Editorial Andrew Hurst Total scallywag


Ed Dubois’ boats were usually pretty, often innovative and some of them were very fast. His standout racing design for me was Police Car, which helped break the mould for bigger IOR designs while anchoring Australia’s victory in the windy Admiral’s Cup of 1979.


Then there was Ed’s clever One Tonner Full


Pelt, developed with skipper Jo Richards. Very ‘modable’, its high freeboards allowing plenty of sail under IOR, that boat was really hard to beat in light air especially and dominated the 1986 Sardinia Cup, dragging those of us sailing her larger, rather less nimble teammates to an unexpected but throughly enjoyable victory. There was only one man to lead the celebrations and he rose to the task. Of course Ed’s raceboats were just a necessary stepping stone


to a career creating beautiful superyachts. In fact, he did more than create superyachts, he helped create the superyacht industry, in turn doing an extraordinary job promoting New Zealand’s marine industry (Dubois was long ago given the keys to the City of Auckland). I remember his enthusiasm when, working with longtime partner Malcolm McKeon, Ed completed the lines of Aquel IIin 1985, at the time a brave experiment in creating a large, spacious and unusually airy sailing vessel… one that was actually intended to sail. The 37m aluminium yacht also boasted some of the earliest under-deck sail control systems, with hidden captive winches that paved the way for another new avenue of development. Onboard, Aqueloffered bright living spaces with excellent lines of sight from a saloon that – contrary to the prevailing wisdom – had not been forced deep into the bowels of the boat. Ed knew that people who live in bright modern spaces prefer not to go downstairs into the dark. He was always asking the question: ‘but whyhave we always done it like this?’ And from Aquelflowed that seemingly endless stream of ever-larger yachts; later there were some pretty good-looking motoryachts as well. Ed was always ready to back himself, sometimes putting his own money into a race project if he felt a new sail or two would be helpful. It was good for business and it was good fun. For his final Admiral’s Cup programme he stumped up much of the cash himself, judging it important to keep a foot in the racing world for as long as it was practical. Of course, Ed also invested in racing because he loved to race and he loved the people and the excitement that went with it… and those celebrations.


Ed Dubois was the antithesis of today’s anodyne professional. But he was professional, as well as being irreverent, rude, witty, great fun and often proper trouble. No one’s perfect and Ed had loads of flaws but, as with another maverick, the late James Hunt, the energy certain people bring into a room is hard to ignore.


Ed, you could be a complete pain in the arse, but we’re really going to miss you.


Dangerous


Much as we tease our American friends about cancelling racing as soon as the flags start to move, this issue will soon affect us all. I was shocked at Spi Ouest at Easter when a bad forecast (OK, a very bad forecast) meant that on arrival on a lovely sunny day we were warned that there might not be any racing over the four-day weekend. Liability issues which began with the terrible accident at the Nioulargue some years ago have festered in France, and the country of Tabarly, Colas and Gabart is now as cautious as anywhere else once the wind threatens to exceed 25kt.


This paranoia led to chaos in La Trinité. Day one, good weather good racing. But that evening all of the following day’s races were cancelled in advance due to ‘the forecast’… in fact, up until about 3pm conditions the next day were brisk but perfectly sailable. Day three and, with organisers under pressure having wasted the previous day, the 350-boat fleet (ranging from little Open 5.50s crewed by youngsters to big IRC yachts) was sent out on schedule into a genuinely horrible forecast, only to be sent rapidly back to port as winds quickly increased with gusts to nearly 60kt. That afternoon, clearly relieved at getting everyone home safely, the organisers immediately cancelled the following day, again 24 hours in advance. And yes, conditions on the final day once again turned out brisk but raceable.


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The Diam 24s developed for the revamped Tour Voile have become a seriously good little class of their own with growing fleets at French regattas. Still a bit tricky in big breeze, though…


assistance – Spi Ouest


So paranoia twice led to a full day’s racing being cancelled in advance – never seen that before – while ironically the consequent self-inflicted pressure led to bigger risks being taken. All this in France. The country of Tabarly. The omens are not good.


q NOT NORMAL


In 18 hours I gybed five times, tacked five times and changed


It was hard work – Gabart


YOU DON’T SAY


sails three times – François Gabart learns to sail his 100ft trimaran Macif singlehanded


HOW DID WE GET HERE? The decision to cancel racing today was based in part on what


‘happened’ on Monday when 130 boats raced in winds that topped out at 20kt


– Key West spokesman


We decided to send the fleet in when we saw a violent storm approaching


– Spi Ouest organisers The maximum wind recorded was 57kt with a lot of hail; we were a long way out to sea but only one or two of the smallest boats [out of a fleet of 350] needed any


There was a good bulge of talent coming through New Zealand


yachting at that time – Hamish Willcox, third in the 1977 P-Class nationals behind Dickson and Coutts


When we finished in Brest we immediately thought about going


again a few days later – For Francis Joyon the Jules Verne is just another trip


Technology and TV are as light as a puddle of oil on the ocean which is easily dispersed, but a wing underwater with its tons of lead leaves a


trace in the waves – former UNCL president Philippe Serenon waxes lyrical about AC35


They pretend to pay us Storm in Channel,


Seahorse magazine and our associate raceboatsonlybrokerage site are both at: seahorsemagazine.com The editor is contactable by email at: andrew@seahorse.co.uk


SEAHORSE 7


and we pretend to work – not everyone in Soviet Russia was convinced by that five-year plan


Continent isolated – and we’ll never mention the EU again


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