Designing boats for the Volvo Ocean Race: An ongoing process of optimization and finding the right compromise

Every three years, the best sailors in the world compete in the Volvo Ocean Race. For decades now, these sailing yachts have been sporting carbon fiber reinforced epoxy hulls. It was one of the first industries to adopt these materials. Reinforced Plastics talks to two of the people involved in designing these racers (Chris Cochran of Farr Yacht Design, and Guillaume Verdier) and finds out how it is done.