Kirsten Neuschäfer: ‘Of all my adventure the arrival here with the crowd was the most memorable. My boat was my companion. I talked to her a lot. I even got angry with her, but I love her very much. It’s a fast, elegant boat, on which I worked hard for over a year. I had the will to win as soon as I registered and I prepared accordingly. I wanted to win, not as a woman. I only want to compete on equal terms. I haven’t thought about the long term; now I am going on long hikes in the wilderness with my dogs for a few months…’ ‘What she has achieved is incredible, something extraordinary is in the air,’ said Catherine Chabaud (right), first woman to complete the Vendée Globe when she finished 6th in the deadly 1996 race, when six yachts were lost as well as Canadian skipper Gerry Roufs
a wave landing on the port topsides of his Biscay 36 Clara. He was not towing a drogue but was sailing comfortably on course. The impact sheared a shaft on the top of the vane body connecting the wind sensor – Simon did not take a spare onboard to save weight and he couldn’t repair the broken part. He continued under storm jib and lashed tiller while deciding a
course of action. He was OK, the boat had no other damage and he required no assistance. While the weather conditions were improving the Brittany-based sailor was still racing but it became clear that he could not really compete without a wind vane. Repair at sea looked unlikely and stopping for spares to continue in the Chichester class (for people having to go ashore for any reason) was the only option as he was a long way from Les Sables d’Olonne. Simon finally decided to find shelter on the Chilean coast and
try to repair the Hydrovane. When the incident occurred the 63-year- old English sailor – who had dominated the race from the beginning – was 1,200nm in front of his closest rivals, Kirsten Neuschäfer and Abhilash Tomy. When Kirsten passed the Horn on 15 February Simon was still
stopped. He went back offshore on the 19th and rounded the Horn on 25 February, almost alongside Michael Guggenberger. He was 10 days behind Kirsten. Simon, who counts a second place in the 2001 Mini Transat on his nautical CV, sailed up the South Atlantic very fast, slowly gaining ground on his opponents in identical weather conditions. Finally he overtook Kirsten and Abhilash, to be the first to reach Les Sables on the morning of 27 April after 234 days at sea. Kirsten crossed the line later that night after enduring a complete calm approaching the finish line. As with Apivia, first to finish the last Vendée Globe but not the
winner, Simon’s exceptional performance was overshadowed by the arrival of the ‘great winner’ that evening.
France vs Italy The Class40 Crédit Mutuel of Ian Lipinski, Antoine Carpentier and Rémi Fermin crossed the finish line of the second stage of the 2023 Atlantic Challenge in La Rochelle early in the afternoon of Saturday 22 April. Only 13 boats participated this year in this race, which takes place every four years as a return contest for the Rhum racers, due in particular to the return of most of the Class40s by special cargo ship. Lipinski’s winning David Raison design, the first ever Scow Class40 (launched in 2019), covered the 1,290nm of the theoretical course in 6d 7h 37m at an average speed of 8.92kt. In reality she sailed 1,448nm at an average speed of 10.02kt. The second stage of this two-leg race, between Horta and La
Rochelle, was won by the Verdier-designed Pogo S4 Everial, but in winning leg 1 between the West Indies and the Azores Ian and his two co-skippers built enough of a margin to win on aggregate time. In the end Crédit Mutuel took the overall prize with a 1h 40m
advantage over the 100 per cent Italian boat Alla Grande-Pirelli, followed on the podium by another transalpine skipper, Alberto Bona, aboard a last-generation Mach40.4. These small gaps between the three Scows show the intensity of the race and prove that an ‘old’ scow is not yet obsolete… when brilliantly sailed. Also, the performance of the Italians reinforces the internationalisation of the Class40 at the top level and perhaps suggests a development of the class in the Mediterranean. Also note on the international scoreboard the fifth place of Tequila,
led by the British crew Alister Richardson/Brian Thompson. Their new boat (#159) is none other than Valentier Gautier’s first Manuard design scow, a Mach 40.4 built in 2019 alongside Lipinski’s Raison- designed Crédit Mutuel at JPS Production in La Trinité sur Mer. Upon arrival Ian Lipinski said: ‘We’re super happy. We were pretty
concerned in the final hours, the Italian boats were very fast. We SEAHORSE 23
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