Left: drive it like you stole it, as Jérémie Beyou sets up Charal to windward of Sam Davies (above, sporting natty new leggings) at the start of the 500nm singlehanded (plus media man) offshore stage of the 2020 Défi Azimut – social distancing between boats at the start of an Imoca race is really not an issue in the foil era. Beyou won the offshore stage, however: after 44 hours of racing he finished less than three minutes ahead of Davies, whose retro-foiled 2010 design gets faster and faster with every update. Positions were reversed in the speed runs, with Davies slightly quicker than Beyou in fifth place… However, no one could get close in straightline speed to Armel Tripon’s scow, L’Occitane
It’s also interesting to see just how adversity plays right into someone’s or something’s hands. Amazon, how are they liking Covid? Department stores in San Francisco have been closed for six months. How do you buy underwear? You got it. Amazon for everything.
Similarly, the Vendée Globe couldn’t be better positioned. A solo race around the world, non-stop. Perfect! You could not have designed a better answer to ‘how do we race sailboats during Covid?’ So, on 8 November, a record 30+ teams, yachts and skippers will leave Les Sables d’Olonne on the ‘perfect race’ for our times. Six female competitors among the fleet is also a record, indicative of our times. The Imoca class, and its circuit of races, has really matured to the top of our sport. Maybe the top spot. I think long-distance offshore is a great place to demonstrate high-speed sailing. The very compelling and easily understood ‘man against the sea’ element remains, and yet the technology story has flourished immensely. My only complaint, and it is probably not well-founded as I don’t really know what it means to sail an Imoca, is that they pushed off the decision for rudder foils at their AGM this past August. To me, if you are going to implement a technology don’t flirt with it. Go for it 100 per cent. Having foiling boards that lift the front half of the boat, as now, but without the offsetting aft lift that rudder foils would provide, makes for a rough ride, to say the least. I hear all the justifying points for not going there… cost, rendering the rest of the fleet even less competitive, and so on. Maybe score the yachts in two classes. And what’s an extra $500,000 to have the proper solution when you are already spending $6-8million for a top-line programme? Anyway, that is my only area of doubt and in general I wish I was 20 years younger and I would be out there with them. I am half- French after all!
There are plenty of acrimonious points that could be highlighted about the upcoming America’s Cup being hosted by Team New Zealand. I am not going to get into them. All I have to say about the subject is that I hope my friend Terry Hutchinson and his American Magic win.
Terry deserves it, Doug DeVos deserves it, as does Hap Fauth. They have put their well-formed relationship to good use in this challenge. Adding Roger Penske to the mix didn’t hurt either. These guys are true American patriots in the very sense of the Deed of Gift. They have made a lot of good decisions along their three-year road to the Cup. Go, USA!
SEAHORSE 35
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