News Around the World
Remember when plumb bows started becoming the norm in raceboats, following the demise of IOR, well now expect the same thing to happen with the scow concept first identified by Mini skipper/designer David Raison back in 2010. Raison pushed it to the limit in the Minis from the outset, as he did with his first outstanding Class40 Crédit Mutuel. Now the next ‘cat’ is out of the bag and, while the refinement of the concept, choosing where to apply it in each different category, is at an early stage, this cat is not going away. The extra internal volume of the scow is something you can be sure the big production builders are already planning to drip-feed into their products… but not so fast as to scare the horses. For those yet to try one of these boat types the feeling of being in control (and at higher speeds) will be reassuring, the scale of it unexpected. And those aesthetics will slowly become familiar – like plumb bows
FRANCE I always have the look of a kid Alone onboard the Ultim trimaran SVR-Lazartigue, 26 -year-old Tom Laperche returned to Concarneau on 22 June after five days of solo ocean sailing. He achieved the 2,500nm required to qualify for the Arkéa Ultim Challenge-Brest, the first solo non-stop round-the-world race for the Ultims (starting on 7 January 2024 in Brest). It was an opportunity to record valuable reference points for the months ahead, including the Transat Jacques-Vabre in late October with François Gabart as skipper. The solo round-the-world race is getting closer. ‘Yet I was thinking
to myself looking at the photos of the boat flying that I was still like a child. I still have the look of a kid looking at pictures of boats but at the same time I am skipper of this boat and able to sail alone… ‘I’m so happy on the boat. There’s plenty of time when I’m sailing
when I just sit thinking how fantastic this is. Sailing these boats, flying them, it’s a privilege. It’s a crazy thing in psychological terms and in all that it takes commitment. There is also all the confidence and the presence of the team that somehow “lend”me this boat… ‘I know that at any time they can send me information and I can
ask questions. When there is a little something on the boat there is immediately an exchange. It also allows us to work out how we operate when I’m alone.’
Lann Ael 3 dominates A second decisive race win in the inaugural IRC Two-Handed Euro- pean Championship cemented Didier Gaudoux and Gildas Morvan’s Lann Ael 3 as overall victor. In the first race of the event, 350nm from La Trinité to Cowes, they took the lead in the Channel after being slowed in the Baie d’Audierne with the other competitors. Their Nivelt/Manuard 35-footer has the highest rating in the two- handed division but sails as fast as much bigger boats sailed by
24 SEAHORSE
a large crew and so wins on handicap. She has won all the races she has entered since her launch in
April for Spi Ouest France. During the 150nm Cowes-Dinard the deep blue hull was in the right place at the right time every time, through some complex transitions. Didier enjoyed his two-out-of-two score in the two-handed Euro-
pean Championship. ‘These two races were a very interesting combination for the championship; and of course the target is to win, so we are very happy,’ says Gaudoux, who also explains the two crucial elements to success in the Cowes-Dinard race. ‘Initially we made a conscious decision to sail as low as possible to stay clear of the fleet because we started with IRC Class 1, so there were a lot of bigger boats around us. ‘The other key point was that the forecast was quite uncertain
when we arrived at the Casquets.’ He says they therefore tried to make the best possible progress with the wind they had at any given time, rather than putting faith in GRIB files and routeing software. Then the wind shut off a few miles before the finish… ‘It was not comfortable because we knew the boats further back were catching us quite fast and we had stopped with no wind.’ Unsurprisingly, French competitors dominated the new champion -
ship – yes, because they are much more numerous than the other nations, but also the teams never stop trying to get better with a lot of training (and racing) under dedicated coaching organisations like Orlabay in La Trinité. These amateur sailors are performing just like professional
navigators. A consistent performance near the front of the fleet saw JPK 10.10 Ad Hoc take second overall in the championship, actually only four points behind Lann Ael 3, with Les P’tits Doudous en Duo (also a JPK 10.10) two points further back in third. The SF 3600 Diablo was the top non-French boat in sixth place, two points ahead of SF 3300 Red Ruby in seventh. US Olympic gold
VINCENT OLIVAUD
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