News Around the World
See, it does sometimes blow at Block Island Race Week, although on this evidence there must be a suspicion that not everyone arrives for this classic regatta prepared for much more than warm, soft breezes mixed in with a little mist and interesting as well as scenic courses. This year’s race week gains the intriguingly named Solent race area with a mixed format on some of the more tidal parts of Block Island Sound… throw in horizontal rain and gale force winds howling against a 3kt tide and we will just about be there
In mid-February seven yachts will set out again to tackle the
2,200-mile four-leg course. Included in the intrepid group and sailing against each other are siblings Josh and Sam Tucker, two of five brothers who grew up on a family boat cruising extensively through the South Pacific. Their education as youngsters included participating in the flotilla
that sailed to Mururoa Atoll to protest against French nuclear testing and competing in a race from New Zealand to the remote Chatham Islands. In between these and other adventures the family lived aboard their 48ft home-built Herreshoff Mobjack, New Zealand Maid, commuting by sea between Napier and the Marlborough Sounds. As adults two of the brothers, Ben and Matt, along with father
Jon, completed a remarkable voyage from Tasmania to Antarctica and back in a 34ft Roberts-designed steel boat. They battled through sea ice to reach Australian explorer Mawson’s Hut in Commonwealth Bay, officially designated the windiest place on earth with average annual wind speeds over 40kt. Then they pushed on further south to 65°S to attach a Kiwi flag to the buoy marking South Magnetic Pole, a position that moves every year in relation to the earth’s shifting magnetic field. Sailmaker Josh, known in the shorthanded community as Boo-
boo, has gone on to sail and race extensively, including high-latitude passages, and has just returned from an adventure with his wife,
Sara, and their three young boys, sailing their Bénéteau 50 16,000 miles from France back to New Zealand without a single tack (sic). Back on dry land, he immediately turned his attention to preparing
for the Round New Zealand Race with his longtime co-skipper Damon Jolliffe, working through an extensive job list to prepare the Elliott 10.5 they share. This campaign has always been on their list in its own right, but also as part of a longer-term goal first to defend their corrected-time victory in the next Round North Island Race in 2020 and work towards a Melbourne-Osaka Race campaign in 2022. Tucker says New Zealand sailing conditions compare with the
most challenging he has encountered anywhere, with the possible exception of Cape Horn, which he rounded under jury rig on Alex Thomson’s first Hugo Boss Imoca 60 after dismasting during a shakedown run through the Southern Ocean. ‘That was the sixth
24 SEAHORSE
of nine rigs I have dropped so far,’ he says ruefully before adding in mitigation that a couple of those only broke the top sections. While Josh Tucker and Jolliffe are a well-seasoned partner ship
their concern is that, having just acquired their boat, preparation time is tight. Both are ticking off the job list – which includes installing a decibel-shattering sound system that sets the boat vibrating – but in terms of optimising performance they will only have completed one 350-mile race with this boat before the Round New Zealand start. ‘We are definitely a bit underdone in that regard,’ says Tucker. Brother Sam Tucker will also be competing, in a similar-sized
Elliott 1050 with Ken Ormandy, who, in turn, is competing against his father, Dave, racing with Murray Hartley on a Farr 38, Arbitare. The Elliott 10.5 is more performance-oriented than the 1050, with a carbon mast, deeper keel and heavier bulb, but the Tucker brothers reckon each will shine in its own conditions... but with the 1050 enjoying a more favourable handicap rating. Sam and Ormandy also have the advantage of much more
preparation in their particular boat. ‘We have done about 1,000 miles on Gale Force in the past 12 months,’ says Sam. ‘The boat is dialled in and we are going well together.’ A bit of needle from Josh – ‘harden up and get out of the house’
– helped spur Sam into committing to race around New Zealand two-handed. ‘Yes, I am excited to be doing it,’ he says. ‘Sibling rivalry is part of it, but a big motivation is the Stewart Island stopover…’ Stewart Island is situated well into the Roaring Forties off the southern tip of the South Island. The boats arrive there after the longest leg of the race traversing nearly 1,000 miles down the exposed western flanks of New Zealand. An indication of how brutal the conditions can be down there
came a few summers ago while co-ordinating a superyacht photo- shoot. During a phone call to plan the rendezvous the superyacht captain told me he would be sitting tight for a while – in a long career as a professional skipper he had just heard his first ever marine forecast with the chilling expression ‘phenomenal seas’ (waves above 14m). While getting there is a daunting proposition previous competitors
testify that the Stewart Island welcome, combined with sense of achievement in reaching such a remote location, make it a highlight.
STEPHEN CLOUTIER
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