News Around the World ‘Three victories out of three stages, that’s great!’ said Tanguy
afterwards. ‘This last stage was still quite difficult. I admit that I wondered if it was summer or winter. It was almost entirely upwind, in the rain and strong winds for three days, which in a Mini is never funny. It crashes around, it’s uncomfortable – in short, it’s hard! We were always wet, it was cold…’ Tanguy continued about the last leg: ‘We all knew [72 Minis were
racing including 17 Protos] that whoever got into the lead at Ushant would get a good jump on the rest. I did pretty well upwind with the shifts, and once we eased the sheets I left and never saw the guys again. Then yesterday while reaching high speed I collided with something and I broke all the lines that control my rudder system. Nothing serious, only Spectra – however, I could not repair it at sea. As a result I did a whole day on the wrong rudder and I found myself a little in slow motion, even though I managed to keep a decent speed, I think. ‘I regularly watched the AIS without seeing anyone, which
Designed by Botín Partners, the Melges 40s are one-design
all-carbon canting-keel speed machines. They were targeted at semi- professional racing on the European circuits for owners who might have considered TP52 programmes but did not want to get involved in a design arms race. With an owner-driver stipulation, the class attracted the best professional crews and tactical afterguardsmen including Italian Francesco Bruni and Kiwi Cameron Appleton, a graduate of the RNZYS Youth Training Programme. The migration of four Melges 40s to New Zealand came about
almost by accident. ‘My brother works for Southern Spars/Rigpro in Palma, Majorca,’ Young explains. ‘He rang me and said some guys were wrapping up a Melges 40 campaign. Would I be interested in buying one? ‘I had intended to get back into a raceboat in about a year’s time,
but I looked into it and got pretty excited. Within 72 hours I had bought one.’ The five Melges 40s built in Dubai in 2017 have been fairly lightly used. They raced in 2017 and 2018 and then did not compete last year as initial interest waned. ‘With people clearly moving them on I figured maybe we could
get some more here,’ Young continues. ‘I rang Steve Mair (past commodore of the RNZYS) and in another 72 hours he’d bought one as well. Then two more guys partnered up and bought another, followed by a fourth.’ Young is hopeful a local buyer can be found for the fifth yacht as well. Full house. It is notoriously difficult getting new grand prix classes off the
ground anywhere, but the simultaneous arrival of four, possibly five, matched playmates provides a strong foundation. To ensure potential for expansion Young is already in discussion with Melges about taking over the rule and acquiring the rights to the moulds so that new boats could be built, either in Dubai or here in New Zealand. ‘It is definitely not a dead-end street.’ The boats race with crews of nine or 10 and the plan for New
Almost every major technology development in modern ocean racing first appeared in the Mini 6.50s – a fact not lost on current designers and skippers after the dominance of the relatively new Guillaume Verdier-designed foiler Cerfrance in both of the major Mini races held so far in 2020 – the first with Tanguy Bouroullec (above) and the second with Italian skipper Ambrogio Beccaria
reassured me. After rounding the final buoy I went back on the good rudder and everything went right. I finished quite far in front of the fleet and I am happy with that.’ In the Mini production fleet the victory went to Léo Debiesse
sailing a Pogo 3. Of course… Happy day!
Patrice Carpentier
NEW ZEALAND Newly appointed Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron commodore Aaron Young instructed his family that no Father’s Day gifts were required this year. He already had plenty of presents to unwrap in the form of a high-performance Melges 40 racer and any further excitement could be dangerous to his health. Who needs new socks and handkerchiefs with a new race yacht in the mail? Young’s excitement is not just about his own acquisition. His
purchase has inspired other Auckland sailors to buy three more sisterships, injecting new blood into the local racing scene. As Young takes up the leadership reins at the RNZYS on the eve of its 150-year celebrations this initiative heralds a dynamic and activist leadership focused on stimulating growth and progress.‘It is about doing some highly competitive racing, for sure – that’s in my blood. But it is also about trying to lift local club racing as well.’ Young is concerned that the Auckland club racing scene has
become somewhat stale and repetitive: up and down harbour courses for a couple of hours and back to the marina. ‘The sailing skills of everybody involved, from the sailors to the race management teams, do not really improve,’ he says. He hopes the arrival of some new thoroughbred bloodstock will help spark things up.
24 SEAHORSE
Zealand is to stipulate at least two women in the line-up for serious racing and ideally a 50-50 gender split for social racing. ‘These are pure raceboats with no home comforts. For long passage races it will be soggy sandwiches on the rail. They are quick, technical, challenging to sail, very wet,’ says Young. ‘I can hardly wait.’ The Melges 40 news comes as a welcome fillip against a
backdrop of Covid-19 upheavals and cancellations. Young’s term as RNZYS commodore was always going to be dominated by the coincidence of the club’s 150th anniversary and the defence of the America’s Cup – both occurring in 2021. As such, it made sense for him to take a lead in both of those major events during his tenure as vice-commodore. ‘From that perspective nothing much changes through stepping up to commodore,’ he says. ‘Ever since Bermuda really, those events have been my primary focus.’ What nobody foresaw was the impact of Covid-19, which has
changed everything. ‘The first big blow came with the J-Class. I went over to Europe to sign them up and the owners were excited to be coming to New Zealand and we were over the moon to have them coming.’ Then in early March two of the Js, Svea and Topaz, collided during a race in the Mediterranean. ‘To have one of the owners call me to say they were not going to make it to New Zealand was so disappointing,’ Young recalls. That was like the first domino falling. Hard on the heels of the
collision came Covid. With borders closing and huge uncertainty clouding decisions, the J-Class owners reluctantly withdrew. Similar considerations afflicted the superyacht community, with the New Zealand government initially adopting a hard line against entry. In early September, however, that attitude softened with a ruling that if owners arrived in New Zealand aboard their yachts after an unin- terrupted ocean passage of at least 14 days they would be admitted subject to a Covid test on arrival and a 48-hour quarantine while waiting for the result. At least one superyacht already in New Zealand was making
arrangements to sail to Tahiti to collect the owners and return to New Zealand. Another eight currently in the Pacific are expected to take advantage of the new concession. ‘With those yachts, plus the ones already here, we anticipate up to 20 entries for the
CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
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