It is entertaining – and also instructive – when looking at this aerial shot of the Judel-Vrolijk 72 Robertissima planing downwind in Sardinia to reflect on older similar shots of those giant IOR Maxis ploughing up the ocean in the same venue around 25 years ago
SH: It puts you back in the area of sailing that you escaped with the TP52 class: handicap racing, rating and measuring issues… and owner-driver rules? RW: Every advantage has its disadvantage, a famous Dutch ‘philosopher’, our soccer hero Johan Cruyff, is known to have said. I spend most of my sailing life trying to understand rating rules, trying to be clev- erer than the rule authorities and all that. And here I am, on the gamekeeper’s side. Sure, it can be a silly game. If you dive into the politics behind it, it is silly. But if you look at the resulting boats there is not much silly about those. The Maxi 72s are simply gorgeous. Powerful is an understate- ment and the level of detail is mouthwater- ing if you are as mad as I am about putting together efficient racing machines. Make no mistake, this is deep-pocket racing, so only for the happy few. But it is not showboating. It is real racing, requir- ing a deep knowledge of our sport in all its facets, a small army of super-fit sailors who enjoy operating as a team, plus solid planning… so proper management. I think the Maxi 72 Class is a good move, it will lead to growth in the number of 72s in the years to come. And it will lead to the 72s being in demand, so a secondhand market. I hope it will also lead to the boats racing each other more regularly, so bigger starts of 72s at more events than we see now. Their choice of boat, a pure one-off, already shows that these are not owners who will easily accept going in the same direction all the time. Some prefer to race offshore, like the Fastnet, Bermuda Race or Sydney-Hobart. Some prefer windward- leeward racing and are perfectly happy to race just in the Med. Between Voiles de St
22 SEAHORSE
Tropez and the Sydney-Hobart there are a lot of options; it will be interesting to see how the class develops.
For sure, a versatile boat is needed, able to race inshore and offshore. We agreed on the class bylaws recently, the constitution. Next step is the class rule. It won’t be that different from what is in place already but it is efficient to have a rule that is dedicated to just the 72s instead of to all maxis, and it is necessary to put dots on a few ‘i’s. The main thing, apart from the venue scheduling, is to uphold the rules in a pleasant but firm way. For that you have to be there when the boats race and be in touch with what goes on. As for the venues, one venue is sacred: the annual Maxi 72 Worlds in Porto Cervo. That is where all Maxi 72s meet and where the best owner-driver is crowned world cham- pion. This year we saw a well-deserved win by Andy Soriano and the Alegre team. SH: So where does all of this racing take you in 2015? RW: I hope my girlfriend does not read Seahorse, it is going to be a tour de force. The Maxi 72s race three events in the US and Caribbean: Key West Race Week, RORC Caribbean 600 and Voiles de St Barth. The first outing of the new TPs will be at Palma Vela, followed by the first 52 Super Series venue in Valencia third week of May. Fourth week of May we have five Maxi 72s at Menorca Maxi and some of these go from there to join the Giraglia. The Super Series June venue is the Week of the Straits in Porto Cervo, followed by venue three in July: the TP52 Worlds in Puerto Portals. Four Maxi 72s will join the UK triple of RYS Bicentennial, Cowes Week and Fastnet, which has in the middle
of it Super Series venue four… Copa del Rey. By then we are in August and gearing up for the early September Maxi 72 Worlds in Porto Cervo, where I hope to see eight 72s at the start! The final Super Series venue is Cascais. Then more or less four months at home in the office before the 2016 season knocks on the door… SH: And how many boats in 2016? RW: You are pushing it, Andrew… I’ll go for 15 TP52s racing a season that I hope covers both sides of the Atlantic and, slightly more of a gamble, 10 Maxi 72s in Sept - ember 2016 at the Porto Cervo Maxi 72 Worlds. That would make this class manager happy. By then if I look at the larger picture I also hope to see the positive consequences of the streamlining of racing calendars and rating systems, as well as applying some fresh logic to the ‘positioning’ of the various racing classes, creating enough confidence for more owners to build new and join what is on the racing menu. Sounds funny maybe, with apparently so many events on that menu, but it is still hard to put together a good calendar based upon the key criteria of good sailing condi- tions, an interesting mix of racecourses, good race management and ample high- level competition. Pretty soon you have to travel a lot, or race the same venues each year, which is not perfect either. In that sense it would be nice to see a few more truly international high-level competition events, either new or revived. Yes, the Admiral’s Cup, for instance. But to a modern format. Nobody is going to spend three weeks at one venue any more, not even with sun and wind guaranteed. Today we live in the fast lane… Rob Weiland was talking to the editor q
CARLO BORLENGHI/ROLEX
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