Contents March 2023 FEATURES
4 Keep feeding him SUELLEN HURLING
28 Shining bright The latest Sydney Hobart (again) meant another notch on the TP52 bedpost… ROB WEILAND
34 Trepidation justified? Getting a fully crewed Imoca around the world in one piece will be an achievement in itself, let alone winning a bloomin’ yacht race. SIMON FISHER
We’ll give you that Maybe Seahorse was a bit conceited in trying to help to rid the world of old heavy spinnaker poles, with their complexity, cost, need for expert handling… and the risks they could pose to life! Because when Guy Gurney sent through his classic shot from the 1988 Kenwood Cup, of two old-school, lock-up-your-daughters ‘Marlborough Country’ bowmen swinging off a pair of IOR Maxis, it took us no time at all to realise that something magnificent has disappeared in the transition to sprits and A-sails; for all their advantages, not least that big boats can now be raced faster and more safely with small, less experienced crews. Think family racers enjoying real performance with friends on their J105s and hundreds of French and Spanish students racing the nuts off a J80 at a very high level without a pro-bowman in sight. And offshore, think of previous round-the-world races and chilling shots taken of – or by – Maxi bowmen on the end of the pole waiting to trip off a giant chute while ploughing through the Southern Ocean and 25ft above it (we doubt they have any regrets at all about the less ‘brave’ world of A-sails). The career of another great photographer, Onne van der Wal, began as bowman on Whitbread winner Flyer when he first took a camera to the end of the pole for a reel of soon to be famous pictures. There’s not the same foreboding when a safety-clad foredeck team on a J Class swings through a pole that is 1/10th the weight of the original… maybe a mile off St Tropez. Reviewing the cover shot we had a feeling of too casually writing off an aspect of racing that played a valuable part in demonstrating what the sport itself is all about
COVER: Guy Gurney
40 One job one dream Brilliant yacht racer, sailmaker and contented human being. CAROL CRONIN talks to MIKE TOPPA
49 Improving the odds Got a once fast yacht? Danish designer CASPER NIELSEN could be the man to give it a few more years of competitive life… ØYVIND BORDAL
REGULARS
6 Commodore’s letter JAMES NEVILLE
11 Editorial ANDREW HURST
12 Update Good news from la belle France, a deeper dive into AC75 mainsail management, Southernmost stakes a strong claim, Magic and Alinghi still racking up mileage, the end for winch handles? Plus a new level of armchair grumbling… JACK GRIFFIN, SEAN LANGMAN, TERRY HUTCHINSON
16 World news A popular win amid more Hobart controversy, YOANN RICHOMME has the Vendée bookies guessing, speedy bonus for BEYOU, Jules Verne… around they go, CRICHTON takes his foot off the gas for a change (well, sort of), FLETCHER’s Cup claim becomes unanswerable. Plus some serious
recycling USA-style. DOBBS DAVIS, PATRICE CARPENTIER, IVORWILKINS, ADRIENNE CAHALAN, BLUE ROBINSON, MAGNUS WHEATLEY, CHARLES CAUDRELIER
27 Paul Cayard – A life well lived The passing of a Bay Area icon. Plus The Ocean Race… it’s certainly different but is it working?
30 ORC – Peak VPP! Where to go from here? ANDY CLAUGHTON
32 (Far) beyond the practical KATE COPE kicks off this new Seahorse column with a look at the myriad different reasons behind the rise and rise of Corinthian double-handed offshore racing
54 TechStreet 62 Regatta calendar
70 RORC – Daylight returns JEREMY WILTON
– Honey, I’m home FABRICE CAHIERC has a new VPLP-designed Ocean Fifty trimaran on the way at CDK. To replace the one he launched two years ago and sold a few weeks later… SIMONE CLODELLE
106 Déjà vu indeed
107 Sailor of the Month Titans of the sport… and Aussie titans to boot
DESIGN & BUILD 75 Focus on the sailing MAURIZIO COSSUTTI
78 Only a matter of time ANDREA ZAGATO & MARCELLO PERSICO
82 Wowza! JIM SCHMICKER
Not so blokey down under. Clare Costanzo (left) and Sarah Parker are two of over 150 women who raced the 2022 Sydney Hobart. Costanzo sailed on the TP52 Zen (13th overall), Parker on the Farr 45 Pretty Woman (28th). Meanwhile, two-handed racers Kathy Veel and Bridget Canham also got to Hobart, on a 50-year-old 30-footer. Veel is now 70, the nipper Canham just 62
71 Seahorsebuild table
SALTY DINGO
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