Editorial Where to begin?
Andrew Hurst
First off, Charlie Dalin. The brilliant and approach- able French sailor took line honours in the 2020 Vendée Globe before being dropped to second following (entirely correct) redress awarded to rivals. Four years later he tidied things up, winning the 2024/25 edition after a close battle with his good friend and fellow yacht designer Yoann
Richomme. A close battle in which there was always the feeling that in the end this was Charlie’s turn. His Verdier design Macifwas marginally ahead soon after round-
ing Cape Horn for the final stage north to the finish and both skippers refreshingly shared how in the transitions and upwind work ahead Dalin had the fractionally better package. Two great sailors battling it out for ocean racing’s biggest prize. More recently Dalin has taken extended absences from the sea
and has stayed ashore since winning the Vendée Globe, appointing Sam Goodchild as understudy. Sam has thrived, winning everything he could aboard Macif, but at every stage he has gone out of his way to credit Dalin and his team with providing him with such an opportunity. Now the news we all suspected but hoped to be wrong about, Dalin admitting a previous cancer diagnosis that demanded he restrict physical exertions and focus on recovery. But nothing was going to stop the great Normand from consum-
mating his Macif Vendée programme; which he did with regular use of painkillers. Perhaps Richomme knew, but his respect for his dear friend during the battle around the world was a delight to share. Now Dalin has appointed Sam to take the lead on the Macif 2028
programme with a new Verdier Imoca starting build in a few months’ time. Also involved is brilliant skipper Charlotte Yven, aboard Macif with Sam for much of this year and who in August smashed records by finishing second in the 2025 Figaro Solitaire. Everything about Dalin and those he chooses to have around him
is best characterised as class. Sharing the spoils and the credit, bringing along a new generation, creating the ultimate Imoca and sailing it to perfection. All while fighting a greater personal battle. A word too for Vendée Globe Race Doctor Laure Jacolot, who,
aware of his diagnosis, monitored and encouraged Dalin through the VG, occasionally helping him keep up his spirits in conflicting emotional circumstances. And always telling him to eat more… Charlie Dalin is what is frequently described as a generational
talent; I say he is a generational human being and sportsman. A sailing giant of his era; I would argue the giant. Along with tens of thousands of others who followed his Vendée challenges, his wonderful race team who are the closest of friends, his family and the whole of French ocean racing, we send our utmost best wishes.
designs improves the ability of teams like Orient Express, and crucially the Royal Yacht Squadron, to raise the substantial, but comparatively ‘marginal’, cost of returning in two years’ time with the same platform. What happens thereafter no one knows. Whatever a ‘Cup Frame-
work’ says, George Schuyler is still in charge. Irony of ironies, in 2017 it was the refusal to sign a previous Cup Framework by Team New Zealand, who went on to win that year, that scuppered the attempt by the other teams to control the subsequent narrative. Grant Dalton read between the lines and made a wise call. Now Team NZ can duck and dive with Protocols, Frameworks
and so forth to ensure the Cup lives on at least to 2027, assured of co-operation from the Challenger of Record. After 2027 all bets are surely off. But do not expect to see the
AC75 continue beyond Naples. Magnificent in performance and technical brilliance. And magnificently unaffordable.
Ocean racing Whether or not the Manuard-designed foiling Mini 6.50 Nicomatic wins the 2025 Mini Transat, it is the most important new boat since David Raison won the 2011 edition on his Mini scow TeamWork. Nicomatic also has the benefit of a couple of seasons to iron out bugs, and in 2025 has proved as reliable as she obviously is fast. There have been previous foiling Minis but none reliable enough
to win regularly. Now that bugbear is overcome and there is an ocean-ready 22ft monohull capable of exceeding 30kt in some conditions. This is a genuine breakthrough but, like the ultra-refined current generation of similarly progressive foiling Moths, it is not accessible to all. A lucky handful of people will be able to fund new Nicomatic-type Minis (Sam Manuard’s follow-up is already building at JPS) while the rest will fight for the scraps. The Mini 6.50 is a clever, proactively managed class that has
taken many dramatic steps to control cost. A third ‘division’ beckons… Proto, Series and Aircraft! That way everyone wins.
America’s Cup With the risk of a Deed of Gift Match looming, a flurry of announce- ments from New Zealand implies there will be at least three boats in Naples in 2027. Without that a DoG Challenge could not be ruled out. Look behind the curtain and I guess that parts of the latest Cup Protocol were driven less by regatta refinement than by a need to head off the DoG attack. An attack that Emirates TNZ would surely have beaten off on the water, but which would cost a great deal of precious funding. Mandating that in 2027 all teams must race their 2024 AC75
Don Trask and Patrice de Colmont, both gone. Trask inspired so many racers, offering jobs to all (of us) at his Laser factory and creating events like the Laser Slalom. And the father of La Nioulargue… he was no slouch in that department either
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Postscript Watching Nicomatic fly straight and level across the ocean at twice the speed of Archimedean rivals must surely shut down the argument against adding T-foils to Imoca rudders – which remain prohibited. Almost three years before the next VG there is time for an extraordinary AGM of the class. Louis Burton has demonstrated the feasibility of adding rudder foils to an existing Imoca. Now is the time.
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MOVING ON We had a great feeling
in this race – Tom Laperche, Ultim SVR-Lazartique
It’s rare to sail such
long tacks at over 45kt – Laperche
LIKE FATHER LIKE SON Last night was tough, I changed sails six times
in 30 minutes – Basile Bourgnon, Ocean Fifty Edenred
The first leg was crazy,
the boat fast but safe… – Bourgnon
people – US Military blog Duffel 83% of rescues since 1960 involved unrelentingly stupid behaviour and
mostly saves stupid
extremely stupid people – Duffel
We were never scared!! – Bourgnon Basile is ahead of his time in approach and vision and stimulating
to work with! – Romaric Neyhousser, Edenred designer
WHO’D HAVE GUESSED? The US Coast Guard
OUCH Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma Watson has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how
ignorant she is – Author JK Rowling
IT’S A WRAP Q: What did (the song) American Pie mean? A: I never have to worry
about a pension – Don McLean
SEAHORSE 11
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