Update
PATIENCE!! – Patrice Carpentier I lose track of races around the world, and more will start in the next few months… especially the Arkéa Solo Challenge for the Ultims which will be the biggest adventure of all. Meanwhile, the much slower Global Solo Challenge is another new event, a pursuit race around the world starting and finishing out of Coruña. First boat away, on 26 August, was Welshman Dafydd Hughes’
S&S34 Bendigedig. She is currently sailing at good speed near the Kerguelen Islands on 12 November which is her 80th day at sea. Also on 12 November, the Open 50 Vento di Sardegna of the
Italian skipper Andrea Mura, the most ‘capped’ of the participants, is preparing to leave the Spanish port to start her race. To succeed she must overtake the S&S34 before returning to Coruña. Mura counts victories in the single and two-handed Transats as well as in the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup with Il Moro di Venezia. But Andrea is not the last starter… that will be Turkish skipper
Volkan Kaan Yemlihaoğlu whose ex-VO70 Black Betty will set sail on 6 January.
One interesting point is that as I write seven older Class40
sharp-noses are sailing almost boat for boat as they approach the Doldrums. There are no modern big-noses taking part. If the calculations for the staggered start are accurate then the final sprint back up the Atlantic will be interesting.
LEARN ON THE JOB – Keith Walker Rob Weiland (issue 526) raised some interesting points about modern race regulations, including the idea of start limits for wind speeds. In the context of the 1979 Fastnet he refers to Cowes Week starts ‘happening as scheduled, regularly in gale conditions, and we just went out and had a go’. So we did. On the Thursday of the 1979 Cowes Week we were racing on
Mike Mountifield’s J/24 Jay Walker. I was steering and Mike was calling the shots. It was blowing very hard from the southwest, black bullets marking the mouth of the Medina river as we made our way to the start, gusts were 30-35kt at least. The first leg was a run down to Hill Head. Downwind the boat was
barely under control, the wind increasing further as we left the lee of the island. We saw a number of boats returning to Cowes with rigs down,
sails damaged or in obvious disarray. We decided to retire; we were doing very well in the week, but we wanted the boat and rig in one piece for Friday when conditions looked to be lighter. At the time we didn’t know that this gale was a straw in the wind.
The infamous Low Y was already on its way across the States, later to become the Fastnet storm, four days later. Looking back we tested the boat and ourselves; many did not leave the marina. When the Fastnet storm broke I thought a lot about those who had stayed ashore the previous week.
SNAPSHOTS Brought to you in association with
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There are all kinds of novelties to deal with in the modern Imoca class, 3-metre wide fenders and custom foil covers among them
18 SEAHORSE
l Middle Sea Race… the real winner? l The boffins… behind IRC... l Overall… 90-footer Bullitt by 24-sec from a Sun Fast 3300 l IRC 2… Botín 52 beats Farr 52 by 61 minutes... l IRC 3… Ker 46 beats Ker 46 by 130 seconds... l Nice job, Jason Ker… by the way… l Those Ker 46s… have been around the track for a while! l Olympic classes… expensive? l Most costly… in the whole world are there really only 60 Nacra 17s being campaigned seriously… l Fair play… two-time 470 Olympic medallist Saskia Tidey (née Clark) is back for a fourth Olympics, this time in the 49erFX with new helm Freya Black l Peasy… trying to sail around the globe on a 15-footer? l Been there… done that – Serge Testa in a 12-footer l 500 days… with thanks to ‘commodore’ Warwick Tompkins l Who is keen… to point out that it was not he! l Well timed… on 1 November steady wave heights of 18-22m were recorded off Ushant... l Days earlier… the editor passed the same spot on a Class40 in a steady 6kt breeze… l With considerable thanks… to Météo France! l Belated… happy 85th birthday to Ted Turner… l FD… Champion, SORC Champion, 5.5 Metre Champion, Congressional Cup winner and 1979 Fastnet overall winner... l He who… pretty much launched cable news with CNN... l Oh yes… and he won the America’s Cup in 1977 (then fell off the chair at the press conference) l Even less woke… the FFV has banned Vendée Globe ‘survivor’ Kevin Escoffier from the sport for 18 months l Following… inappropriate behaviour in Newport during The Ocean Race stopover l Since 2002… average Imoca performance has risen by 49% l By... 27% in light air… l By… 49% overall downwind… l And by… 73% in close reaching mode… l Seriously!… in 2002 a typical Imoca required 30kt of true wind to achieve 20kt of boatspeed… l In 2023… that figure is just 14kt TWS l With thanks to… performance analyst Olivier Douillard l Why…? Imocas vote again to prohibit rudder elevators… l As... Imoca builders everywhere let out a collective groan l Not groaning… Pensacola is on target to complete its new $15million Maritime Center of Excellence during 2024… l Ready for… the return of New York YC American Magic… l Those… guys are in it to win it (then keep it) l First Antigua… l Now… members of the St Andrews Bay Yacht Club in Panama City stood as firefighters tried but failed to prevent their clubhouse burning to the ground in mid-November l Bravo… GRB sailors Anna Burnet and John Gimson won the 2023 Nacra Europeans… l The battle… between the two Poms and Italy’s brilliant pairing of Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti will be the one to watch in Marseille this summer l Sneaking in… Core/SailGP Technologies have launched the final boat to come out of their New Zealand facility… lMarcus Blackmore’s…TP52 Hooligan rolled out of the shed as new owners Rocket Lab started work on a new projectile l Salut… Antoine Koch co-designed TJV winner For People… l And… finished third on For The Planet with Sam Goodchild l Welcome back… Groupe Finot, who partnered Koch to design the top two finishers l After… an absence of many years from a class that Finot once completely dominated l Too many wins to count... farewell to Graham Walker and Stuart Jardine (more next month) l And… to Maxi racer and master mariner Phil Wade l Shhh… one of Paul Bieker’s brilliant Riptide 41s is lurking at
RaceboatsOnly.com l Back-story…
EurosailNews.com
JEAN-LOUIS CARLI/ALEA
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