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RORC
Looking out of the window at 55,000ft with the deep, deep blue of space above and the ocean below; even at this height the white surf on the back of rolling waves can clearly be seen as they move relentlessly with the wind. Whenever I make such a crossing to America I always believe
that if I can see the individual waves then surely I will spot a sailing yacht – the odd ship, yes, but alas never a yacht. The ocean is so vast and a yacht a mere spec in this watery wilderness. The waves make me think of the power of the sea and, as I am bound for New- port Rhode Island shortly before the start of leg 9 of the Volvo Race, I imagine the relentless spirit required by the crews to push a VO65 to the limit 24 hours a day, at times putting their lives on the line as we have tragically seen once again in this edition. But that strength, power, skill and bravado, coaxing every inch of
speed out of the boat, counts for nothing when the wind fails you as you leave the open ocean and succumb to the effects of land. It’s happened to me and to countless others, I am sure, and is the reason that we keep pushing 24/7. No lead, no matter how great, is ever secure… one of the more amazing aspects of ocean racing. There is always a chance to catch up, as was the case when Mapfre came from 50 miles behind to slip past longterm leader Bouwe Bekking’s Team Brunel as the finish line appeared through the Newport mist, going on to win by just over a minute. One of the closest finishes in the history of the race, if not the most nerve-wracking. But the Volvo was not the reason for my visit to Newport, though
it was a good opportunity to see the fleet; I was there with RORC Commodore Steven Anderson for the commissioning of the New York Yacht Club’s summer outpost, Harbor Court. This grand residence overlooking Newport Harbor was once the home of the Brown family – the same family who started Browns University – and was bought by members of the NYYC 31 years ago. It was also a chance to meet some of the team behind next year’s Transatlantic Race from Newport to Cowes which is jointly organised by the NYYC and Storm Trysail Club in the US and the RYS and RORC in the UK.
Raising the bar The visit was also an opportunity to see the brand new IC37, the Mark Mills design that is to replace the club’s successful and popular
fleet of ClubSwan 42s. While the first 20 IC37s were ordered by the club itself, the strength of interest in this no-frills one-design, which in the US is built by Westerly Yachts and marketed by Melges, has prompted the appointment of a second builder in the UK, Fibre Mechanics, a relatively young composites company that emerged in part from Green Marine. The IC37 comes equipped with just three sails, a carbon mast,
a simple electronics package, a retractable carbon bowsprit and a roller at the back end of the foredeck hatch for a winch-driven spinnaker take-down system. The boat has enough freeboard to encourage offshore racing even though this was never the primary intention, nor is it optimised for any rating system. It reminds me of the initiative that the Royal New Zealand Yacht
Squadron put into practice with their own fleet of Farr MRXs built for match racing in Auckland during the 1990s and that spawned a plethora of world-class talent. The Royal Thames YC and Royal Yacht Squadron followed similar
paths with club fleets of J/70s but the NYYC fleet is in a different league altogether. The boats are available for charter including sails for five regattas per season. Buy your own set of sails and for an additional US$35,000 you can have a fully managed programme without the hassle of boat ownership. In Newport boat charter has taken on new meaning.
Relentless trend The club’s domestic offshore programme started with the Cervantes Trophy to Le Havre, attracting 45 boats, and was won for the third time in a row by local hero Gilles Fournier in his J/133 Pintia. Next was the North Sea Race, attracting a similar number of Dutch boats. At the end of May it was what I call the mini-Fastnet, the Myth of Malham, which tracks the first part of the Fastnet course but rounds the Eddystone Light off Plymouth before returning to Cowes. Again a strong 50-plus entry and a full third of the fleet racing two-handed. In France two-handed racing is even more popular and the ArMen
Race in the middle of May, run by the Société Nautique de La Trinité sur Mer, attracted 72 entries with over half sailing doublehanded. This is going to be a busy summer… Eddie Warden-Owen, CEO
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Alex Ozon couldn’t give a monkey’s how this looks from off the boat as he dumps his sails after crossing the finish in Martinique to win the 2018 Transquadra shorthanded race for over-40s. Nowhere is offshore racing – or probably any racing – in ruder health than in the shorthanded sector, in particular two-handed racing which is attracting scores of new entrants seeking the benefits of a much simpler sailing programme plus the less obvious advantage that when you have just two co-skippers it is natural to divide up boat preparation duties… while owners of crewed boats often have to get used to sorting everything out themselves as ‘the team’ make their apologies
60 SEAHORSE
FRANCOIS VAN MALLEGHEM/DPPI
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