Contents December 2021 FEATURES
4 Hindsight! BERNARD LE BARS
40 Opportunity knocks? Getting them onboard and then keeping them there. ROB WEILAND takes an across the board look at the question of access
Trim on François Gabart’s latest VPLP tri makes the AC75s look very old hat; and in anything other than flat water Gabart will be faster too. A strong start for the exotic Ultims began to look shaky with the loss of the recently launched Banque Populaire IX in the 2018 Route du Rhum – a race that in 2002 prompted the demise of the Orma 60 trimarans, which as Banque Pop looked to have done, allowed weight saving (and the pursuit of rigidity) to go too far at the expense of structural redundancy. What started as the serious failure of a single beam on the previous Banque Pop – which once might have been isolated – ended with the boat’s destruction, the coup de grace coming when the surviving pieces became separated on the tow back to Lorient. An ignominious end to a ⇔15million yacht. Soon after that Gitana Team announced they would be moving out of the Ultim class, as they developed automatic flight control – banned under class rules. They returned to class for the 2019 Fastnet, winning by seconds from Gabart’s previous Ultim, Macif, and since then have developed their Verdier foiler to where it now flies at 30-40kt for long periods without fuss. The recent launch of two more Ultims for Gabart and Banque Populaire, with used boats also selling quickly, means the class is back. As in the Imocas, the spectacle of these huge flying boats and public interest in the people who sail them mean that for now at least the enormous costs shouldn’t put much of a dampener on progress. Everyone said Imoca was finished as costs started to go through the roof 12 years ago. How did that turn out?
COVER: Thierry Martinez
44 Intuitively gifted For a generally quiet man Laurie Davidson made a very big impact. Helping us understand why are BRETT BAKEWELL-WHITE, IVOR WILKINS, RUSSELL COUTTS AND TOM SCHNACKENBURG
48 It’s all about the resales ANTOINE CARDIN looks at some of the more interesting 40ft opportunities and at what decides the success or failure of any development class
50 A nest of vipers Privateers not pirates. TOM PRICE tips his hat to the ground-breaking Highflyers of Baltimore
56 Pause for thought ROBERT LAINE is sure that the current Imoca foiling solution is structurally unsustainable but posits that there is an affordable way to improve matters that still falls within current class rules
REGULARS
6 Commodore’s letter JAMES NEVILLE
11 Editorial ANDREW HURST
14 Update The New York Yacht Club throws out all its toys, but now appears to want them all back… how being shrewd as much as (fabulously) wealthy can get you into the America’s Cup game and a new Transpac-winning sail configuration. Plus when is a Duckling a Dinky?!? MALCOLM PARKER, TERRY HUTCHINSON, JACK
GRIFFIN AND ROBIN BROMLEY-MARTIN
22 World news Like the Stones at their peak… Why designers will be up all night (well, the lucky ones) monitoring the myriad new yachts in a bonkers Transat Jacques Vabre. Why no one builds ‘boats’ any more. Why it’s make or break for the Ocean Fiftys. How CHARLIE DALIN was two miles ahead in 10 miles of racing, why FRANCK CAMMAS wishes our other marine friends would stick to the right routes; plus CHRIS NICHOLSON – solid as a rock; and the enormous debt that is owed to the late Luiz Kahl. BLUE ROBINSON, IVOR WILKINS, PATRICE CARPENTIER, DOBBS DAVIS, DICK NEVILLE, SAM GOODCHILD
36 Rod Davis – Changing with the
times is not enough How to get the mountain to come to Muhammad
38 Straight into it The Super Series fleet may have felt rusty but it didn’t look that way. ANDI ROBERTSON
42 ORC – First do no harm ANDY CLAUGHTON
60 RORC – Growing like Topsy JEREMY WILTON
62 TechStreet
66 Seahorsebuild table – A package for planet earth Why all you really need to know is the price
76 Seahorse regatta calendar
74 RORC – Even better to come JEREMY WILTON
107 Sailor of the Month Brilliant (young) sailors doing brilliant things
The Voiles de St Tropez, like many regattas at the moment, felt like more of a celebration as sailing begins to return… to where it was before the lab leak (comments, please). It was also more than conjecture that like the TP52 Super Series at the extreme other end of the scale, on the water the lack of practice did really show. As the wind picked up there were scenes like this spread across the Bay of St Tropez, big boats as well as in the smaller classes. But the water was warm and the food was good. So who really cared?
GILLES MARTIN-RAGET
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