intensity probably never before seen in the Route du Rhum. The last division named ‘Rhum’ is a melting pot of small to mid-sized multihulls plus some larger monohulls. This class will witness an iconic fight between the little yellow trimaran and the big blue ‘cigar’ that were separated by only a few seconds at the finish of the first Route du Rhum in 1978. Benjamin Hardouin will be at the helm of the old Kriter V, up against two of the Acapella designs built by Walter Green as a follow-up to the winning Olympus Photo, skippered by Mike Birch. The pretty Acapellas are being driven by builder Charlie Capelle and Jean-Paul Froc. The ‘Rhum’ division is also rich with famous oldies, including
Sea trials of the latest Pogo 3 Series Mini 6.50. The latest Pogo Mini was designed by Guillaume Verdier and is claimed to be around 25% more powerful than its predecessor. No one has yet mimicked the scow designs of David Raison, but the influence is clearly identified in the Pogo 3 with much fuller forward sections
design built by Louis Burton in St Malo, Conrad Humphreys (Cat Phone) is a newcomer to the Class 40 and will sail one of the latest Akilaria 40s while Imoca veteran Kito de Pavant (Bastide Medical) has a Verdier design on charter from Bruno Jourdren… Speaking of younger guys, we must also mention Bertrand Delesne, a Mini champion, racing a fiercely competitive Mach 40 named TeamWork 40(previously Jörg Riechers’s
Mare.de); plus Italy’s Giancarlo Pedote (Fantastica) who has been sailing the last two years on the ‘Big Nose Mini’; and finally the excellent Nicolas Troussel whose Crédit Mutuel Bretagneis the Humphreys design that performed so well in the last Transat Jacques Vabre (Nicolas finished second in the previous Rhum on a Pogo 40 S2). There is not enough room to list all of the, in my view, 15 skippers who could finish on the podium in Guadeloupe, let alone the 20 or so who can hope for fifth to 10th place. It is going to be a formidable race across the Atlantic for the Class 40s, with an
farr 280 Seahorse Advert_Nov2014.eps 1 10/14/14 3:46 PM
former Jet Services multihull skipper Patrick Morvan, 70, on a 40ft tri, and the emblematic Robin Knox-Johnston, 75, le ‘doyen’ du Rhum, sailing an old Imoca 60. ‘Honneur à vous,’ Sir Robin! Patrice Carpentier
NEW ZEALAND
The loss of Andrew Reid’s beloved J/111 in horrendous conditions on the delivery to New Zealand from the Fiji race (see last month) has created an opportunity for an exciting new custom-built project that its backers hope will lead to a semi-production run. Following the loss of his Django II, Reid cast about for a replace- ment. ‘We had built up a great team of sailors around Django II and I definitely wanted to keep that together,’ said Reed. ‘The need for a new boat came a bit out of left field; we had reckoned on keeping Django IIgoing for at least a few more years. It ticked all our boxes, whether it was harbour racing, windward-leewards, or on into the bigger stuff like the two-handed Round North Island Race… or ocean racing to Fiji.’
However, when he started doing the numbers for importing a J/111 again, or even the various 11-12m race yachts being produced in China, by the time shipping and duties were factored in, the price tag started getting quite steep. Reid already owns a cruising yacht, so what he was looking for was an all-out no-compromise racing machine with no regard for rating rules. ‘I reckon you can’t cruise in a race yacht and you can’t really race a cruising yacht,
Photo: LPB Aerial
Builders of
SEAHORSE 13
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