News Around the World �
Early favourite… Charles Caudrelier’s Dongfeng was the first VO65 to go afloat for this year’s Volvo race – by mid-February Dongfeng was out trialling potential crew (Caudrelier seems certain to go for the 7 men/2 women crewing option). At the same time new Mapfre skipper Xabi Fernández was leaning hard on his reconstituted Spanish team to also get afloat and make the most of an early launch
The skipper of Bureau Valléesailed most of the race very far from any other boats, especially after the retirements of his closest rival behind, Stéphane Le Diraison, and the two guys in front, Kito de Pavant, forced to abandon his boat (keel failure), and Thomas Ruyant who nearly had to do the same, prior to proudly heading for New Zealand on a destroyed Imoca 60 (major bow-on collision). Hungarian skipper Nandor Fa brought Spirit of Hungary across the finish line in an excellent eighth place. Fa, at 63, completed the latest race 24 years after becoming the first ever non-French skipper to complete the Vendée Globe. His elapsed time on Spirit of Hungary, which he designed and built himself, is 93 days. He had sailed 27,850 miles at an average speed of 12.35kt. Not bad. One big deal this Vendée Globe was that it saw the closest finish between three boats – in only three hours. The battle had been very tight between those three all the way around. Veteran of the VG Jean-Pierre Dick had a foiler very similar to the winning boat and so was one of the favourites. But he lost time very early on off the Portuguese coast and never managed to catch the leaders who had disappeared ahead with better winds in the South Atlantic. Then, when south of Australia, Jean-Pierre radically diverted his route to avoid a huge storm, passing north of Tasmania and into the Bass Strait – a ‘première’ in the history of the Vendée Globe. The option was not silly but he then had to fight hard to the finish against two glorious three-time Figaro winners! Very difficult and tough competition. Yann Eliès was sailing the original Safranand wanted primarily to finish, having nearly lost his life onboard Generali during the 2008/2009 Vendée. His best friend on the water was the truly excellent Jean Le Cam sailing an ‘old’ Farr design – the boat Michel Desjoyeaux took to victory in 2008. For me, King Jean, 57, is truly a ‘Royal’.
One championship – two trophies
With the still steady growth of the Class40 new trophies will be presented in 2017. The diversity of Class40 means that while some boats don’t take part in all the transatlantic races they are very active members of the class and compete in many of the ‘inshore’ races (some of these are not so inshore) and these boats should be better recognised. A new trophy will also be awarded in the USA where the Class40 fleet is growing slowly but surely. At the end of the year there will therefore be a new championship ranking counting
16 SEAHORSE
both the winner of the new European Coastal Trophy and winner of the American Coastal Trophy.
The very international Class40 is going well, 150 boats racing, four or five new boats under construction and a lively secondhand market (in February Manfred Ramspacher, organiser of the popular two-handed Normandy Channel Race, was pleased to announce that 20 Class40 were already entered for the eighth edition). Halvard Mabire, Class40 president, who races with Miranda Merron on their 2016 boat co-designed by Halvard and Bernard Nivelt, is quite happy about what is going on and is always pleased to tell the ‘jolly story’ of the Class40: ‘I’m quite grown-up, I’m 12 years old and welcome 150 boats built to date. I am international, with 16 countries represented.
‘Twenty yacht designers worldwide have expressed their vision of our class rules. I am governed by stable rules which nevertheless allow for reasonable performance development. Our boats hold their value well. My offshore racing calendar is very full, international and includes all the great Atlantic races. ‘I am a solid mix of professional and Corinthian sailors, and what’s more I am the only ocean-racing class in which women can compete on equal terms and aim for victory. I am human-sized and accessible at reasonable cost. I am recognised as having a high level of competition, attracting top talent from the world of offshore racing with a significant presence in the major multi-class ocean races, often 50 per cent of the fleet.’ Patrice Carpentier
SPAIN
The Mapfre team of Pedro Campos is still chasing the dream of achieving a first Spanish victory in the Volvo Ocean Race, a success pursued by Spanish teams without success in nine of the 12 editions. Spain boasts a long tradition in this competition since in 1981-82 Joaquín Coello entered Licor 43. Despite finishing 19th, the achievement of Licorfinishing the second leg under jury rig after dismasting was a major event in Spain and prompted a string of further Spanish challenges.
Spanish designer Javier Visiers played an important role in the
Whitbread Race, being both designer and promoter of three campaigns. In 1985-86 his Fortuna Lights finished sixth, then in 1989-90 Fortuna Extra Lights was seventh. But his last campaign
AMALIA INFANTE
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