‘But there have been a couple of times with Tanguy and me when


we’ve put our boat on its side with various manoeuvres or from just trying to push it too hard. But our boat comes back upright again, it’s not the same for a Multi50.’ Soon after we heard from Sam the rescue centre at Ponta Delgada


received a distress call from the Multi50 Drekan Groupeand notified the race management. Co-skipper Christopher Pratt was able to call Sylvie Viant (race director) on his Iridium emergency phone to let her know the boat capsized but that neither he nor Eric Defert were injured. But as Drekan was 380nm from the island of Terceira (Azores)


no helicopter had sufficient range for a rescue. Therefore the MRCC decided to divert the nearest cargo ship, the MRVBeautriton, flying the Dutch flag, which was 30nm away from the overturned trimaran. A Portuguese Navy patrol boat was also requested to assist in the search operation. Early that night the Beautriton announced that Drekan had been found and they were talking on the VHF with the crew. Given the weather conditions they agreed to wait until daybreak to proceed with the rescue but to stand by near the capsized boat. Finally, at 09:38 on day 4 of the race the Beautriton put a lifeboat


in the water and recovered the two sailors safe and sound. Later on skipper Eric Defert explained: ‘We were sailing downwind under one reef with the little gennaker; and we were about to roll up the gennaker. I was below and Chris was on deck. I was preparing to go out to take in another reef. In a moment our boat had pitchpoled. It was blowing hard, we were under a squall in pitch-black night.’ Fortunately it has been the only capsize of the race. FenêtréA,


sailed by Erwan Le Roux and famous sailor Vincent Riou, led the Multi50 Arkema, driven by Lalou Roucayrol and Spanish Alex Pella… till the Doldrums, that terrible zone when anything can happen. Actually Arkema passed her rival and took the lead and later a


nice victory in Salvador. The new Ciela Village was also well in the race to begin with but first an autopilot failure and then electronic problems forced Thierry Bouchard and Olivier Krauss to divert to the Cape Verde Islands. There they also found a crack in the bottom of their main hull and retired. Jean-Pierre Dick and Yann Eliès dominated the Imocas (13 boats


at the start and very probably 13 boats at the finish) on their foiler St-Michel-Virbac. But the non-foiler SMA (the six-year-old VPLP/ Verdier design) showed once again how competitive a conventional Imoca that is well-optimised and sailed by a fierce crew can still be. The old Macif, winner of the 2012/2013 Vendée Globe, had been locked in second place, in front of the pack of the other foilers, but her skipper Paul Meilhat was confident about the opportunities offered in the Doldrums: ‘We’re really happy because the forecast was maybe more for the foilers than the boats with daggerboards, but we’ve pushed the boat for the last three days with some good sail changes as well. I think the training this year with Gwéno [Gahinet] was very good for us, that is where we learned to manage our boat in lighter conditions. ‘The problem with Virbac is the guys are good and their boat is


faster!’ SMA closed to within 8nm of Virbac in the Doldrums but by the finish the much newer boat had drawn nearly 80nm ahead. Still, not so bad for a ‘vieux bateau’. The Class40 had also gone very fast during the first half of the


race. At the end of day 5 the four leaders (all are Mach40 Manuard designs built in La Trinité sur Mer) were passing by the Canary Islands. Unbelievable! And at half distance the front four Class40s were covered by just 20nm after 3,000nm of racing – with the front three covered by just 4nm! While the British/Spanish team of Phil Sharp/Pablo Santurde


continued to battle their rivals at the front we had by now sadly lost another of the race favourites, Miranda Meron (sometime fellow Seahorse writer) and her life-partner Halvard Mabire on their bright green Nivelt/Mabire design. They were also in the leading pack when the incident occurred, as Miranda explained: ‘We had good downwind conditions, we had the fractional spinnaker and two reefs in the main and the boat was flying. ‘Then the boat wiped out. It took us a while to get upright, whereas


normally it’s straight away. Then we realised the port rudder bracket had broken so the boat obviously wiped out again pretty much imme- diately. We still don’t know whether it was because of the rudder


or if the first wipeout had caused the boat to break. ‘Then we couldn’t get the boat upright because the rudder was


swinging around wildly. Then the spinnaker blew up! So it took a while to sort that out because very soon it was in several more pieces and didn’t want to come down. We got it down eventually and managed to detach the rudder before it made a mess of the back of the boat. We got it onboard but we can only sail on port tack as we’ve only got a starboard rudder now. ‘We are heading to Cherbourg because the conditions are


favourable for that course... on port tack!’ Patrice Carpentier


NEW ZEALAND Look east Since its return to New Zealand in September the America’s Cup trophy has been fully engaged in a hectic travelling schedule of adventurous missions – including a nationwide north-south tour of New Zealand and a trip to China. ‘We did not want to keep it hidden under lock and key in its cabinet,’ says Steve Mair, Commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and guardian once again of the precious silverware. The euphoric – if damp – welcoming parades in New Zealand’s


major cities were followed by a more grassroots tour of provincial villages and towns extending the length of the country from the Bay of Islands in the north to Bluff in the far south. It visited yacht clubs, homes for the elderly, schools, pubs, farm sheds, car repair yards, Maori meeting halls. It was photographed in sheep paddocks, atop scenic peaks and beside blue lakes. People turned out in their masses to see it and celebrate its return. It was even seen perched on the counter of the Dust & Rust


Vintage Store in the tiny South Island settlement of Murchison in what looked like a distinctly dodgy, but thankfully unsuccessful effort to hock off the celebrated silverware. ‘It was like 25 weddings in a week,’ said one of the Emirates


Team New Zealand crew who accompanied the trophy around the country. ‘It was absolutely fantastic and great to see how people responded to it.’ The round-New Zealand tour fulfilled a promise from ETNZ


managing director Grant Dalton and is also part of a Kiwi tradition that began with nationwide tours of Whitbread Round the World Race yachts. With ETNZ more than fully occupied with organising the Protocol, class design and 2021 defence, the tour was organised and managed by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron – which also shouldered the bulk of the China mission. The China connection represents a continuation and strength-


ening of a relationship that began nearly a decade ago when the RNZYS was invited to participate in the China Cup regatta; entries led by Brent Marshall came second in the premier division in 2009 and 2010. The relationship took on a more official flavour after the 2013 America’s Cup when the Auckland Tourism, Events and Eco- nomic Development (ATEED) arm of the city council invited the RNZYS, under then commodore Steve Burrett, to join a trade mission to China. Sailing and the marine industry were seen as a prime showcase for New Zealand design and technological innovation. In a broader context, trade relations between the two countries


are strong: New Zealand was the first country to gain a free trade agreement with China. Since 2014 the sailing connection has grown steadily with the


RNZYS continuing to send teams to compete in the China Cup. The club’s longstanding America’s Cup history has always been a factor and its close association with ETNZ has been featured with branding and a presence in the sailing line-up. This year the America’s Cup relationship was further formalised with the announcement in February of a partnership between ETNZ and the regatta and its backers, Yihua Technology and Pocket Tech. With the subsequent victory in Bermuda, that representation quickly stepped up a notch… Five RNZYS teams were invited to compete in the 2017 China


Cup, which is the biggest sailing event in the country with more than 100 boats competing. Three Cup sailors fresh from Bermuda, Andy Maloney, Josh Junior and Guy Endean, were in the lead crew while ETNZ chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge participated in some of the shoreside presentations.


SEAHORSE 19


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