News Around the World
Team New Zealand Boat 1 Te Aihe. With speeds at least into the high-40s and racing in 2021 expected to continue in 25-30kt of breeze, 65-70kt of apparent wind across the decks means huge gains for good aero treatment – greater even than on the AC50 cats in Bermuda. Te Aihe starts out with wider trailing-edge fairings on its one-design arms than American Magic’s Defiant plus that long centreline bump. There is little hydro-elegance to AC75 foil pivots – if they’re in the water you have probably already been beaten
Over the past month and a half on average one new boat has
been launched each week. In chronological order Sébastien Simon’s Arkea-Paprec on 20 July; Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss on 4 August; Charlie Dalin’s Apivia on 5 August and Kojiro Shiraishi’s DMG Mori on 2 September; followed five days later by the launch at Lorient of Thomas Ruyant’s new Advens – which is quite similar to Apivia. After a short period of training in south Brittany, especially in Port
La Forêt, trying out their foils, which are quite different from one designer to another, the new 60-footers will meet in Le Havre in October for the start of the 14th edition of the two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre towards Salvador de Bahia in Brazil (a 4,350-mile ride across the Atlantic). The TJV is open to three classes of boats: Multi 50s, Class40s
and Imocas. There will be more than 30 Imocas on the startline – which is a record number of entries due partly to the fact that the competitors wanting to enter the Vendée Globe have to achieve a minimum number of racing miles. This is not a condition for the new boats, which get an automatic ‘pass’ into the Vendée to encour- age new designs, but of course their skippers are very motivated to get used to their foiling machines on an ocean course that is similar to the first 10 days or so of the Vendée Globe. The Imoca contest in the TJV is going to be a huge event. The
only missing new Imocas areCorum l’Epargne for Nicolas Troussel (a Juan K design) and L’Occitane for Armel Tripon (a much antic- ipated design by Sam Manuard). Both boats are still in construction.
Going with the current Aspirations have been high and finally it’s here! France’s first non-stop transatlantic race for amateurs will set sail from a port in southern Brittany on 18 April 2021, bound for the West Indies. Created under the aegis of the National Offshore Racing Union
(UNCL) in France, this new race has been initiated by two of its members, who are now in charge of its organisation: Jean-Philippe Cau, UNCL president and a respected competitor, and Thibaut Derville, another good offshore racer and also sometimes a sponsor through his business (his last partnership was with Norauto and Franck Cammas). These two friends intend to offer participants a simple formula
perfectly tailored to their needs, and a level of organisation equiv- alent to the big events dedicated to professional racers. The race is open to singlehanded and two-handed sailors sailing IRC yachts rating from 0.980 to 1.080. Everyone shall qualify according to a rule that is currently being drafted and comply with the safety requirements of the Offshore
22 SEAHORSE
Special Regs. The Notice of Race will be published in December when the inscriptions also open with at least 25 crews expected to be registered by Easter 2020. Professional sailors are not permitted and the organisers are looking for an economic cargo solution to deliver the boats back to France after the race. April 2021 will be a month after the finish of the famous Trans -
quadra Race sailed every three years by sailors over 40. The Transquadra starts mid-July 2020 for Madeira, where the boats stay for several months until February 2021 when they leave for the second leg to Martinique. The UNCL Transat is completely different. The race is non-stop
between Brittany and the French Antilles and will last about three weeks. Easter is also the time for crossing the Atlantic for entrants to the non-stop Transat AG2R (in 2020 for the next edition), raced by professional sailors on their Figaro 3 one-designs. Also, the IRC Transat has no age limit and the rating range is
wider than for the Transquadra. ‘The Transquadra has really whetted the appetite of singlehanded and double-handed sailors,’ said Cau. ‘The startlines for races of this type fill up fast and attract a very healthy line-up, with much younger sailors as well as many mixed crews. It’s such a great feeling to witness this passion. ‘Whether it’s a snowball effect or just a logical progression is
anyone’s guess. In any case, everyone is quite excited by this type of event and they want more of the same. Our non-stop transatlantic race echoes this feeling and we believe the timing is just right to satisfy this growing interest.’ For more information contact:
transatIRC@gmail.com. Patrice Carpentier
NEW ZEALAND There is no place for sentiment in the design of a modern America’s Cup yacht. It is a combat machine, victory its sole purpose, its creation narrowly focused on all the sciences that will deliver success. Anything else is a distraction, so if the result also turns out to be beautiful you can be sure that is purely incidental. Emirates Team New Zealand’s first AC75 has yet to earn its
battle scars, or establish its performance credentials, but its sleek lines and quality of finish drew plenty of admiration from an admit- tedly biased audience who braved the early-morning rain for its launch in Auckland on 6 September. ‘Pretty suave,’ murmured one of the guests, as if ogling the latest offering in a Ferrari showroom. Unlike the cold, hard facts of victory and defeat, beauty is, of
course, a contestable notion. However, in the subtle contours and rolled edges of the hull there is a pleasing sense of flow, as if this
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