Editorial Andrew Hurst Funny old world


Here in northern Europe an underlying shift is taking place in big boat racing. Whether it spreads further afield, who knows, but it is of particular interest because it is accompanied by a growth in a major sailing discipline and any growth of interest is worth exploring. In the IRC hubs of France and the UK, offshore


racing is growing while interest in inshore racing is stagnant or declining. ‘Marquee’ inshore regattas like Cowes and La Rochelle continue to flourish for reasons of their own but in broad terms organisers are struggling to attract big entries to inshore events. At the same time offshore and inshore fleets are each polarising:


inshore racing is steadily becoming the preserve of those teams with more race-oriented boats while offshore the growth is among increasingly competitive cruiser-racers. As well of course as that growing enthusiasm for racing shorthanded. The reasons for this shift have been there all along. Offshore racing always enjoyed the extra component of


‘adventure’. At the top end this is what drives, through public interest and therefore sponsorship, the Vendée Globe. For exactly the same reason the sport appeals to Corinthian sailors for whom completing a Fastnet is rightly something to be proud of. As the big races demand more comprehensive qualifying criteria more teams take part in shorter weekend races to build mileage, where they have discovered the same rewards in a compact timeframe. Few of these crews have the time to do everything and so a busy offshore programme leaves little time to race inshore as well. Then there is boat type. Racing a 200nm race involves long legs


and relatively few manoeuvres compared with an inshore course. Necessarily less-rehearsed Corinthian crews with a decent cruiser- racer can compete enjoyably and competitively without needing regular training. So inherently such racing is attractive for these time- constrained sailors – plus the pull of that adventure element. By contrast inshore racing is drawing on a smaller pool of serious


in some offshore events, perhaps putting up dedicated prizes of proper historic merit? Meanwhile, we are seeing the stirrings of two-handed inshore racing – perhaps this will start to draw interest in the other direction? Either way, this is a big shift that other race organisers ignore at their peril.


One of a kind? … does not even touch the sides when it comes to Tony Bullimore who passed away in July. A five-foot nothing former nightclub owner who could scare the bejesus out of some tough rivals – and helped launch Bob Marley in Europe. A man who, when his first Nigel Irens trimaran Apricot was smashed to pieces on the rocks at the start of the violently rough 1986 Route du Rhum, scaled the cliffs in his underpants before greeting an understandably startled Normandy farmer (the biggest piece of Apricotwent in a car boot). A man who bought a container of left-foot trainers and made money out of it. A man who famously survived four days inside his capsized Vendée Globe entry in the Southern Ocean and was given up for dead. We didn’t always see eye to eye when we occasionally sailed


together, but sharing a curry in a cloud of Tony’s fag-smoke amid the ‘compactness’ of his second, super-light, super-bendy and frankly super-scary Orma 60, that I will always remember (better in the telling than in the doing). We all have our ‘Tony’ stories. He will be missed by many, from every corner of the world and


teams with race-oriented designs for whom those same manoeuvres and slick crew work are the meat and drink of the sport. So what we have is a growing, largely Corinthian offshore fleet


at the cost of inshore competitions – which are steadily becoming the preserve of a different type of racer. Add in shorthanded growth and it’s easy to see why, when the biggest boat-owning constituency focuses on one of the two disciplines, the other will suffer. But a more balanced compromise is still possible and the first step should be encouraging more of the inshore fleet to take part


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There’s some weird stuff going on in powerboat world these days as luxury manufacturers explore every avenue to take money off customers seeking avant-garde toys (before the neighbour buys one and they start over). The Iguana caterpillar tender performs a great deal better than you may think – both on land and on sea. And a whole lot better than some of its quite awful competitors!!!


from extremes of commerce that simple folk like me never knew existed… until we met Tony Bullimore. As we’ve said before, sailing attracts special people.


PR DREAM It is what it is. I don’t really care if someone


NICE I have competed a lot,


as you know – Russell Coutts talking to Carlos Pich (pg18)


off the scale – Peter Heppel, responding to Iker Martínez’s most recent measurement commotion… this time in the Nacra 17


YES BUT It’s a bad rule that puts the sweet spot


0.5m under the keel – Robert Greenhalgh explains why Mapfre split with Dongfeng


and he loved me – Mork & Mindy co-star Pam Dawber


LAST (VOLVO) WORD One big reason… we were not happy to sail through there in 20-30kt with less than


DIFFERENT TIME I loved Robin [Williams]


Sure, he did the grossest things. I mean I was flashed, bumped,


likes it or not – Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen launches his autobiography


humped, grabbed… but I never took offence – Dawber – But it was so much fun! Heh, it was the


1970s!! – Dawber


ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT I am going to strike again, suddenly, sharply, sensationally, and in a way that will produce effects upon prices and markets so much more destructive that previous turmoils will appear by compari-


son as milk to vitriol – Thomas Lawson is pi**ed (1901)


Every owner of an active stock in which the ‘system’ has any interest owes it to himself to heed my


warning… – Very pi**ed


understand long words – the then Major-General Harold Alexander, last man off the Dunkirk beaches, when told earlier by a staff officer that the British position ‘is catastrophic’


DIFFERENT TIMES I’m sorry, I don’t


Seahorse magazine and our associate raceboatsonly brokerage site are both at: seahorsemagazine.com The editor is contactable by email at: andrew@seahorse.co.uk


SEAHORSE 9 q


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