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founders of the modern superyacht movement, at 38.5m, Rainbow will be by far the largest race yacht to grace the Squadron lists. Designed by Starling Burgess, the original Rainbow J-Class was
commissioned by New York railroad tycoon (and inventor of Contract Bridge) Harold Vanderbilt for the 1934 America’s Cup defence. Up against Sir TOM Sopwith’s Endeavour, Rainbow lost the first two races, but then won the next four to retain the trophy for the New York Yacht Club. Under new ownership Rainbowentered the trials to select a NYYC
defender for the next Cup series in 1937, but lost to Vanderbilt’s potent new yacht, Ranger. Rainbow was later scrapped and the materials used for the war effort. Under the J-Class Association rules modern replica yachts can
be built to the original lines of earlier models. The current Rainbow was built in 2012 and passed through several owners before Crichton secured her earlier last year. ‘The original owner died and it went into charter for a while, then it changed hands again, but did not race, and finally came on the market last year.’ Despite his jokes about its stately rather than electrifying per-
formance, Crichton is thrilled with the purchase. ‘It is a really nice boat,’ he says. ‘I am excited about it and looking forward to cam- paigning it. I have not been doing much competitive sailing for a while, so I am looking forward to getting my teeth into this project. ‘The boat has hardly been raced. It is smaller and lighter than
the other Js and we feel that with a bit of tidying up and a good crew it will be competitive.’ Rainbow has been put on the hard at Palma, Majorca, where a
six-month refit is now underway. ‘We are going to manage the refit ourselves with sub-contractors undertaking the various specialist projects.’ The refit will be extensive, including fully re-fairing the hull below the waterline, a repaint, new decks and revised deck layouts with winches and sail tracks repositioned and the hydraulic control systems upgraded. There will be a completely new wardrobe of racing sails and, to come into class compliance, the Southern Spars carbon mast will be shortened by 850mm. Intensely competitive, it goes against Crichton’s every instinct
and inclination to depower any boat, but he is hoping the loss of 9m2
of sail area will be made up by shedding weight during the refit. ‘The plan is to have Rainbow back in the water in July,’ says her
new owner. ‘We will do no formal racing in 2023, but there are a number of Js based in Palma and we hope to establish a relationship with one or more of them to hook up for some tune-up sailing ahead
24 SEAHORSE
of the 2024 season.’ Crichton says most of his key crew positions have already been
allocated and he is talking to former crew from Alfa Romeo to fill the complement. ‘We definitely believe that with the refit work we are doing, the planned programme of training leading up to 2024 and with enough talent onboard we will be competitive,’ he says. ‘I do like to race to win…’
Ivor Wilkins
GREAT BRITAIN Cast your mind back to the summer of 2021 and the Covid-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Enoshima Bay and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more nail-biting medal race than when Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Stuart Bithell emerged victorious with precious metal around their necks in the Men’s 49er class. That final gybe with the German team pressing hard on starboard, and a win by mere centimetres of a bowsprit, is something of legend now in Olympic circles. With the Olympic favourites and early regatta leaders Peter Burling
and Blair Tuke resigned to playing gooseberry in third in the medal race, it was the cool heads of the Brits and some astonishing boat-handling that secured a quite sublime gold. But where do you go after that? The post-Olympic comedown is
well-documented, and it’s acknowledged as being a hard ask to keep up momentum when you’ve just climbed sailing’s Everest in dramatic fashion. But today’s sailors are relentless in their programmes and ambitions so it’s an utterly logical leap to go from skiffs like the 49er to the foiling dinghy classes – the Olympic flame to the Moth. There’s a phrase in there. For Dylan Fletcher-Scott, (now) MBE, it’s a move that has propelled
him straight back to the top of the sailing world with many anticipating an America’s Cup in the near future. For what Dylan achieved out at the Yacht Club Argentino in the heart of downtown Buenos Aires at the beginning of December was nothing short of extraordinary. He didn’t just win the International Moth World Championship,
the rubber stamp of elite dinghy racing, he monstered the opposition winning with five firsts, six seconds and a final margin of 10pt. From the off it was only the hard-charging Massimo ‘Muchi’ Contessi, the upcoming star (also fresh out of 49ers) and darling of the Argen- tinian dinghy scene, who could give him a run for the title. Contessi is very much a man of the times, but this was no under-
weight fleet as the likes of Brad Funk, Simone Salva, Rob Green- halgh, Harry Melges and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli skipper Francesco
MATIAS CAPIZZANO
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