Giraglia 2024… the Mediterranean is warm and balmy in summer – except when it’s not. In another extraordinary result for what is now recognised as a game-changing new approach to IRC design, this year’s breezy Giraglia was won overall by Didier Gadoux and Erwan Tabarly (left) sailing two-handed as usual on their Nivelt/Manuard 35-footer Lan Aël 3. Second and third overall were two slightly smaller JPK designs. Meanwhile, at the other end of the ‘story’ just five of the 13 Maxis who were entered came to the startline with winds forecast to reach 30-35kt… So why, you ask, are the Lan Aël 3 clones not appearing? Probably because a more affordable series-built love-child from the same design team will shortly break cover at Structures Shipyard (aka Pogo) in Brittany
participants for the next Vendée Globe. After the New York Vendée race 39 skippers were guaranteed a place in the 10th edition of the famous solo round-the-world race. Three other skippers were waiting anxiously, hoping to receive the single wild card invitation from the organising authority which limited the entry to 40 some years ago. In the end they selected the Swiss Oliver Heer as the fortunate
name to go on the list: a logical result based on the total number of qualifying miles sailed. The young Brit James Harayda and the Frenchman François Guiffant will not enter the VG except as substitutes should one of the 40 entries be unable to start. ‘It was not an easy choice: these three skippers are extremely
deserving,’ said Alain Leboeuf, President of the Vendée Department and the Vendée Globe race. ‘I consulted many different people but after careful consideration I decided to avoid any personal feelings – deciding between them in order of qualifying miles sailed was the right solution and it respects the laws of sport.’ François Guiffant was of course disappointed. He wrote an open
letter to the press after being eliminated: ‘This is the first time that the Vendée Globe starts leaving two qualified projects on the dock: two, not 10, not five. Just two skippers, who have made the same journey as the others, faced the same elements, faced the same difficulties… and met the same qualifying criteria.’ François concluded with these words: ‘Through this letter I ask
you this question, elected representative of the Vendée: what will your fellow citizens think, and the millions of adventurers and ocean- racing enthusiasts ready to follow this race, of this decision? Of your decision? In sailing races there is the possibility of modifying a rule according to the evolution of a situation. This is called an amendment. An amendment that would be to your credit and would be part of the great story of the Vendée Globe.’
Unstoppable Lann Aël After a 2023 season of dominant success in Channel-Atlantic waters, including the title of European IRC Double-Handed champion, Didier Gaudoux, recently promoted to vice-president of the Yacht Club de France and put in charge of its offshore training, for 2024 switched his attention to the Mediterranean…
Aboard Lann Aël 3, his formidable 35ft Nivelt-Manuard IRC design,
sailing once again with Erwan Tabarly, the Parisian skipper main- tained his record as ‘the troublemaker’ in this year’s Giraglia by winning the race overall, as well as his class and of course the Double-Handed trophy. The famous and iconic race of the Giraglia, 241 miles from
St-Tropez to Genoa after rounding the island of Giraglia off northern Corsica, is now sponsored by Loro Piana. ‘We were the little DH boats and we started in light air in the shadow of the much larger boats that make up this fleet,’ explains the overall winner of the 2017 Fastnet. ‘Then the wind picked up at the tip of Escalet; it was early in the
race so we were being conservative and quickly took two reefs in the mainsail, switched to the little spinnaker and set the J3 as a staysail…’ This caution did not stop the 35-footer from hitting a new top-speed record of 22.5kt shortly afterwards, averaging 13.6kt for the leg to the Giraglia rock. After Corsica Lan Aël 3and the larger boats surrounding her were then faced with a zone of little or no wind for the leg north before reaching Genoa in light airs. The French boat, recognisable by her notably voluminous bow
for an IRC design, completes the course at a more than 10kt average speed and wins overall on corrected time four minutes ahead of the crewed JPK 11.80 Télémaque, followed a long way back by a JPK 10.80, also sailed double-handed. Géry Trentesaux, fourth overall and winner of his class on his GTS43 Long Courrier, completes this tricolour domination of the results. Didier was excited by this baptism of fire in the Mediterranean
even if he was often concerned by the sea state, short and vertical and quite difficult to manage at high speed. He also noted the split of this fleet between big boats sailed by pros and smaller ones by amateur crews – a diversity we do not find on the French shores of Manche-Atlantique where the IRC crews are in the main amateurs. After that Giraglia Didier was rushing to make the start of the
Aegean 600 sailing with his daughter and two young crew members, but was struggling with road transport because ‘the permitted size for road transport is not the same in France and Italy…’ In the end Lan Aël 3 made the start in the Greek waters and put in another
SEAHORSE 25
CARLO BORLENGHI/LORO PIANA
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