Contents April 2024 FEATURES
4We dropped the ball BENOIT STICHELBAUT
34 Variety ROB WEILAND (bravely) delves into the thorny world of campaign budgets. He is also very much unimpressed with the latest actions of US Sailing
Unbeatable? It’s fair to say that before leading a mixed Franco -Chinese team to victory aboard Dongfeng in the 2017-18 Volvo Race few sailors beyond France knew much about 2004 Figaro Race winner Charles Caudrelier. This in spite of the fact that before taking on the Dongfeng project he had notched up two wins in the TJV plus an earlier Volvo Race victory in 2012 sailing with his friend Frank Cammas on Groupama 4. After winning the Volvo as skipper, in 2019 Caudrelier was appointed co-skipper with Cammas of the first – highly aggressive – foiling Ultim Gitana designed by Guillaume Verdier. The French designer did not hold back with the first ever Ultim foiler, throwing every innovation into his design as if it were proven technology. Fast forward to today and though several newer foiling Ultims have been launched, Verdier’s foiler has hung in there by virtue of constant development. There has been the odd setback on the way but Gitana remains the most successful Ultim ever launched. By the start of the Arkéa Challenge in January this still relatively complex machine was as well sorted as her now more famous skipper... Come the race and while his rivals seemed to stutter their way around, Caudrelier appeared – from an armchair – to serenely slide along, far enough ahead to stop for a couple of days at the Horn to let a big depression roll through. As much as her patient and very skilful skipper, Verdier and the boat’s builders at Multiplast deserve to take a bow. Even as they start to build Caudrelier’s next one!
COVER: Thierry Martinez INSET: Benoit Stichelbaut
40 Big Fella – Part I BLUE MURRAY spends a memorable day talking with IAIN MURRAY, skiff champion, America’s Cup skipper and designer, Olympic sailor, real estate developer and perhaps the most powerful ‘influencer’ in Australian sailing
46 Wheat from chaff When Italian designer MATTEO POLLI upped his already strong focus on green boat building there were going to be no half measures
48 You can run but you
can’t hide DAN HOUSTON has a particular soft spot for the simple, sleek, fast and efficiently-constructed Carriacou sloops of the Grenadine island chain
54 30 years and it’s only just begun That’s how long charismatic Italian skipper GIOVANNI SOLDINI has been knocking round at the front of ocean racing and record breaking. So quite late in the career to take on what is easily his biggest and most high-profile project ever...
REGULARS
6 Commodore’s letter DEB FISH
11 Editorial ANDREW HURST
14 Update A new FD, getting impatient in Barcelona and a fast new face at the helm. TIM JEFFERY, DEB FISH, JACK GRIFFIN, TERRY HUTCHINSON
20 World news A good year for Italy, too many Minis, essential multihull equipment (needs feeding), coming IRC revolution (it’ll be good fun, though), a brutal Sydney Hobart Race – but a tough little yacht and crew, FEDE WAKSMAN rocks for Uruguay and US Sailing... ‘you cannot be serious!’ DOBBS DAVIS, PATRICE CARPENTIER, CARLOS PICH, IVOR WILKINS, MAGNUS WHEATLEY
32 Rod Davis – Right turn, Clyde Time to go around the leeward mark
36 Sam Goodchild
– rosbif très rapide And our new Seahorse columnist has a very big year ahead of him...
38 IRC Column – Balancing act
Those new IRC sail regs. JENNY HOWELLS 58 TechStreet
60 Seahorsebuild table – Hard to believe 1960s multihull genius. JULIAN EVERITT
64 Seahorse Regatta calendar
66 RORC – Nearly there JEREMY WILTON
94 Still greatly missed Magnificent former columnist GARY MULL 99 Sailor of the Month – Hola!!!
These days Vendée Globe skipper Isabelle Autissier tends to avoid the Southern Ocean. Lifted off her Berret design (left) after a capsize in the 1995 Around Alone, in the 1999 edition she was rescued from her inverted 60 PRB by Giovanni Soldini (inset). The first time was worse – the coachroof and most of the deck were ripped away during the 360-deg roll and Autissier only survived long enough to be saved by sealing herself in the aft watertight compartment
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