil: Lauriane Nolot and Axel Mazella
- Nacra17: Lou Berthomieu and Tim Mourniac
Only the mixed-crew Nacra 17 is capable of sailing in light airs in archimedean mode. The IQ Foil and Kitefoil must fly to race.
Pierre says: "The difference with an archimedean sailing approach is the speed of progress. The foil's lift limits drag, and allows you to reach high speeds with little wind."
Measurement tools never before seen in the world of sailing
As Pierre and Benoît explain:
"As part of the Olympic carbon project, we put boards and kites through a wind tunnel. We discovered that certain athlete positions were prohibitive.
We also worked on the traction channel and on-board instrumentation. We analyze forces, attitudes and rig movements. This allows us to characterize essential advances in performance. We optimize positions, as well as the athletes' personal equipment. Given the speeds reached, optimizing aero equipment makes perfect sense. A flapping strap is enough to reduce speed"
Will this research have an influence on the equipment?
For the experts, the answer varies, depending on the discipline. "The equipment is accessible to all athletes and nations. IQ boards are one-design, meaning they are manufactured by the same factory for all riders. We have 4 different models supplied by the organizer. We analyze their flexibility, stiffness and accumulate our years of experience, which we compare with the athletes' sensations to define the best profile.
In kiteboarding, there is a closed list of approved equipment available to all athletes. As a result, we cannot work on the design or optimization of foil or sail shapes or structures.
A small exception is the kitefoil board, which is free. We're working on it as part of the "Carbon to Olympic Gold" project with the athletes, but we haven't seen the point of pooling development costs with another team for the time being, as these costs are fairly low compared with the rest of the equipment".
