Opposite: Transat Jacques favourites Charles Caudrelier and Franck Cammas at the wild start of the Brest Atlantiques in 2019 as they began their adventure with the spectacular Guillaume Verdier-designed flying Ultim Edmond de Rothschild. Since then there have a been a lot of UFOs to disturb progress but wherever Ultims gather it is the blue and yellow monster that finishes in front; and considering this remains the most complex ocean-going sailboat ever launched the reliability of this boat is now extraordinary. It is always the flying tri that gets talked about, yet it’s easy to overlook that co-skippers Cammas and Caudrelier are currently the two most accomplished ocean racing skippers in the world. Hot on their heels, however, is Ian Lipinski (above) who walked the last TJV on Crédit Mutuel to add to his back-to-back Mini Transat victories. Lipinski’s two-year-old Raison scow will be closely watched in the TJV by rival designers and skippers to see if a recent series of upgrades have kept her competitive against her latest rivals
Seafrigo(#172) for the duo Château/Mion. Also a brand new design is the #168, Clown-Hop, an Etienne Bertrand design manufactured in South Africa by Cape Yachting that was still onboard a cargo ship in the south Atlantic at the time of writing… The Transat Jacques Vabre will thus bring together all the new
Scows, some having had very little preparation time before the start. As Ian Lipinski said, instigator of Scow fashion with David Raison (they also dominated the Mini scene together… with a Scow), ‘Com- petition is higher and higher in Class40… The drawings are different but with the Class40 rule being well executed the boats remain very close in terms of performance.’ Last winter Ian moved the ballast tanks on Crédit Mutuel, modified
the mast and rigging, and worked on his sails to stay on top. Do remember that Ian, with Italian Ambrogio Beccaria, improved the Class40 24-hour record again this summer to 428.82nm. In the TJV Ian, who will race with Julien Pulvé, estimates that about 10 boats can win. ‘This time there are many more new Class40s and you should not forget those that are a little more ancient, which are still hard to beat on such a course. ‘We don’t go to Brazil now but to Martinique, so there is less reaching, the preferred dish of the Scow, which increases the number of potential winners.’ Antoine Carpentier, one of the favourites for the TJV, a race he
has won twice, first in Class40 then on a Multi 50, has been racing his Mach40.4 scow Redman for a little more than a year now. Like Ian Lipinski Antoine mentions the fact that the new course could see more VMG sailing this time before later running west towards the Antilles. Everything depends on the orientation of the trade winds! When it comes to VMG, conventional Class40s, some of which
(such as Luke Berry’s #153 Lamotte) have had their bow modified, still have a lot to say. ‘This will be a tough fight from the start because it is essential to be in a strong position when you hit the trades – then it will be a drag race south to reach Cape Verde before gybing onto starboard towards the Antilles… assumingthe NE winds prevail. ‘It all depends on the angle of the wind…’ said Antoine. ‘In
Class40 we can take eight sails, four of which are for running/reach- ing. I expect to leave Le Havre with three spinnakers (two masthead and one fractional) and a single gennaker.’ Antoine is racing the TJV with his faithful Spanish partner Pablo Santurde.
Apart from the boats and their level of preparation the quality
and experience of the crews will of course play a decisive part. Here let us say that the Class40 is the only fleet in the TJV in which both amateurs and professionals are mixed. It is also common for the amateurs, often the boat owner, to be helped by a professional. The TJV has navigators of many different nationalities, mixed
duos, female duos (three), plus father/son and brother/brother pairings. The combination of genres contributes to the success of this amazing class… we already know that not everyone will be able to enter the Route du Rhum next year because the demand (70!) exceeds the number of places available.
One year on Exactly one year after the start of the Vendée Globe at Les Sables d’Olonne we find in Le Havre many of the same 60-footers now sailed two-handed – most helmed by the same skipper, but not all. Thus Bureau Vallée 3 (Louis Burton/Davy Beaudart) is none other than Armel Tripon’s L’Occitane, a Scow of course! Fortinet-Best Western (Romain Attanasio/Sébastien Marsset) was called Malizia in the Vendée Globe, when she was sailed by German Boris Herrmann… We also note the participation of new duos, such as Louis Duc, previously sailing Class40, with Marie Tabarly aboard an older Imoca; and Jörg Riechers, who has announced the start of a new Imoca designed by Bruce Farr, sailing with Swiss sailor Beat Fankhauser. The most anticipated of the new duos in ocean racing is the one
that brings together Swiss sailor Justine Mettraux and British Simon Fisher – sailing 11th Hour Alak’ai, the former Hugo Boss, while American Charlie Enright and Pascal Bidégorry get used to the only new boat in the race: the Guillaume Verdier design 11th Hour Malama. This time Yann Eliès, TJV winner in 2019 with Charlie Dalin on
Apivia, joins Sébastien Simon on Arkea Paprec whose improving performance has recently been noticed. In all, there are 23 Imoca registered, fewer than in 2019 before
the Vendée Globe, but more than in 2017 (15). Thomas Ruyant, skipper of the excellent Verdier design LinkedOut, who is sailing with his good friend Morgan Lagravière, says that Apivia and Charal will be the boats to beat in the TJV 2021.
SEAHORSE 23
CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
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