Loïc Dorez, manager of the research office
"The Volvo Ocean Race is a new thing for us because we've devoted the past twelve years to the multihull. The decision to choose Juan Kouyoumdjian as the architect was dictated by his vast experience of the subject. His perfect mastery of French was an added bonus in our exchanges."
"In order to contribute to Groupama 4's performance, we referred to the studies carried out by Juan Yacht Design. Internally we've been working with Martin Fischer, who's been advising us for a very long time about hydrodynamics, as well as with Yves Mignard, who has joined us this year. These specialists have helped us a great deal with the choices made in the research office. They've enabled us to better understand and analyse the architect's studies. The design of a boat is always about compromise. "
"Exchange is a fundamental element in the search for performance. The research office is constantly thinking about what can be improved on from the measurements taken when racing or during training sessions. In order to gather reliable information about the Volvo Open 70, about wind, speed and stresses, certain parts of the boat have been exploited thanks to the performance cell. Our approach has a two-pronged objective: the optimisation of Groupama 4 as well as the gathering of data with a view to the crew's second participation in 2014/2015, as Groupama has committed itself to two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race."
