The irrepressible Francis Joyon and Idec knocked off another big record in February when they smashed Giovanni Soldini’s mark for the Clipper Route from Hong Kong to London, sailing 15,873nm in just under 32 days at an average speed of 20.7kt. Sailing with only four crew, Joyon beat Soldini’s mark by four days – but more notable for aficionados of yachting history, Idec was at sea for one-third of the time taken by the mighty tea clippers in the second half of the 19th century. That’s progress
penalty in 2020 – which means 6pt or 7pt more than before when you add ballast to sailboats that had no ballast previously. That is to say the vast majority of IRC sailboats. About the debate (which continues…) between asymmetrical
kite and symmetrical kite, Daniel Andrieu continues: ‘We think that the symmetrical is more versatile, especially for races like the Trans - quadra, with the possibility of sailing lower on the VMG stages. The standard symmetrical is 93m² and has the same rating as the asymmetrical spinnaker arrangement we have on Sapristi. ‘Overall, the updated Sun Fast 3300 (carbon-rigging version) brings
more sail and is lighter (the water-ballast installation costs about 60kg), with a lower rating than the 2020-optimised version of the original Sapristiand with expected performance gains in all conditions.’ Thank you, Daniel!
The 2020 programme has 12 events and the Two-handed
Championship 16. With the exception of Spi Ouest France, where banana courses still remain this year, all the races of the UNCL Manche/Atlantique Championship are coastal and offshore. The new ones added in the 2020 calendar are the Round Ireland Race, Lorient-Madère (the first leg of the Transquadra) and l’Ile d’Ouessant Race – organised by the RORC. The other RORC races are the Cervantes Trophy Race, Cowes to Dinard and the Cherbourg Race. In the Mediterranean no fewer than 17 races are scheduled for
the 2020 championship including eight new events! The UNCL Championship begins mid-February and ends on
8 November… 10 months of sailing events! To go along with the creation of an offshore racing event at the 2024 Olympic Games in Marseille and to encourage the emergence of mixed crews the Duo Championship will this year also see the introduction of a mixed team classification with a special prize.
IRC 2020 – beware of the water ballasts When IRC modified its treatment of water ballasts it generated a lot of discussions, starting of course with the owners of new boats who decided to install water ballast for singlehanded or double- handed sailing. That makes quite a number of sailors in France. We asked the builders and architects of three new 10m IRC designs to tell us, after monitoring the 2019 championships, which config- uration seems to be best suited to their new babies. In standard form the versatile J/99 was originally credited with
an IRC TCC of 1.009. Frédéric Bouvier from J Composite declared: ‘Of course you must adapt your boat according to the racing pro- gramme. Better than water ballast, we prefer the low-CG bulb keel for more stability and I also recommend the symmetrical/asym- metrical mixed solution to promote all-round performance reaching and running.’ The TCC of the J/99 increases to around 1.018 with the addition of water ballast. After its early races Jean-Pierre Kelbert of JPK recommends that
on his latest JPK 10.30, despite the increase in rating, you can add a little sail area because the new boat has more wetted surface than the previous 10.10 and so can be a little sticky. He advocates allowing the TCC to go up to 1.023-1.028, but then you must talk about the addition of water ballast because so many of these new boats will be driven solo or two-handed. With water the TCC climbs sharply to 1.035 or more. Daniel Andrieu, co-architect of the Sun Fast 3300 whose hull is
designed by Guillaume Verdier, says that Sapristi, the yard’s works boat, was equipped with 200 litres of ballast (each side) last year and had a TCC of 1.026. At the end of the year he declared: ‘For the production we decided to increase the mainsail by 2m² and, in view of the very high RM of the boat, to recommend the use of ballasts only for specific solo or two-handed use of the boat.’ This strategy is supported by the increase in the IRC ballast
Géry Trentesaux The highly successful French skipper said in December that he would stop campaigning his famous Courrier IRC designs. But of course he will continue to race from time to time on his Dragon and offshore on boats ‘suitable for over 60-year-old navigators’. Which means in more comfort and in more appropriate areas than just the northern seas… Meanwhile, we asked Géry about the growing numbers of people
building boats that are more and more specialised for certain types of conditions… and also about the future for IRC generally. ‘The IRC doesn’t typeform the boats,’ he says immediately. ‘The IRC allows good racing between a well-sailed fast cruising sailboat and the custom and semi-custom designs. ‘A well-driven Grand Soleil 43 like Codiamhas won an incredible
number of inshore and offshore races. The same goes for the J/111 or J/133. This year’s Rolex Middle Sea Race saw the Podesta family triumph with a well-prepared and very well-driven First 45. ‘In 2007 we won almost everything with a First 44.7, at Spi Ouest
France, in the RORC IRC Championship and then in the Fastnet race, competing against the light-displacement one-offs. And on a banana course in medium winds it’s still very difficult to beat Codiam. ‘But to win a lot of offshore races it is of course wise to set up
your “canoe” according to the prevailing winds. For example, the twin rudders on the Nivelt and Lombard designs and some JPKs are very good for reaching in heavy breeze, but they are very slow downwind in light airs! To race in the Mediterranean it is essential to adapt your sailing game to the light weather. This year we per- formed nicely at the Middle Sea Race because we made a big effort to completely change our game from racing in the Channel and Atlantic: bigger genoas, lighter sails… and a lighter crew!’ And the future for IRC? ‘The system works well and gives nice
racing between different types of boat – and that is not easy,’ says Géry. ‘But long term it is critical that the two “nationalities” that own IRC, ie the RORC and the UNCL, combine properly into one operation. In my opinion that will make the rule much stronger and more attractive internationally.’
What thinks President Cau? Coincidentally, we had a conversation with Jean-Philippe Cau, president of the UNCL, soon after meeting Géry Trentesaux and he told us that actually RORC and UNCL are very close to an agreement to set up a single combined IRC operation (though still with separate commercial structures). He said that RORC and the UNCL will keep their own databases,
but now placed under the authority of a single IRC director reporting to a board where the UNCL and the RORC have equal representation. The merger will improve efficiency and at an international level will make the system easier to understand and appreciate. For the coming season Cau will remain at the helm of UNCL. He
SEAHORSE 21
ALAMY/CAVAN
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122
