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Editorial Andrew Hurst Just words


I only have one Paul Elvstrøm story – I’m a little too young and only took up Finn sailing 50 or so years after the man himself had moved on. Doubt I would ever have seen much of him on the water anyway. My brief memory is incidental in the scheme of things but it was enough for me to begin to understand what the great sailors who knew him well and who had raced against this magnificent competitor are talking about, just days after his passing at the age of 88. Kiel Week 1984 and we were waiting for the start of our Star heat. Ahead of us in the sequence were the Tornadoes, silent sailing, fast and elegant viewing. I guess about 80 or so cats were lined up, jibs flapping in the last 90 seconds, close to the line but not too close to leave some time for acceleration. Jammed hull to hull along a good square startline (this was Kiel, after all). Not a place to look for some room at the last minute. But one boat did come in fast and late and clearly with nowhere to go. Then, almost invisibly, the wall of boats seemed to part on its approach, not by a lot but by enough for the late arrival to slip through at full speed unhindered. ‘That was pretty impressive,’ my crew and late friend Tim Symons muttered, ‘very odd!’ Because it was odd, very odd.


The presence of Elvstrøm on his personal field of play had set up that extra notch of ‘awareness’ among his rivals. It was not luck that the wall of boats parted like the Red Sea for the Great Dane – that is a special gift, or advantage, that only the tiniest handful of sporting giants earn the right to enjoy. They say that Pelé had the same subconscious, intimidating effect on his opponents. And the ‘waters’ used to part on the world’s Grand Prix circuits at the first sign of Ayrton Senna’s green and yellow helmet in the mirrors. There are others, Redgrave and Zátopek among them, Usain Bolt and, of course in an elite of his own, Ali. But there are not very many. We are lucky to have had one in our own sport, and in living memory. Helming his Tornado from the trapeze – a little more power, obviously – and with his daughter Trine crewing, Elvstrøm, then in his mid-50s, of course won that race on the Kieler Fjord and a few months later went on to represent Denmark at another Olympic regatta, this time in Los Angeles. It’s probably fair to say that when Denmark’s 1984 Tornado representatives just missed out on a medal to finish fourth, many of their rivals felt worse about the result than the two Danes did themselves. There will be a full appreciation of Paul Elvstrøm in the next issue


of Seahorse.


Why the fuss? A great outcome from a fiery meeting of the powers that be in Barcelona, and IRC now enjoys the World Championship status that it deserves. With this Anglo-French creation officially on equal


footing with its Baltic/Adriatic counterpart, ORCi, there is the first chance for a balanced look at a unified international system, for grand prix events at least. That, however, is the future. More imminently there is a first joint world championship scheduled for 2018 in the Netherlands. More good news… except there is already the tedious sucking of teeth from the ‘fraternity of obsessives’ who cling to the idea that all must win prizes, that the goal must always be equal outcomes on the racecourse. Sadly this influence is already being felt in discussions about this landmark new event. How can everyone be treated fairly, how can boats using different rating systems compete, how can different classes be scored fairly, how, if we actually want one, do we choose a single world champion…


Wrong questions. The only thing that will matter in 2018 is that people enjoy the regatta and everyone goes home a little wiser. So here’s what to do: first bin the slide-rule; next have two fleets


with their regular ORCi or IRC certificate; all classes race the same courses, with some proper offshores. Just two starts, one for IRC one for ORCi; find the top boat in IRC and the top boat in ORC. Whichever has the lowest score is 2018 world champion. Job done. Much more important is to mix the boats and crews up in the marina and throw some good parties.


Legacy ‘ – Luca Devoti – Devoti


This was drawn at the 1948 Olympics. Only the nearest Firefly is in perfect trim; seen at full size you can identify the boat as no486. Do Google it if you really must…


As Jochen Riekers suggested in our December issue, for 2017 the entry limit for Denmark’s 150nm Silverrudder singlehanded race was duly increased to 450 and within hours of registration opening all 450 slots were filled. Something for our Danish sailing friends to smile about at a sad time.


PAUL ELVSTROM For my generation Paul was the ultimate legend


He was a fine man, a kind and very honest man


He told me once how he did not put the first Elvstrøm self-bailer into his boat until the start of the Finn Gold Cup so that no one


could copy him… – Devoti


He won and he won time and time again.


Man, what a legend! – Peter Harken Working with Paul was such a privilege, the memory of that time


fills me with pride – Jesper Bank


THAT FINN THING During the 1976 Canadian Olympics there was a charity event with the Finn sailors in the crowd, heads taller than the rest. An old lady


q


in his time… – Mikko Brummer, Finnfare


with a lot of diamond jewellery walked up to Swedish sailor Ingvar Hansson and grabbed him by the sleeve and said, ‘Young man, if you were a racehorse I would buy you.’ I bet Luca had similar offers


LEVEL PLAYING FIELD With Lance Stroll [18] making his F1 debut it is important we have enough spare parts to


of cars this year – Symonds


to Williams – Planet F1


account for incidents… – Pat Symonds, Williams Grand Prix


We’ll be repairing a lot


Stroll takes at least $35-40million per year


SNOWFLAKE CORNER British university academics are being offered counselling for the grief, stress and anxiety caused by the


Brexit vote – The Times


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





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