Contents March 2024 FEATURES
4 Nice thought GUY GURNEY
37 More than an event Admiral’s Cup 2025 and there is more at stake than winning more trophies. ROB WEILAND
40 A Mirror on the Cuckmere DAN HOUSTON takes us back to the beginning and a little dinghy that has lured more people into the sport than anything else we can think of
A gap worth filling Vendée Globe winner Alain Gautier’s Orma 60 Foncia is racing at one of the inshore grand prix that took place regularly in the heyday of the Orma 60 tris. At their peak the Ormas would turn out a dozen or more of these blisteringly fast designs. The boats were closely matched too, especially over a short inshore course, and delivered spectacular racing – usually in sight of spectators ashore. As testament to this very close racing there were also more than a few high-speed crashes between these fragile carbon craft…yet not so fragile as to be unable to complete long transatlantic courses in good order and at thought-provoking speeds. This contrasts with what we are today seeing with the Orma’s logical replacement, the Ocean Fifty, which are proving a damp squib for long races like the Rhum and TJV. Completely uninsurable, the Ocean Fiftys instead collectively charter a mothership to accompany their offshore races, itself skippered by expert former Imoca and Orma sailor Adrien Hardy. But this leaves a big void in the offshore multihull scene. The Ultims are up and away, with budgets to make an Imoca 60 look cheap; the Ocean Fifty is surely now primarily an inshore racer; plus much of the fleet is ageing, leaving the 50-100ft range to be exclusively filled by flying monohulls. As a class the Ormas did not survive the exceptionally violent 2002 Route du Rhum, but before that they had completed numerous long ocean races in good order. With Imoca annual budgets of ⇔3-4million or more, is this not a good time to at least float the idea of a real Ultim-feeder class… and this time racing multihulls?
COVER: Benoit Stichelbaut/DPPI
46 Once is too often – Part IV RICH DU MOULIN of the Storm Trysail Club moves on to the even greater challenges of executing a successful man overboard recovery from a typically fast-moving multihull
50 Only the fittest will survive It is not only in the UK that traditional sailing clubs are struggling to survive. But the problems there are already painfully visible… making it a good place to start. MAGNUS WHEATLEY
52 Timely For too long we have been talking freely about ‘UFO’ strikes at sea but the truth is very different. RENAUD BANULS AND AURIANE VIRGILI
54 More tales from the America’s Cup It’s the end of the 12 Metre era but the America’s Cup has yet to become the largely charisma-free sporting space we have today. DAVE HOLLOM
REGULARS
6 Commodore’s letter DEB FISH
11 Editorial ANDREW HURST
14 Update How to sail an Ultim (alone), back to Barcelona for keeps. Plus can we go racing soon please!!! YVES LE BLÉVEC, JACK GRIFFIN, TERRY HUTCHINSON, PATRICE CARPENTIER
20 World news Biggest boats, biggest race (biggest cojones – ed)… but JOYON’S mark looks safe for now. Custom boatbuilding back on the menu in New Zealand, tougher for some en route to Hobart and the US Olympic sailing dilemma (and war!) continues. GREG ELLIOTT, IAIN MURRAY, CHARLES CAUDRELIER, FRANCK CAMMAS, PATRICE CARPENTIER, TOM LAPERCHE, ARMEL LE CLÉAC’H, IVOR WILKINS, CARLOS PICH, DOBBS DAVIS AND BLUE ROBINSON
32 ORC – For our next trick
Weather Routing Scoring… relax, it looks considerably better than it sounds! ANDY CLAUGHTON AND STAN HONEY
34 Paul Cayard – A common language A nice project that’s winning in two places at once
58 TechStreet
60 RORC – Champion! JEREMY WILTON
64 Seahorsebuild table – Nice timing This one is going to shake up the IRC landscape 68 Seahorse Regatta calendar 98 Check date before paying 99 Sailor of the Month – Forza!
Unlike most small dinghies appearing in the UK dinghy explosion of the 1960s, the little Mirror was a really good sea-boat. A robust build, plenty of freeboard and a deceptively clever design that dealt with rough water like a bigger boat meant that when launching off a beach or lee shore the Mirror was in a class of its own. Mirror owners have made some very challenging trips over the years, many ‘far too inexperienced’ to ever attempt such a thing… As far as we know most survived
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