crash tack in strong winds cost him much of the lead he had held for four days. ‘I surfed down a wave at around 28kt with me sitting in the hatch, and at the bottom of the wave we stopped dead and I was almost hurled through the boat – which then spun out. ‘The G-force is ridiculous when you go down a wave and the bow ploughs in,’ he said. ‘During the crash tack it wasn’t so bad in hind- sight. But, yes, it’s stressful… and I’m always aware that if I break the autopilot I can’t go anywhere.’
Gosh, this solo Transat has been a fantastic training for the Vendée Globe. Arriving in Les Sables, Jérémie Beyou declared: ‘I think the key to the race was how you exited the low, after several days when you’d been concentrating on just maintaining a rhythm to stay ahead of the front. Then quite suddenly you needed to clear your head and plan the best way to approach Biscay.’ In the end, however, keeping an eye on his two pursuers, Josse and Thompson, proved an easy task for a three-time Figaro winner.
Imposter
It is frequently said that the Commodores’ Cup is mostly a match between England and France – the two nations each entering multiple three-boat teams. But that does not mean the victory will go to either country, as we saw in 2014 with the dominance of a single Irish team. But of course France and England are usually found playing at the top level at any big IRC event. France has again nominated three teams this year, with the interesting story that one of the boats is skippered and steered and largely crewed by ‘English people’ but with a 51 per cent French line-up to be eligible in a French team. The boat is a new Joubert- Nivelt design, sort of a Teasing Machinebut only 39ft long. The hull and primary structure are made by Trimarine in Portugal and all the rest is from Mestral Marine in Spain.
The new boat was launched in late-April. The first idea of Englishman (but living in south Brittany) Joe Lacey, managing the campaign, was to get a place in one of the British teams. ‘But the answer was a polite “non”,’ said Andrew Hurst (yes, the editor of Seahorse Magazine) who steers the boat.
Luckily, however, France was looking for a ninth boat to complete a third team. Jean-Philippe Cau, president of UNCL, was in charge and agreed an arrangement with Joe to join the ‘froggy’ challenge. That is a ‘première’ in the history of the Commodores’ Cup. The boat is named Staminaand has been chartered for the bulk of the RORC offshore season by the Spanish shipyard to well-known French skipper Michel Péretié (living in England!).
Jean-Philippe Cau, who has raced the Commodores’ Cup many times (for France…), will be aboard as a second helmsman for the offshore races and helping Joe with tactics and navigation inshore. Jean-Philippe is also the designated captain of the French challenge. For his first sail onboard StaminaAndrew said he was impressed with the boat, especially once the breeze is up to 8-9kt, but hinted that it could benefit from a little more downwind sail area for running in light to moderate Solent breezes. Joe adds that there is really no room for a bigger kite without a taller mast, but that a longer sprit and bigger A-sails may be looked at in the future. However, Bernard Nivelt was surprised by these comments ‘because the area of the kite is the same as on a Ker 39 and my design is much lighter’. Bernard reminded us that the larger Teasing Machine, which is not optimised for soft conditions, was doing quite well on a light Solent two years ago. But he also concedes that it can take some time to get these more powerful new IRC designs up to speed across all conditions.
The two other boats racing in the same team as Staminaare
100 per cent French! These are the JPK10.10 Foggy Dew(Noël Racine), which is a true dark horse in her class having won many, many RORC races, and the new JPK10.80 of another well-known skipper, Marc Alperovitch.
The funny thing is that Marc wants very much to race in the small boat class (under 1.050 TCC) which means that Foggy Dew(rating 1.003) will be in the big boat division – the NOR states that a team cannot have more than one small boat racing in the small boat fleet. RORC racing manager Nick Elliott explains: ‘While the rules for the 2016 event once again only allow teams to have one “big boat” (TCC 1.049-1.150) each team must now include a “small boat” (TCC
1.000-1.049) to increase the range of boats taking part and make it easier to form a team. In 2014 the fleet started en masse to make it a spectacle, but this year, taking account of competitor feedback, the small boats will get their own start.’
RORC CEO Eddie Warden-Owen adds: ‘The mass start looked great but it was tough on the small boats struggling for clear air.’ Once again the regatta format will include an offshore race, a race around the Isle of Wight plus inshore races – now increased from six to 10. Nick Elliott again: ‘We appreciate the time and effort people put into coming to the regatta and once here they want to be out there enjoying the Solent racecourse.’
Similarly, the number of ISAF Group 3 pro sailors in each team is increased to six, divided across the three boats. Nick: ‘It is a Corinthian regatta, but the professional element does help to keep the event at a very high level.’
The no1 French team is made of the now famous Teasing
Machine, together with the Ker 39 Goa(ex-Inis Mor) and the Sunfast 3200 Cifraline driven by the boat’s designer Daniel Andrieu. His Jeanneau-built boat was significantly modified last winter with a new straight keel, instead of the original fin which had a ‘sort of bulb’ at the bottom, a taller carbon mast and a revised cockpit arrangement that is now standard on new boats. In this new configuration Cifraline rated 1.000 at Spi Ouest- France, which she won from another SF 3200, Version R2, with a new carbon mast and the new cockpit but with the original keel. Version R2was helmed in La Trinité by Bruno Troublé. The third French team is made up of Lannael 2, another new Joubert-Nivelt 39 and similar to Stamina, the ‘old’ First 40.7 Pen Koentwhich still performs very well and the A35 Relax, which was considerably ‘refreshed’ last winter in her home port of La Trinité. Four of the nine French boats are designed by Joubert-Nivelt. Patrice Carpentier
NEW ZEALAND
Whenever yachts prepare to race across open ocean, leaving one country and arriving at another 1,000 miles or more away, the dock- side partings with family and loved ones are poignant affairs, weighted with unsaid concern.
As this year’s Auckland to Fiji race fleet slid away from their berths and headed to the startline, that sense took on an extra edge around one entry in particular. The 11m Bakewell-White design, Anarchy, owned by Andrew Reid, was built as a replacement for the J111 Django, which was lost in a huge storm on its delivery passage back from the previous running of this race two years ago. With his wife and children on the dock to watch Anarchyleave, Reid was all business and looking forward to his first ocean-crossing race since the 2014 edition. ‘It is unfinished business,’ he said. ‘When you climb a mountain and get to the top, the job is only half completed. You have to get back down safely again. Last time we did not manage that and we want to fix that.
‘There was absolutely no hesitation about going again. We are looking forward to it. We have built this yacht with ocean racing in mind and this will be the first time it is able to stretch its legs for long periods at sea.’ The only other longer races Anarchyhas done are coastal affairs including the 120-mile sprints up the east coast from Auckland to the Bay of Islands and the more demanding race from Auckland to Gisborne. This involves rounding the East Cape of the North Island, which can deliver less than benign conditions and always poses a headache for departing Volvo Race fleets. Neither event raised any concerns and in inshore events Anarchy has had a stellar season, taking out a decent haul of divisional silverware. In commissioning the project, which was built at Yachting Developments, the one stipulation in the design brief that came directly from the Django experience was a watertight bulkhead ahead of the rudder stock.
Bakewell-White described the design as a small TP52, an
upgraded version of his General Lee design, which has cut a swathe through the racing fleets of west Australia.
With last-minute items being stowed ready for departure, Reid said his focus was purely on the race ahead. ‘I am thinking about routeing, the weather, maintaining boatspeed and how quickly we
SEAHORSE 15
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