Above: while Groupama Team skipper Franck Cammas (recently recognised in France as ‘Yachtsman of the Century’) was teaching John Kostecki and the other members of the Oracle sailing squad the basics of controlling – let alone racing –a big trimaran onboard his Orma 60, many thousands of miles away (left) the build team were getting ready to deliver to their promising young multihull students the biggest and most powerful tri the world had ever seen – a nice step-up for these dyed in the wool masters of the leadmine
conservative as he obviously didn’t want to wreck his own Orma programme.’ On Oracle’s first day on Groupama 2 it
Oracle in 2003 as tactician. A member of four different America’s Cup syndicates, Kostecki had, however, left the US team in Valencia in 2005 when the afterguard infighting became intolerable. But he was invited back once the Cup had been won for the second time by Alinghi in 2007 and he quickly accepted. Kostecki started his sailing career by
winning the Sears Cup at 17, followed by the Sunfish World Championship when he was 18 (he was also second in the J/24 Worlds that year). He won a silver medal in the Soling class at the 1988 Olympics, and won the 2001-2002 Volvo Ocean Race as skipper of German entry Illbruck. Kostecki had already raced a 40ft cata-
maran in San Francisco during the 1990s prepping for Pro-Sail, a short-lived series of catamaran regattas in the United States designed for a live audience. And Kostecki was soon ensconced as Spithill’s regular
tactician in the Extreme 40 sessions. But Groupama 2 makes the X40s look like dinghies. And it was the first trimaran the Oracle Racing group had ever sailed. As it transpired the Oracle sailors
arrived in Lorient just two days after their counterparts from Alinghi had finished a training session also on an Orma 60, but fortunately a different one… Foncia. On their last day on the water the Alinghi sailors had capsized the big boat, breaking the mast and injuring several of the crew. When the Oracle sailors arrived at their
hotel one of the injured Alinghi crew had just been released from the hospital, and happened to be checking out. ‘We had a chance to chat with him…’ Kostecki says. ‘It was a bit daunting to see the cuts and
bruises before we even took to the water. We thought, oh boy, what are we getting into. We definitely took our foot off the gas pedal, but Franck was also being quite
was blowing 25kt with big seas. Small sails were raised, and the boat still felt over- canvassed, regularly hitting 30kt. ‘It was very similar to Volvo sailing,’ Kostecki says. ‘You’re going very fast, and you are constantly wet.’ For two weeks these hugely experienced monohull sailors went back to school, learning the ropes before some tentative match racing against another Orma 60, Banque Populaire. Kostecki called tactics for Franck
Cammas.He echoes Glenn Ashby’s percep- tion about having to make strategic plans much further ahead than on a monohull. ‘Because of the increased speed,’ he says, ‘you must make much faster decisions… then count on your skipper to execute them.’ Meanwhile, as their sailors were learn-
ing how to sail a completely new type of boat, up in Anacortes, Washington, the build team led by Tim Smyth and Mark ‘Tugboat’ Turner were pulling off miracles to give them the biggest, fastest inshore multihull the world had ever seen. There’s nothing like starting out at the top. Next month: ‘Incredibly challenging’… even for Russell Coutts
SEAHORSE 59
q
GILLES MARTIN-RAGET
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
