Editorial Andrew Hurst One man
It is 10 years since David Raison won the 2011 Mini Transat on his self-designed and built Scow TeamWork. The boat launched two years earlier and Raison had needed all of those two years to perfect his radical new type of yacht. He won 11 Mini events that year and by 2014 his next boat, Magnum, won all 14 races in the Mini season.
Yet it still took several years before more than a tiny handful would follow his lead. Sailing is a very conservative activity. But from that seed a new genre of yacht design finally blossomed.
Every new Class40 since 2019 has been a scow. Every Imoca in build – 10 and counting – is a scow. In the last Vendée Globe the only scow recorded the race’s highest speed versus distance sailed. Needless to say no one is building conventional Mini Protos. IRC will be next; though ORC continues to advocate the superiority of windward-leeward courses with spinnaker pole (and a helmet for the foredeck.) It is almost impossible to think of a previous design step with such
great implications. At the beginning of the 19th century the great Charles Sibbick was already building fast, shallow yachts with modern bulb keels plus separate rudder. Foiling brings with it technological innovation and amazing speeds for specialist boats and sailors, but it does little or nothing for ‘yacht design’. It is still early days for Raison’s concept. New race designs are
popping up everywhere – though to date it is interesting that in box rule classes early scows remain competitive when set against the pace of obsolescence of conventional designs. But it is not plain sail- ing… in Class40 it is still hard to build a boat with so much shell area down to minimum weight. But most Class40 builders are there (and we are only talking of shaving maybe 50kg off a 4.5-tonne yacht). For some years a couple of small French yards have been building
Scow pocket cruisers to Raison designs. They are sea-kindly, spacious and with generous deck area for their size. This is where things get interesting. For the production builder of cruiser-racers, and bluewater cruisers, a Scow offers faster passage-making, drier decks, less stop- start motion in big waves and a huge increase in interior volume. It is this last that makes me confident that in five years’ time the pro- duction Scow cruiser will be a common sight in cruising destinations. But given the first small cruiser Scows come from France, home
of some of the biggest production yacht builders, why has this not happened already? Aesthetics. Think how long it took for the modern plumb bow to be seen as anything other than ugly. Then think how much longer it will take for your friends to call your voluminous yet fast, bulbous 40ft production cruiser a thing of beauty. It will start from the bottom of the size range, but still it will be a brave production builder to be first to tool up for the bigger models. But it will happen. Sailing is a very conservative activity.
Bonkers but brilliant As Corinthian two-handed sailing continues to flourish so professional and pro-am classes like the Class40 and Minis, and the elite Imoca 60s, have been going nuts. Dozens of new boats are on order, partly
because the Scows are a step up in performance but also because they are seen by younger sailors as new, fun and different. They are not responsible for the arrival of a new generation of offshore racers but they have helped to accelerate it. There is no doubt that younger sailors are getting more interested
in the offshore side of racing than ever before; the challenge is there, today’s young owner needs to find fewer experienced crew, and more of those in the 25-35 age bracket can afford the sort of boat that is both foxy and fast enough to complement their lifestyle. Think Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300, for example, modern as hell, a
relatively affordable race-winner that looks better and goes (much) faster than any of its vastly more pricey one-off predecessors. In France demand from sailors in their teens and early-20s is
forcing Mini builders to expand production, while in the more cautious UK many young sailors are looking around to pair up with older, ‘better resourced’ owners for a double-handed campaign. Whoever imagined offshore racing could lead a revival in the sport?
But think about it… Competitive, challenging, adventurous, often in the dark! For the wealthy young professional looking for something to liven up the air-conditioned day job it’s an attractive thought.
Bonus When Michel Desjoyeaux won the 2008 Vendée Globe at a canter he did so on the Farr-designed Foncia. For reasons we only partly understand that was the last Farr Imoca to be built. Yet in its 13th season the same boat finished the first non-foiler in the 2020/21 Vendée Globe in the magisterial hands of Jean Le Cam. This month someone finally took the plunge and Jörg Riechers
‘ TOODLE PIP
The day that everything changed – David Raison crosses the line to win the 2011 Mini Transat on the first Mini 6.50 scow design
commissioned a new Farr-designed Imoca for the 2024 VG. Of course the Farr office has moved on, with a new generation running the show, but no doubt Russell Bowler and Bruce Farr himself will be on the end of a phone to nudge things along if invited. It will be hard to step back into what is a completely different class from the glory days of 2008-9. But a famous name is back. We wish them well.
q
BANG We weren’t going fast, upwind at 22kt, but it
was a violent impact – Franck Cammas, Edmond de Rothschild
COLD REALITY My America’s Cup videos got nearly two million
views on YouTube - Mike ‘Airflow’ Spence And the few hundred bucks I made were probably more than
Auckland City – Airflow
Our passion for the America’s Cup remains
as strong as ever – NYYC Commodore Christopher Culver
OF COURSE, DEAR Stars+Stripes USA will continue with their plans to challenge for
American yachting – Oh dear…
MORE ADVICE FROM OUR CANADIAN FRIENDS Running may trigger a chase response in the bear
– National Parks Service And you can’t outrun a bear
– National Parks And you do not want to
look like a slow elk calf – really, you don’t
SLAP I can think of no quicker a way to destroy my career than to appear in one of your crass adverts. Please do not
contact me again – Sean Connery replies to Steve Jobs
I have no interest in
the 37th America’s Cup – S&S spokesperson They are the future of
salesman – Connery
‘changing the world’ – Connery You are a computer
I am f*cking JAMES BOND – work it out
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 11
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CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
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