Opposite: Jean-Marie Finot and design partner Pascal Conq who joined the Finot studio in 1985. The design that put Groupe Finot on the international map (top left), Jean-Louis Fabry’s fabled IOR Admiral’s Cupper Révolution was an exaggerated larger development of his successful Ecume de Mer Quarter Ton champion; the winner of the brutal and tragic 1996 Vendée Globe, Christophe Auguin’s flat-decked Geodis was the first Open 60 canting-keeler and weighed around two-tonnes less than her purely water-ballasted rivals; Arkéa Paprec… the spectacular fruit of a new Imoca collaboration of Finot-Conq-Koch which threatened the previous Verdier and VPLP hegemony from the get-go; and PRB, the only Imoca to win the Vendée Globe twice, with Michel Desjoyeaux (here) then with Vincent Riou – those aircraft carrier decks are now moderately curved for better self-righting following several Imoca 60 inversions
and Auguin again, then Michel Desjoyeaux and Vincent Riou on the same Groupe Finot-designed PRB in the Vendée Globe. After a long break from the front of the Imoca scene, a void filled
by among others Guillaume Verdier, who spent several years at the Finot office in Vannes, Finot Conq diversified into Class40s, then returned to the top of the Imoca class in the last VG with Yoann Richomme’s Paprec-Arkéa, designed in association with Antoine Koch. Jean-Marie’s talent and that of his team also underpinned the
enormous production sales at Bénéteau (the First range) and played their part in the success of Structures Shipyard (Pogo). Our colleague Didier Ravon recently spoke to Jean-Marie Finot.
He wrote: ‘In recent years he had lost none of his lively wit, and it was always a great pleasure to listen to him tell us about naval architecture and the simple pleasure of boating, and in his truculent yet tender way to recall the great gallery of characters who brought boating to life in France and elsewhere. He was one of its most important figures…’ Didier remembers several of Jean-Marie’s favourite phrases.
‘Production boats are just as important as racing boats. We try to do the best we can in all cases. Whether you’re building a house or a boat, what’s important is that people should be in harmony with themselves, the boat and the crew. Inside a boat they are happy, they are part of the wind, the sea, the waves.’ Finot has left behind an impressive legacy, with more than 45,000
boats built. And more than 200 different models. His innovative approach and constant quest for perfection have had a profound influence on yachting and ocean racing. He will be remembered as a genius designer who challenged conventional wisdom and old habits, and to whom we owe some of the biggest advances.
THAT PESKY DEED OF GIFT – Jack Griffin There is no Challenger of Record. There is a challenger: Royal Yacht Squadron Limited. And there is a defender: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Incorporated. Remember that the Deed of Gift specifies that the America’s Cup is always held by a yacht club, not a team or yacht owner, and that a challenge must always come from a yacht club in a country other than that of the holder. Under the mutual consent terms of the Deed of Gift the defender
and the challenger may agree to dates, courses and other conditions of the match, and nothing prevents them from agreeing to hold a challenger selection series. But neither does anything in the deed require a challenger selection series. For the first 20 challenges, from 1870 to 1967, there was only one challenger. Since 1970 all but two of the 17 matches have included multiple challengers, with a challenger selection series to determine which yacht would face the defender’s yacht in the match. So how’s it going with those mutual consent discussions? Well… As your scribe writes these lines RNZYS and RYS have not
announced a date or venue for the next America’s Cup and they have not released a protocol calling for additional challengers with a challenger selection series. Perhaps all these issues will have become clear by the time you are reading this. Or perhaps not. RYS made their challenge in the form required by the Deed of
Gift: they named their challenging yacht Britannia, and her owner Athena Racing Ltd. They gave the dimensions of their yacht – clearly an AC75. They also named the dates for the match: 4, 6 and 9 Sep- tember 2025 if in the Northern Hemisphere, and 11, 13 and 16 December 2025 if in the Southern Hemisphere. These dates were
SEAHORSE 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
