May 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 19. COMANCHE COMPETES AT ST. BARTHS


Les Voiles de St. Barth Seventy teams have fi nished practice


and fi nal preparations for Les Voiles de St. Barth and would start racing April 13th ending on the 18th


, for a total of four races.


Headlining the event was the match between Comanche and Rambler. In the top maxi class there was another eight racers between 63 and 90 feet such as BELLA MENTE, LUCKY, ODIN, LUPA OF LONDON, SE- LENE and ARAGON. There was also going to be great racing in the other classes. The two Maxi classes and fi ve Spin- naker classes are sailing under the CSA rating, as defi ned by the Caribbean Sailing Association, and have been split into their classes according to rating bands. As for how that rating will play out in


the Rambler vs. Comanche battle, no one yet knows, but all are curious. Optimizing for ratings was not a priority in the design or building of either boat, as both were con- ceived for straight-line speed, specifi cally to break distance records. (Rambler at 88 feet, is 12 feet shorter than Comanche.) “We’re not here for rating honors,” said


Comanche’s helmsman Ken Read. “Our goal is to be fi rst to fi nish (over the line), and clearly it will be a lot of fun lining up against Rambler, a very similar boat, for the fi rst time. They’d like to beat us boat-for-boat, and we’d like to beat them boat-for-boat, so I think the sailing world is excited to see this. We’re excited to see this.” The fi rst day the winds were 15-20


knots, large seas and lots of reaching legs. The multihull Phaedo 3 fi nished the long course in just over two hours and 25 minutes, approximately 34 minutes ahead of the next fastest boat in the fl eet, Comanche, whose long-awaited battle with Rambler 88 yielded some answers today. Though Comanche beat Rambler by ten minutes in real time, which pleased her crew, Rambler had to be satisfi ed with beating Comanche on correct- ed time (5:04:48 compared to Comanche’s 5:11:30), even with a spinnaker problem that forced them to change headsails and cost


them several minutes. Taking second in Maxi 1 class, where they are grouped with Rambler 88, Co- manche and Bella Mente, was Lucky, with Mark Watson standing in as driver for owner Bryon Ehrhart.


On the second day of racing was a nice sunny day with the traditional trade winds blowing. Phaedo 3, a MOD 70 tri- maran, raced around the course in 1 hour, 53 minutes and 35 seconds, giving it line honors in the Multihull class well ahead of the next fi nisher, Comanche, whose time of 2:33:04 set the course record in the Maxi 1 class. Posting a time of 3:38:07, Odin now holds the record in the Maxi 2 class. After correcting out, Rambler 88 won the Maxi 1 class on corrected time, about four minutes ahead of Bella Mente, which had not been able to sail yesterday due to equipment fail- ure. Comanche trailed 10 seconds behind, and the leader board has them tied on point score with Lucky behind leader Rambler 88. On the fi nal day there was a little ex- citement when Gunboat G4 Timbalero III capsized. No one was injured, and the brand- new foiling catamaran was righted within two hours. In Maxi 1 class, George David’s Rambler 88 won the four-race series. All eyes had been on Rambler 88 and the larger Comanche during the fi rst two race days, since no one had yet seen the two boats sail against each other. The powerful Comanche showed blazingly fast speed, taking line honors in every race. It was Rambler 88, however, that prevailed with corrected-time performances that gave the team three fi rst- place fi nishes in a row. On day 4 Rambler 88 took second to Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente, the focus had returned to who was doing the best on ratings. Rambler 88 maintained its place at the top of the scoreboard, but Bella Mente was able to replace Lucky as runner up. Bella Mente, Lucky and Comanche had all shared the same point score after today’s race, but Bella Mente’s performance handed the tiebreaker to their team.


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