Contents October 2015
FEATURES 4 The place to be
This year’s Yacht Racing Forum is set to take place beside Lake Geneva – very appropriate!
28 A definite thumbs up
Super-close, super-tough racing; this year’s TP52 world championship saw some welcome new faces on the podium. ROB WEILAND
Glamour!
The spectacle of a flood of famous big boats arriving in the Solent to race this summer was only dented slightly by two of the favoured Maxi 72s pulling out of the Fastnet; that said, owners and crews probably looked back at their decision with relief given that the 90th anniversary edition of the race was the slowest in recent memory. The Fastnet course often delivers periods of calm, 1991 and 1995 spring to mind, but rarely can one of the great classic races ever have suffered such a long and unbroken case of the slows. Early in the race the 2015 Fastnet looked like a potential walkover for the biggest boats, with the slippery and nimble pocket-maxi Rambler often leading the IRC standings and threatening to slide away. But although at one point the margin to the trailing fleet was over 100nm, once a little wind had started to help the biggest boats glide into Plymouth so the breeze was gently filling in for those small boats that had broken out of the morass of boats behind. Hence it became odds-on that French offshore ‘spécialiste’ Géry Trentesaux (pg14) could well notch up yet another RORC race win – having won almost everything else this year – and deliver a second consecutive Fastnet win for Jean-Pierre Kelbert’s Bréton shipyard JPK. And it was not just Trentesaux flying the tricolour away at the front… the 2015 Fastnet was a complete French walkover. Eight boats in the top 10 hailed from the other side of La Manche, with an incredible 20 boats in the top 40 on corrected time. The RORC’s offshore races have been attracting big international entries throughout 2015 – offshore racing remaining the most popular form of regular big boat racing in northern Europe – but les damned Froggies are still ahead…
COVER: Ingrid Abery INSET: Oskar Kihlborg
30 Imoca spreads its wings Building one-design rigs for the toughest racers on earth demands considerable concentration… VINCENT MARSAUDON talks with JOCELYN BLERIOT
32 None too shabby KAROL JABLONSKI’s racing CV is not only remarkable in volume but it is also far from typical
36 A lateral question – Part II KEVIN ELLWAY and ALAN SMITH develop their argument against J foils with ANDY RICE
40 First semester
The VO65s came through their first test pretty well, but much was learnt to be put into technical refinements before the next race. JAMES DADD
44 Too good to miss
BILL CANFIELD makes a formidable case for looking at a winter programme in the Caribbean
REGULARS
6 Commodore’s letter MICHAEL BOYD 9 Editorial
ANDREW HURST
10 Update TERRY HUTCHINSON dodges the calms of the Irish Sea, JACK GRIFFIN puts the first AC World Series into perspective and ROB WEILAND assesses the first season for the new Maxi 72 class
14 World news
The mighty Courrier, a successful Tour switch to Diam 24s, ASHBY takes charge as DALTS consolidates, Italy’s latest Vendée Globe challenger, CHINK LONGLEY on 1980 bendy rigs… plus Transpac with a twist. IVORWILKINS, BLUE ROBINSON, PATRICE CARPENTIER, GIULIANO LUZZATTO and DOBBS DAVIS
22 Rod Davis Hauling yourself back up off the canvas 24 ISAF column A return to Sanya… and with plenty to discuss
26 ORC Column Fast boats to the fore – but nothing is that simple
42 Design – Straight out of the box MATTEO POLLI’s instant champion!
48 Seahorsebuild table – Upping the ante
The latest designer to enter the WallyCento market is French talent PHILIPPE BRIAND
52 Seahorse regatta calendar
54 RORC news EDDIE WARDEN-OWEN 75 Sailor of the Month
First-time winner and record-breaking champion
Lively times at the RYS bicentennial. Remember when people claimed (with justification) that a good IRC boat
leaned, shall we say,
towards the less exciting end of yacht design; well, things have changed, with dominance by the TP52s (also in ORC, by the way) and by other aggressively light designs – especially higher up the size scale
RICK TOMLINSON
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