Contents March 2018
FEATURES 4 Focus
35 Cold light of day ROB WEILAND bravely goes where most would fear to tread: the cost of racing a grand prix yacht
36 Linked by but a thread The song remains the same… but it’s a very different band playing it. BRIAN HANCOCK
From the jaws of… Jim Cooney, new owner of the 100ft Comanchemust have thought his reward for purchasing the world’s most powerful maxi was a perfect mix of conditions for his first outing in the Sydney Hobart. And so it was… a power reaching leg south allowed Comanche to draw further and further ahead of the slender and much less powerful Wild Oats (now into its 10th season). But, as Hobart regulars know, this is one race that really isn’t over until the fat lady’s done her thing and approaching the Derwent River Cooney’s crew were greeted with a complete glass-off between them and the finish a few miles distant. Everyone who has raced offshore has had it happen, but maybe not as brutally; the super-slim Wild Oats XI duly appeared astern and slid smoothly around the wide, fat and very glued to the water Comanche to take the gun… the latter with her keel by now canted to leeward to the max in a fruitless effort to lose some of those acres of wetted surface. So not the ideal way to begin life with your new ship? Actually… On the red honey monster the mood was good, a little jumpy but upbeat. Two-time America’s Cup winner Jimmy Spithill, who his crew assumed knew a thing or two about the rules of sailing, was assuring everyone that after that well-televised ‘alleged foul’ (alleged for now) there was no question Oats was heading for a penalty… and so it proved. The flipside to these fab race maxis is that there are so few opportunities to play against similar boats; maybe that will change but those ‘more competitive’ superyacht owners are proving unexpectedly stubborn when designers try to sell them on the merits of a real raceboat. Maybe when they begin to get a little younger…
COVER: Carlo Borlenghi INSET: Skip Novak/PPL
41 Square peg round hole We’ve moved beyond subtle tweaking. HUGH WELBOURN
44 Boulevard of broken
dreams To create a first-class grand prix omelette you do have to break some quite expensive eggs… PETER HARKEN
50 Dog days America’s Cup cold war… ANDY CLAUGHTON
52 The game of life BLUE ROBINSON talks America’s Cup and an extraordinary career with TOM WHIDDEN
54What does it take… A big picture hunt for the commonalities of a successful Olympian. CAROL CRONIN
REGULARS
6 Commodore’s letter STEVEN ANDERSON
11 Editorial – Sad times ANDREW HURST
12 Update It’s not an easy time to be a wannabe America’s
Cup challenger, the extraordinary CV of that Mapfre navigator and the complexities of modern campaigning. Plus modern real-time performance analysis… think again. JACK GRIFFIN, JOAN VILA, CARLOS PICH, TERRY HUTCHINSON
18World news Incredible incredible incredible, PATRICE CARPENTIER welcomes ashore FRANÇOIS GABART, a compact challenge in Kiwi, NICO shakes off the rust, that Sydney Hobart howler and getting the Caribbean back to business. BLUE ROBINSON, DOBBS DAVIS, IVOR WILKINS
30 IRC – An end to rule bandits Convergence should mean just that. JAMES DADD
32 Paul Cayard – Inexpensive?
A cheaper America’s Cup… don’t kid yourself
58 Design – Plenty (more) to come BERNARD NIVELT and ALEXIS MURATET have no intention of turning back the clock…
60 RORC – Lifeblood Getting out the youth vote… and the passing of the dragon. EDDIE WARDEN-OWEN
61 TechStreet Clothes, sails, ships… and (rather special) skis
69Seahorsebuild table
– New for old(er) The re-emergence of an old friend… 74Seahorse regatta calendar
99 Sailor of the Month Inspirational is probably the best (only) word
Incoming on Vestas during the Volvo leg to Melbourne. Fair to say that until their tragic collision with a fishing boat forced their retirement from a strong 2nd place approaching the Hong Kong finish of leg 4, the US/Danish team had been punching well above their expected weight. The loss of a probable 6pt dropped them well down the leaderboard but there are lots of points left on the table. Given the very large number of unlit craft in the area of the collision the rest of the fleet were primarily thinking ‘there but…’
SAM GREENFIELD
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