Left/above: by virtue of doing one more major race in 2023 than his countryman Ambrogio Beccaria, Italian skipper Albi Bona on the Manuard-designed Mach5 IBSA (to windward of the pack, opposite) came out on top in the year’s overall Class40 rankings. A slightly bruising experience for the much larger French contingent in the fleet, but a good outcome for the class with three non-French teams in the top five. After finishing 2nd to Bona in the opening Caribbean 600, by the end of 2023 Beccaria and his Italian-designed and built Musa 40 Pirelli were the faster combination winning the TJV at a canter. Ian Lipinski on the 2017 Raison scow Crédit Mutuel won the Défi Atlantique, but one of the two Italian teams won everything else… IBSA is also seen (above) soon after the start of the 2023 Fastnet Race, proving an irritating presence as she ducks the much bigger Carkeek IRC45 Ino Noir. And while sailing upwind too…
complain? Not even Jean-Pierre Kelbert, despite the threat of an expert yard wandering with intent into his personal IRC fiefdom... The founder is still the manager of the eponymous shipyard in
Larmor which has made a speciality of delivering highly competitive production IRC designs. Very appreciated by the offshore racing com- munity, the shipyard is much in demand with its various models and has such a full order book that, despite a workforce of 50, it is often unable to deliver in time for the hopes of demanding customers. In the increasingly competitive 10m IRC range Jean-Pierre knows
that he must stay up to date and keep trying to improve his boats in competition, often racing the boats himself. The last new JPK model was designed in 2019 – an optimised boat for windy reaching and running, as happens frequently crossing the Atlantic from east to west. She actually outclasses the iconic JPK 10.10 in these conditions, but lacks power in lighter winds because she pays for her relative lightness with a reduced sail area to keep down the rating. The whole challenge of IRC is to put the sail area/displacement
cursor in the right spot. Which obviously depends on the nature of the playground. Round the cans we prefer sail area to the detriment of displacement which is less crucial. In offshore racing, even oceanic, the lightness of the boat associated with a powerful hull is favourable because it allows considerable speed bonus in reaching conditions against conventional boats. It turns out the appetite of sailors racing doublehanded or solo
is for offshore designs with a big planing capacity. But not only that… Now they also want to hold their own when the breeze lightens! Lann Aël 3 performed well in every condition last year. Jean-Pierre
saw it all from a front row seat at the helm of his JPK 10.30. At first he suggested that it was impossible for JPK to reproduce Gaudoux’s boat, even going smaller, because the construction processes and materials were too far removed from the methods employed in his core business, building series boats, and would require a big cost increase. But after more reflection with his faithful architect Jacques Valer
and collaboration with Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty for the modelling, JP decided to build a 10.42m boat of the same weight as Lann Aël 3… 3,450kg, almost 300kg less than the smaller JPK 10.30! He explains: ‘To save weight we will put a little more structure inside and spend more time assembling the boat to minimise extra
material. The constraint is to pass certification and stability, and it’s not easy for this size of boat if you want to also go fast. Gaudoux’s one-off is made of epoxy with a 50 per cent ballast ratio, and therefore good self-righting abilities… ‘If we want to have the same weight using our normal construction
(Vinylester infusion/Airex foam) our stability numbers are a little less favourable. It is quite tricky everywhere! Hence the possible need for a bulb keel, or water ballast. The TCC target is 1.065-1.070 according to the customer’s priorities. At the time of writing the moulds have been subcontracted to Ouest Composites. Delivery to JPK in Larmor is scheduled for June. The first boat will be completed at the end of the year and marketing begins in early 2025.
Nice problem to have As an answer to the huge and growing number of new Series Minis built (this means at least 10 identical boats) in the last few years, the Mini Class has voted by a big majority to limit (sic) the number of series boats built per year. From now on only 25 new boats will be able to leave the yards every year! According to board member Gaël Ledoux, ‘No fewer than 42 Series
Minis were built in 2022, 27 in 2021… That is more than the total number of series boats participating in the Mini Transat (59 in 2023).’ There is also an embargo on new designs in 2024 to avoid the
obsolescence of the production boats. That’s not all. The class voted, again with a large majority, to decrease the 25-boat limit by 20 per cent each year for the next two seasons. The aim is to slow things down for a Series Rule rethink by 2027 to return to the principle of simplicity: namely a cruising boat able to race. This decision has not been appreciated by the Mini builders…
the maritime gilets jaunes are planning to reverse the rule change. Patrice Carpentier
GREAT BRITAIN ‘Do you know the Polish-run restaurant in East Cowes? It’s quite an understated place but very good. And would you mind helping me move some Optimists?’ I didn’t know the restaurant, and I certainly didn’t mind moving
some Optimists for a living legend of the sport. In a world of SEAHORSE 21
CARLO BORLENGHI/ALEA
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