News Around the World
He could have been a contender…. as a triathlete before being hit by a motorbike during cycling training. Now Jake Lilley is training for his second Olympic challenge in the Finn at Tokyo 2020. Australia has battled with the UK for top Olympic sailing nation since Sydney 2000 and its Olympic programme was recently boosted to over 100 people. Laser gold medallist and America’s Cup tactician Tom Slingsby also now races a Finn in Sydney but his focus is on a potential Australian challenge for the next America’s Cup. One who is committed to Tokyo is new Finn coach (and 2016 world masters champion) Rafa Trujillo who brings massive experience in the class as well – crucially – as access to everyone who knows anything about the still very technical men’s heavyweight singlehander
SPAIN Our sailing community is sad. The reason is the departure of Isabel Genis to face new projects. An exemplary professional well-known worldwide, Lady Sail has gone to organise things beyond. Surely her smile, determination and talent will make things work better in her new destiny, where the souls will enjoy the help and support she always offered to all of us, no matter how difficult the task. For many, working on events like The Race, America’s Cup or Barcelona World Race would not have been so pleasant without Isabel around. Isa, you will never stop sailing with us and inspiring us.
Two lonely gunmen in the TJV Among the 74 skippers who started the Transat Jacques Vabre only two were Spaniards, Alex Pella and Pablo Santurde, both without their own project and sailing as co-skippers in foreign teams. Pella and Santurde have sailed a lot together. They shared thousands of miles on the Class40 Tales, winning the Route du Rhum in 2014 and finishing second in the Transat Jacques Vabre. Now, four years later, they tried again separately. Alex Pella
debuted on Frenchman Lalou Roucayrol’s Multi50 Arkema, while Pablo Santurde raced on the Class40 Imerys Clean Energywith the British sailor Phil Sharp. They were not the fastest boats in their class but they completed an extraordinary regatta with a victory to Pella, while a somewhat outdated boat cost Santurde the win after leading for most of the course.
Seahorse: How did you end up with Arkema? Alex Pella: I replaced Karine Fauconnier who unfortunately injured her neck. I was waiting for the start of the Fastnet with Oman Sail and Lalou called me. Luckily my wife Lida allowed me another 60 days away from home! I joke but that is important because I always look for balance between family life and professional life. SH: And you knew Lalou… AP: Not a lot! But they were in trouble and they needed me. Then before the race I stayed for a few weeks at Lalou’s home in Port Médoc which allowed us to develop the good relationship that is essential to race two-handed. SH: Was it your first time in a Multi 50?
26 SEAHORSE
AP: Yes. We were able to sail about 25 days before the start but mostly in light conditions. Only during qualification did we finally have 35kt for 12 hours or so, which allowed me to get an idea of how these boats behave. Then later during the qualification debrief the team asked me to be completely honest with them, something that is delicate when you are a new and temporary team member. I admitted that I’d detected a problem in the steering. My experience in other boats with two rudders allowed me to propose a solution and they asked me to explain it to the architect. When I returned three weeks later the whole system had been replaced! Of course that gave me a lot of confidence… SH: And the Multi50. AP:Well, I already had some* multihull experience with the Ultim Idec and the MOD70 Oman. They are similar and their foil concepts work in the same way, adding to stability and reducing drag. When I first got into the Multi50 I did not see anything strange. It was a multihull, rotating mast, two rudders, two foils and six sails. Sailing sensations are different, because the smaller size makes the boat feel more sensitive. It reacts very quickly when you want to accel- erate – just vary the course a bit and gain speed right away. They are very sensitive to the tiller, quite reminiscent of a beach cat… SH: So size does matter! AP:Yes (laughing). It’s the most uncomfortable boat I’ve ever sailed. It is very hard, especially double-handed. Never, ever during the whole race did we sleep inside. You have to be very close to the winches to avoid scares. The cockpit protection is insufficient on Arkema. I could not get out of my drysuit – which caused skin prob- lems. We tried to protect ourselves with thermal blankets. Some- times I laughed and told Lalou we looked like vagabonds sleeping on the bench in a park. But not being able to rest properly increased the stress of pushing hard and also the risk of capsizing. The first 48 hours we were beating into 35kt of wind with almost
60kt over the deck. We tried to stay on the tack along the waves as much as possible because it was much faster, but at one point we were too hard and buried the bows very deep. After that we were a little more careful. For most of the race we had a nice fight with Erwan (Le Roux) and Vincent (Riou) on FenêtréA but they had some technical w
SAILING ENERGY
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