Contributors EDITOR Andrew Hurst
DESIGNER Stephen Stafford
SUB-EDITOR Sue Platt EUROPE
Chris Draper has nimbly ascended the ladder of world-class skippers from 49ers to Team Korea to Prada to SoftBank to F50…
Patrice Carpentier Carlos Pich Tim Jeffery Rob Weiland
Torbjörn Linderson Andy Rice
Giuliano Luzzatto Jocelyn Blériot Frederic Augendre
USA & CARIBBEAN Dobbs Davis Peter Holmberg Cam Lewis Chris Museler Terry Hutchinson
Loïck Peyron is finally (at the time of writing…)
getting to race his classic Dick Newick tri Happy in this year’s Route du Rhum
JAPAN Yoichi Yabe
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE Ivor Wilkins Blue Robinson Rob Brown Rob Kothe Rob Mundle Julian Bethwaite
COLUMNISTS Paul Cayard Rod Davis Ken Read
Nacho Postigo is one of the most respected pro sailors among his peer group and one of the least known beyond that world
AC TECHNICAL Steve Killing Andy Claughton Jack Griffin James Boyd
TECHNICAL BRIEFINGS Kieren Flatt & Lizzie Ward
ACCOUNTS AND CIRCULATION Kirstie Jenkins & Wendy Gregory
ADVERTISING MANAGER Graeme Beeson
Vincent Lauriot-Prévost will follow the Rhum more closely than most with two flying Ultimes and a brand new Imoca all taking part
Email:
graeme@seahorse.co.uk EDITORIAL
Tel: 44 (0) 1590 671899 Fax: 44 (0) 1590 671116 Mobile: 44 (0) 7976 773901 Skype: graemebeeson
Web:
www.seahorsemagazine.com E-mail:
info@seahorse.co.uk
Tel: 44 (0) 1590 671898 Fax: 44 (0) 1590 671116
Subscribe to Seahorse
www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs www.seahorsemagazine.com/subscribe 1yr Print UK£56/$84/€90/ROW£76 1yr Digital £35
Tel: 44 (0) 1590 610691 Fax: 44 (0) 1590 671116
subscriptions@seahorse.co.uk
Mike Drummond leaves a trail of… success in his wake as a designer and engineer with a succession of victorious Cup teams
6 SEAHORSE
Seahorse International Sailing is published monthly by Fairmead Communications Ltd, 5 Britannia Place, Station Street, Lymington, Hampshire SO41 3BA, UK. USA subscribers: Seahorse International Sailing (USPS 010-341) is distributed in the USA by SPP, 75 Aberdeen Rd, Emigsville, PA 17318. Periodicals’ postage paid at Emigsville PA. POSTMASTER: please send address changes to Seahorse International Sailing c/o PO Box 437, Emigsville, PA 17318. Advertising design by Zip Image Setters Ltd. Distribution by InterMedia Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction without prior written permission is prohibited
Commodore’s letter
he 2018 IRC Congress in Dublin provided a fascinating overview of offshore sailing across the world. We heard an enthusiastic report from Yvonne Beusker of Jachtclub Scheveningen on the success of the Offshore World Championships in The Hague; a unique event creating a combined rating world championship for yachts that normally race under one system or the other in their home countries.
T
There was praise for ORC in welcoming IRC into the event, in the past held as the ORC (only) world championship, and praise too for the high level of technical co-operation that allowed the boats to race against each other successfully under a common scoring system. We had detailed feedback and discussion on many aspects of how this initiative can be taken forward – with the underlying theme that offshore sailors can only benefit from a co-operation that one day allows boats using different rating systems to race together regularly. I am looking forward as I write to visiting the start of the Route du Rhum in St Malo. The French passion for shorthanded off- shore sailing is legendary and the number of visitors to the race village extraordinary (2.2 million in 2014). The headline figures
Master boatbuilder and lifelong multihull enthusiast Charlie Capelle was never not going to do something special when it came to installing the computer system on his lovingly restored 40-year-old tri Acapella for the Route du Rhum
of 123 boats and 11 different nationalities underscore the huge attraction of one of the world’s great ocean racing events… one that still continues to grow with every edition. The Route du Rhum entry obviously includes many of the world’s best-known professional offshore sailors but it also includes, particularly in the Class40, determined Corinthians. This opportunity in offshore sailing for amateurs to race against the professionals on the same racecourse may well be unique. Certainly I struggle to think of another sport where this happens. It is always amazing at the start of the Fastnet to see the range of boats and crews lining up and it is part of the special appeal of the major offshore events.
In talks about reversing some of the decline in numbers taking part in round-the-cans racing across the globe, the dif- ficulty for Corinthian teams to win against better-resourced, professionally crewed or coached boats is central. While a ‘mixed’ entry can in general be a strength, events that attract a diverse fleet racing under a rating rule find difficulty in impos- ing any form of restriction upon paid sailors. Where they do so, and the RORC applies this in the Commodores’ Cup, for example, the Sailor Classification Group 3 definitions are unsatisfac- tory. But it is also difficult to see how those definitions could be effectively improved; the greatest success in this area seems to be enjoyed by classes that rely upon a rather blunter instrument such as a binary owner-driver rule.
Steven Anderson Commodore
q
CHRISTOPHE LAUNAY/DPPI
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
