so she never lifts onto the foils like the new Ultimes which are designed to take off completely. They have the possibility of navigating in both modes. On Sodebowe do not fly.’ Imoca has registered 21 entries: non-foilers, foilers, boys and girls and Charal… the first new-generation foiler. Many skippers have a chance of winning. Jérémie Beyou is of course the theoretical favourite with Charalbut history shows that a very recent boat does not always make for a winner in Guadeloupe. Vincent Riou’s PRB, now equipped with foils, is probably a better bet. Alex Thomson, sailing his first Route du Rhum on Hugo Boss(it will be the black beast’s last race under the HB banner), is very motivated to finish better than his second place in the last Vendée Globe. Yann Eliès, on UCAR-StMichel, Jean-Pierre Dick’s previous foiler, German sailor Boris Hermann at the helm of Malizia(ex-Gitana) and Louis Burton on Bureau Vallée, the last VG-winning boat, are all looking for a podium; plus there’s Paul Meilhat driving SMA, the non-foiling ex-Macif(on which François Gabart won the last but one VG); not forgetting Sam Davies who can play a major role in the race as she has in other races this year; and also Isabelle Joschke’s Monin(ex-Safran).
Final word on the Imocas has to go to the entry of a foreign amateur. Finnish pilot and longtime ocean racer Ari Huusela had bought the former 2007 Owen Clark design Aviva, originally skip- pered by Dee Caffari. ‘It’s a giant leap for me and for sport in Finland as I am the first Nordic skipper to have qualified in a major Imoca event. My race will be beamed to many Finnish homes and I hope it’s going to be a thrilling adventure to track!’ Ari’s objective is simple: ‘to post a performance that sets me on the road to the Vendée Globe’.
If the Ultimes are the biggest competitors the Class40s are the most numerous. A record 53 entries are competing, from 10 nations, sailing a wide spread of boats designed to the parameters of what has become an extremely successful class rule. With the exception of the Mini Transat no single ocean race has seen as many entries in one class as the 2018 Class40 Rhum division. The fleet includes no fewer than three former winners of La Solitaire du Figaro: Kito de Pavant, Nicolas Troussel and Yoann Richomme. At the head of this group is the expert British sailor Phil Sharp
(Imerys Clean Energy) who not only won the race in 2006 but with his five-year-old Mach40 Manuard design has been regularly on the podium and winning races including the 2018 Round Britain and Normandy Channel Race.
Alongside Phil are two French sailors in brand new – and recog- nisable by their big noses – Lombard designs: Louis Duc (Carac) and Yoann Richomme (Veedol). They are both highly experienced and their big and powerful hulls make them among the favourites to reach Guadeloupe first. The opposition includes 11 more Mach40s built by JPS Productions as well as some nice designs from Guillaume Verdier. There are also three female sailors: Morgane Ursault Poupon (daughter of Philippe Poupon) on Fleury Michon Bio, Claire Pruvot and the British veteran Miranda Merron (Campagne de France). The fight in this class will be ‘enorme’. Four of the six Multi 50 entries are potential winners and there are also two new designs that will be interesting to monitor. After finishing second in Class40 in the last edition of the Route du Rhum Thibaut Vauchel-Camus is back in a new Multi50 this time, a VPLP design built at the Enata yard in Dubai.
The only amateur entry is the very experienced 59-year-old skipper Thierry Bouchard, who was also racing Class40 before discovering the trimaran. He is sailing another recent VPLP design and is deter- mined to make it to Guadeloupe this time after retiring from this race in 2014. ‘If everyone attacks hard, then not everyone will make the finish. In this race in this boat you need to strike the right balance – there is a surprising history of technical problems and capsizes in this class!’ explains the skipper of Ciela Village. The Rhum class is open to boats that are not part of the other classes. This time it is split into two groups because they are much more numerous than four years ago. In the multihull division we have a battle between the new boats and the Goldies (more than 25 years old) – including Loïck Peyron and Charlie Capelle on their small trimarans which are almost identical to the iconic Olympus of the Canadian Mike Birch, winner of the first Route du Rhum in
The master at play with the sunroof open. Vendée Globe winner, Route du Rhum champion and the current holder of the under 43-day round-the-world singlehanded record, the 2018 Rhum favourite François Gabart is completely at ease onboard his 100ft foiling trimaran Macif. Gabartʼs Ultime has spent most of 2018 at her builders CDK being converted to full foiling – as was always the plan. Testing prior to the Rhum indicated the upgraded VPLP design was performing ʻas expectedʼ. So business as usual then
1978. The old ladies are racing for a new trophy: the 98 Second Challenge… 98 seconds was the time that separated Birch from Michel Malinovsky 40 years ago. Actually Michel’s boat, the long and narrow Kriter V, is back in the race and skippered by the veteran Bob Escoffier. Also in the old boats we have a number of 45-50ft trimarans playing for a win against the modern catamarans, including the very special 60ft Outremer 5X of Yann Marilley who enters the race as a promise made to his close friend Jean Maurel (famous offshore sailor and previous race director of le Rhum) who died five years ago. The monohull division is a mix of old racing boats, some of whom have sailed several times in the Vendée Globe but are too old to be in the modern Imoca class, including Sébastien Destremau sailing the veteran Imoca 60-footer he was sailing in the last Vendée. For sure Sébastien will have a better bet competing in the Rhum Division than against the other Imocas… Patrice Carpentier
NEW ZEALAND
Attending boatshows is as much a social as an educational or aspirational activity. An encounter at this year’s Auckland show was both. A chance meeting with a man who owns a restaurant in the fashionable Wynyard Quarter led to a pleasant chat in which he revealed why he had just sold up…
No sums were discussed, but his demeanour – and the boats he was browsing – suggest he was happy with the outcome. What was interesting, though, was that he had been inundated with offers to buy the business for most of this year. ‘People were coming in off the street with offers,’ he said. ‘It was extraordinary.’ Finally the offers ramped up to a point where a sale had to be considered. The clincher came when the owner told his brewery supplier about a possible sale – the company did not take long to top the previous offers and a deal was done.
More than all the expert studies and crystal ball gazing, this tale is a material manifestation of the economic impact of the America’s Cup. The Wynyard Quarter is going to be at the heart of the action in 2021. Restaurant patrons will be able to sit under the umbrellas in the sun, superyachts moored in front of them, challenger bases to their immediate left and Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa to their right. The unexpected bonanza brought our (former) restaurant owner to the boatshow with bulging pockets and he browsed with serious intent.
So the trickledown trickles down – and the meter measuring the economic impact takes another nudge upward. Less than a week later the New Zealand Heraldtrumpeted the $7-million sale of a property in the waterfront suburb of Herne Bay to a member of a challenger syndicate, with another similar deal under negotiation. In a property market that is showing signs of cooling after years
SEAHORSE 17
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CHRISTOPHE LAUNAY/DPPI
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