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Editorial What a year, what a New Year
Andrew Hurst
The AC40s in Jeddah were frankly amazing and the AC40 racing even better. There has never been anything like it. There are 44 Imocas, well over a dozen brand new, fighting it out for 40 places in the Vendée Globe (note, a new Imoca starts at ⇔5million). The Mini 650 class has brought in a design freeze and a cap on the number of boats
built each year – a cap that will reduce year by year – because all of their races are becoming so heavily oversubscribed; there are also now more than enough competitive boats sailing in both the Proto and Series divisions. Six giant Ultims are setting off around the world with crews of one (note, a new Ultim starts at ⇔15million). There are too many round-the-world races to count, well-supported
and either underway or on schedule to start within a couple of years. Wherever you sail record fleets are racing offshore under IRC and new raceboats are being custom built for the purpose; as well as really terrific series-built designs offering instant competitiveness. And there will be an IRC Admiral’s Cup in 2025. Finally there are a handful of foxy Ocean Fifty trimarans trying to
fill the space left by the Orma 60s. More about them later! First America’s Cup design. When in 2018 a 75ft two-legged spider
was proposed by Team New Zealand’s fearless engineering and design team it would be fair to say not everyone was convinced. But the idea was inspirational. And typical of what emerges from Dan Bernasconi’s vibrant design team, it worked. Amazing to see in the America’s Cup (and the derivative, Flying
Nikka) but for me more amazing and more relevant was to watch the smaller AC40s blasting around at close quarters offering the sort of racing people might actually tune in to watch on TV in tangible numbers. Like the first offshore scows, the AC40s are a portent of things
to come. For the first time I was glued to the TV while salivating about having a flight on one of these incredible racing (as opposed to straight- line machines). Trust me, nobody will stop that from happening (few can resist my Defcon 1 sales mode). During the Jeddah regatta every keen racer I spoke to was similarly glued to the spectacle. Imoca 60s… nudging 40kt on flat water, capable of crossing
Ocean Fiftys… oh how we want them to succeed. The Orma 60s
were the greatest racing machines before the gods of innovation gave us the AC40s. Nobody who raced one can surely forget the first time they sheeted in and watched the venturi effect empty the cockpit of loose items – in my case the contents of a coffee cup. So hopes were high when the Ocean Fiftys became a serious class,
with cool new boats and great sailors like Erwan Tabarly and Sam Goodchild committing to the fleet. Sadly there appear as-yet unex- plained issues of scaling. Perhaps it relates to the problems engineers have of modelling waves? Who knows, but the fact is that being smaller, lighter but equally powered-up, even if it is all more or less in proportion to their 60ft predecessors… it’s just not working. For some reason the boats do not have that fractional extra reserve
of buoyancy, mass or simply long oceanic racing experience within their crews (the Ormas were around for years before they achieved acceptable reliability). Maybe there are simply not enough long races to break the boats often enough on the road to reliability. In my opinion these stonkingly fast boats, designs driven by aero
as much as by hydro, should for a couple of years limit themselves to coastal sprints, the 600-milers and inshore grand prix. Put on a better show, attract more interest and money and you’ll get there.
The story of our times Dr Ian Ward, John Ilett and a handful of others had no idea what they were starting when they put those first International Moths on foils. Happy New Year!
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oceans and with steadily improving reliability. We learned this year that they can be raced well by five or six people if they restrain them- selves and keep the boats intact. There are looming rig issues: keeping a one-design spar that was designed when foils were vertical and then massively increasing righting moments with foils the size of a 747 wing. But Imoca is a strong class and is on the case. Class40 numbers have now passed the 200 mark with many more
boats on order. This class too has a looming issue, in this case with professionalism. There is little space left for the original quasi- Corinthian Class40 teams to be competitive as budgets rise inexorably with sponsors priced out of the Imoca fleet. Two divisions perhaps? The flipside… this popularity is well-deserved: a Class40 scow is an incredible boat to sail, let alone race. You will never feel more in control of a boat power-reaching at 20kt in 25-30kt of wind. Without doubt 2024 will see more cruising scow designs emerge.
Faster, drier, huge inside –and within five years they will be considered as looking cool too.
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it now – Grant
Spot the little guy. Ben Ainslie photographed (standing up) among a mixed bag of fellow Finnsters. Three Finn gold medals. Incredible
JOIN US The Seahorse editorial team is hiring. If you are interested pick up the phone or drop the editor a line and we’ll talk more.
andrew@seahorse.co.uk
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN What’s this I hear you’re
putting a single out? – Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin manager
We have more than 500,000 advance orders, everyone
puts a single out! – Phil Carson, Atlantic Records
Not this band. Kill
AND THEN That he’s the child of an arts curator, what else
do you need to know? – Stuart Sutcliffe I once saw this failed extra from a Tolkien movie and deleted him from my consciousness
tout suite – Sutcliffe (who does not rate Ed Sheeran)
DANGEROUS Maija Imelik led the Estonian iceboat team when they came to Detroit. Many were also Finn sailors. In Soviet times she was the woman you had to please if you wanted a Finn career. It is not enough to say she was
could be written – Gus Miller
smart, beautiful, an accomplished athlete, feminine, KGB playing a double game, a party member, powerful, generous and very dangerous. A woman about whom a great piece of literature
NO SH*T He’s half my bl**dy age! – Marco Gradoni impresses Team NZ’s Nathan Outteridge They’ve got a great
future in this sport!!! – Outteridge
STRIKE ONE Q: What’s the best part about being one of the younger guys on the Alinghi shore team? A: You have better eyesight than all
the older fellas! – Rhys Jones
CHANGING TIMES We were extremely disappointed not to find a yellow buoy in the middle of the ocean as we passed the waypoint. Budget
cuts, I suppose? – Willow Bland, Maiden
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