News Around the World
How the ‘Ultime’ multihull game has moved on since Francis Joyon (inset) launched his solo round-the-world record holder IDEC; Joyon finished the Route du Rhum a full 37 hours behind the winner, Loïck Peyron on Banque Populaire, and was behind two of the three MOD70s that were also taking part. However, there is still no one who commands greater respect in the solo community…
FRANCE
‘I did not tell anyone what my Route du Rhum ambitions were before the start but a top 10 was my highest hope. I did benefit from some attrition in the fleet but that is the way of it. I am so delighted, just delighted… It will take some time to sink in.’ Miranda Merron arrived neither shaken nor stirred and was promoted to sixth in the 43-strong Class40 fleet as a result of a 24-hour penalty imposed on Yannick Bestaven – who finished fourth but who had collided with South Africa’s Philippa Hutton Squire’s Class40 during the first night.
‘Maybe, just maybe I was too conservative. Certainly, in the second half I feel I was, but there is also the attrition… There are guys who might normally have beaten me who are now home on their sofas, having pulled out, or are way behind me,’ said the brilliant Miranda. After a long duel with French rival Fabrice Amedeo (who finished seventh), after nine days’ racing Merron passed Amedeo on the final morning to finish a few hundred metres in front.
Merron’s biggest problem had been resetting her automatic pilot to her compass, because her wind instruments failed soon after the start (the same thing happened to many other boats during the first days’ sailing in strong winds and rough seas). After a cautious start she rapidly gained places by doing a tidy job of getting through the first front off Ushant to take an early sixth place. After that she fought hard, sitting between sixth and ninth for most of the race. ‘But above all my congratulations to Alex Pella!’ said Miranda. ‘He was my pre-race favourite and I am delighted that he has won.’ The Spanish skipper arrived in Pointe à Pitre in a new record time of 1d 9h in front of Miranda. Barcelona-born and bred Alex Pella, 42, has been on and around boats since he was a toddler, just like his older brother David and younger brothers Borja and Nacho. Family cruising from a very early age is at the heart of his passion for sailing. His father, a set designer for Spanish TV, had a 28ft wooden boat in 1973 on which the family cruised the Costa Brava and the Balearics.
12 SEAHORSE
When in 1976 he bought a Spanish-built Puma 34 hull to fit out, the young brothers spent all their time around the new project. Three more family boats followed before Alex and his brothers moved on to professional pastures.
Alex Pella’s first brush with shorthanded ocean racing came courtesy of Barcelona brothers Willy and Bruno Garcia – who were very much solo and shorthanded pioneers from the Catalan capital. From there he was inspired to get into the Mini 650. A Barcelona patron bought Lionel Lemonchois’ Lombard-designed Sampaquita which Alex raced to third in the Mini Transat in 2003. He and his brothers then built a new carbon rig for the boat in their grandmother’s basement and in 2005 Alex was second, winning the longest leg from Lanzarote and so becoming the first Spanish sailor to win a long solo ocean race stage. Alex also raced successfully on the TP52 circuit but he returned to two-handed offshore racing on an Imoca 60 with Pepe Ribes, achieving a fifth in the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2009 and two years later a fourth in the Barcelona World Race. In 2013 he raced with Lionel Lemonchois on the Route des Princes on the Maxi trimaran Prince de Bretagneand meanwhile was also becoming involved with the all-Spanish Class40 project Tales 2. The designer is the well-known Marcelino Botín, brother of owner Gonzalo Botín, and the builder is Ximo Lopez at Longitud Cero, builders of many TP52 championship winners. Tales 2showed her early potential by finishing second in the 2013 TJV (Alex was sailing with Pablo Santurde) despite a stop in La Coruña to repair a rudder. Gonzalo says: ‘The boat has done around 23,000 miles since her launch in July 2013. We know the boat is better in every area now and everything seems to have worked fine during the Transat.
‘Regarding Alex, he is simply a very talented sailor. He is easily the best singlehanded sailor in Spain. He is good at every aspect of the game. He is a good navigator, an excellent trimmer, he loves driving, can repair anything onboard, and knows how to pace himself… I just cannot spot any weak areas.’ Gonzalo
OLIVIER BLANCHET/DPPI
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