As is typical of major accidents both at sea or in the air it was the cascade of events in the lead-up that turned a ‘regular’ capsize into a catastrophe for American Magic. An early call from Andrew Campbell of light air at the right gate planted the roots for confirmation bias… the good breeze at the left gate clearly staying in, the brutal awareness of the high price of falling off the foils in a calm patch, even with a 600m lead… Mentally Dean Barker’s decision had already been made. As the breeze started to nudge up that tack to the mark was feeling less comfortable, but Barker was already there in his head and when Paul Goodison, now clearly very alarmed, tried to warn Barker off the tack-bearaway in an increasing breeze the move was already half-completed in Barker’s head. Skipper Terry Hutchinson was also positioned to leeward with no sight of the velocity spike hurtling their way and the rest was inevitable. Shortly afterwards Hutchinson was being helped to cut his way out of the tangle of ropes pinning him to the boat and Barker was close to tears
in a moderate sea, the six crew members of Gitana had left their base in Lorient a few hours before sunset then waited a few hours offshore to adjust their starting slot to the departure time skilfully calculated by their onshore router Marcel van Triest. Because in a record like the Jules Verne Trophy every minute counts! Gitanaco-skipper Charles Caudrelier said: ‘We have set ourselves
the goal of reaching the Equator in less than five days and the gate to the Indian Ocean in 11 and a half days. ‘The situation is not quite settled in the South Atlantic but it is
a good window, perhaps the best we have had since the beginning of our standby… To improve the time set by Francis, who enjoyed a dream weather spot to cross the Indian Ocean and half of the Pacific at the front of a low at a constant speed of 35-38kt, we feel it is necessary to be more or less two days ahead before entering the Southern Seas. ‘It is a question of fully exploiting the versatility and speed
potential of our Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, which can make the difference in the transition phases across the Atlantic.’ Good luck!
A record number of new Class40s in 2021 We are talking about 15 new boats delivered before the end of the year! The JPS Shipyard in La Trinité is producing five scow-style 40-footers: a Sam Manuard-designed Mach40.4 for Emmanuel Le Roch (May) and three of David Raison’s MaX 40s for Axel Tréhin (January), Jonas Gerckens (April) and Amélie Grassi (July). The type and assignment of the fifth JPS Class40, produced and delivered at the end of the year, has not yet been announced. At Combrit, further north in Brittany, Structures have three new
Guillaume Verdier-designed Pogo 40S4s in production for Jean Galfione, François-René Carluer and Emmanuel Hamez. In addition, VPLP and Multiplast burst into the class with two
Class40s already ordered for the two ‘Ministes’ Andrea Fornaro and Nicolas d’Estais. A third Multiplast should quickly find a buyer. Finally, two Lombard Lift 40 V2 designs are also in production,
one for the Australian Rupert Henry, made in the Antipodes, the other for Aurélien Ducroz, built in Caen by GL Composites/V1D2. And… a new boat designed by Etienne Bertrand (Mini designer) and Guillaume Dupont (formerly of VPLP) and built in Cape Town by Cape Racing Yachts for German skipper Jörg Riechers is on track. The great competition between Scows will be the Transat Jacques Vabre in autumn, the last race for the 2021 Class40 Championship.
Six races will count The 2021 Class40 calendar breaks down as usual into three trophies: the Class40 Championship, European Trophy and American Trophy. Six races count for the overall championship. The competitions are all double-handed – it’s still the custom in odd years between the solo Rhum – except the Rolex Fastnet which can be sailed with a complete crew or… two-handed. The season starts with the Normandy Channel Race in May, and
continues in July with the Les Sables-Horta and Horta-Les Sables, constituting two races in one event. On 8 August the Class40s will meet at the start of the Fastnet Race, finishing for the first time in Cherbourg. The season ends with the Transat Jacques Vabre, which starts on 24 October from Le Havre, as is the tradition, but whose finish will be in the French Antilles for the first time.
SEAHORSE 23
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