A construction site like no other
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It has been two weeks since they returned from Dong Guan, and the design team are still reeling from their trip during which they began the building of the new Class America for China Team. Dong Guan, the city in which the Class America will be constructed, leaves the visitor lost for words. It is an hour-and-a-half by train from Hong Kong.
According to Pierre Massé, Shore Team Manager, “it is made up of factories and cement buildings that stretch far into the horizon. Its a bit like another planet in fact. Between Hong Kong and Dong Guan, there is no green belt, just one city after another. It is incredible. Their industrial estates are nothing like those in France. Residential areas and factories are built side by side. This means that workers live a hundred metres from where they are employed.”
Dong Guan is situated in the Province of Guandong in southern China and is one of the cities which is developing quicker than anywhere else in the world. The population has risen from a million in 1979 to 6.5 million today. It is a town which is known for its excessive work ethic and its economic progress. Guangdong supplies 50% of all the toys on the world market, and 40% of the electronic equipment required for Mac and PC.
The first Chinese Class America is now being built here by McConaghy International. The Australo-Chinese joint venture is between Jin Li, a Chinese company which specialises in composite and the Australian construction company McConaghy, experts in building raceboats in carbon. Jin Li have years of experience in the production of carbon parts for cars, motorbikes and boats. The company is famous for its oars, its wishbones, aerofoils, surfboards and Hawaiian canoes, all in carbon of course. However a little more was needed to build a Class America. McConaghy, which was established in Sydney in 1967, was able to provide the experience required with its large racing units made from carbon.
The finished plans of the future Chinese Class America are now available and the boat will begin construction at the beginning of July. “The moulds will have been cast by 3 July and the hull by the beginning of August. The boat will be out of the shipping yard by the first week in November and will be equipped for its first sailing by the end of January 2007,” Daniel Andrieu, member of the CHINA DESIGN TEAM with Hervé Devuax and Philippe de la Barrière, explained. “For Valencia you need an efficient boat that can sail at 8 or 16 knots with the same results. There is less sea than in Auckland, but here a regatta could begin with 7 knots at midday and finish with 18 knots at 17h. And that’s the difficult part of our job.”
fdb/cbs