He gave them their big chance… Go through the crew lists of Les Williams’ (right) ocean racing campaigns and you will quickly realise he was exceptionally good at spotting and encouraging promising young offshore talent. He is seen here in Portsmouth with a young Peter Blake preparing Burton Cutter for the first Whitbread Race in 1973. After clever tactics delivered a leg 1 win the still barely complete yacht was not ready for the Southern Ocean; she retired to Port Elizabeth for major works before rejoining the race for the last leg, finishing an impressive second
America’s Cup. Two years of preparation for two months of racing.
It is without question the most intense time knowing how much goes into the preparation for such a short regatta. Even as I write it is hard not to think it is all a bit flawed! We have a class rule but are still waiting for the venue and hopefully by the time this is read we will have an announcement of a place that shares a rich sailing history. Hopefully! In closing and as I re-read, I cannot help but think how lucky we
foiled off to the leeward gate with a lead of over 2km. But nearing the top mark in leg 3 the tables turned and Luna Rossa ran out of pressure and splashed down. They then sailed back and forth across the course with zero VMG, trying to get back up on their foils. They needed 11 minutes, enough time for ETNZ to catch up and build a huge lead of their own. The Race Committee shortened the race by one leg, making an
upwind finish. ETNZ finished with a lead of almost 2km. Foiling is faster than floating. Watching a race with one boat floating and the other foiling may not be like watching paint dry but it’s not the way to build an audience. One thing the new class rule does not improve is the cost and
complexity of competing in the AC75. It will be a positive surprise if we see any more teams enter. The four challengers we have are all rich in talent and well-funded. This America’s Cup cycle will continue to be a technology tour-de-force.
www.cupexperience.com
THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT – Terry Hutchinson Preparation. This takes a lot of different forms in our sport. The past four days were spent sea trialling the Bella Mente Maxi and getting the winter modifications to a spot that we knew things were going to work. It is amazing with any complicated boat the amount of time it takes to get reliable. We have not sailed Bella Mente since September and without question you can see the gremlins that live (thrive!) inside the boat. No usage, no time, and less reliable. The lesson for all of us is that to get our programmes reliable day in day out you must keep sailing. I like the sound of that! Bella Mente is getting ready for a good racing season starting
out at Les Voiles de St Barth in April and ending at the Maxi World Championship in September. In between she will spend June and July in Newport racing in the New York Yacht Club regattas. The transition between ORC and IRC events is part of the devel-
opment and requires a thoughtful approach and complete under- standing of both rules. Under the watchful eye of boat captain Pete Henderson and project manager Rob Ouellette the process is as streamlined as it can be. But like the sea trial it is about learning each rule and developing reliability within the decisions we make. TP52 preparation. Prepping the Quantum Racing takes on a
similar look to Bella Mente. Except we are not fighting a (two) measurement rule but a strict class rule, and a fleet that requires that to be successful you must win the game of inches. Considering that the 2021 season was decided by 1pt we know
for certain every stone needs to be turned. A lot of the fleet has designed new fins for the 2022 season. Quantum Racing chose a pathway with Artemis Technologies. Working through the solution with a different look and perspective, consulting a sailor with the pedigree of Iain Percy was a fun process. The Valencia-based training session in April will be the first proving
ground for the fleet. Testing fins, sails, teams, all getting warmed up for the first event in Baiona, Spain. You know that it is going to be great racing and a win will be hard fought, the best kind.
are as a sailing community. To share the water in the manner that we do and truly enjoy our sport and competition. The atrocity that is going on in Ukraine is yet another reminder that we need to con- tinue to look after each other – that is our bigger responsibility. Standing by at 39,000ft, Southwest Airlines 912
GIANTS OF AN ERA – Barry Pickthall So farewell to two very different British circumnavigators, the buccaneering Whitbread Race veteran Les Williams and Corinthian sailor Les Powles, who successfully completed three solo round- the-world voyages during the 1970s and ’80s. In his younger days Les Williams, who had the looks and charms
of a Hollywood lothario, especially when dressed in his Navy uniform, was one of the central figures charged with forming the UK Joint Services Sailing Centre (JSSC) at Haslar, Gosport, creating the now familiar training programmes to bring Army, Air Force and Navy per- sonnel together on a Forces-owned fleet of ocean-racing yachts. Williams first came to public notice in 1968 with his fourth-placed
monohull finish during the third running of the Observer Single- handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR) at a time when multihulls had begun to dominate trans-ocean racing. Sir Chay Blyth recalls, ‘As a young lieutenant in the Navy Les was
one of the prime movers in starting the Joint Services Sailing Centre in Gosport. Les finished a very creditable fourth in the 1968 Single Handed Transatlantic Race sailing the Gallant 54 yacht Spirit of Cutty Sark. He also competed in the first Whitbread Round the World Race, skippering the 80ft Maxi Burton Cutter. ‘A young Peter Blake was his number 2 onboard. The big moment
for Les was opening up a new route after the Equator. Instead of going down the side of South America he showed it was possible to sail close-hauled through the Southeast Trade Winds and that won him the first leg of the race.’ Burton Cutter was a pioneering semi-light displacement Maxi
designed by John Sharp and built by a company in Poole, Dorset that specialised in producing aluminium pressure tanks… It was not a successful partnership as fellow crewman, yacht designer David Alan-Williams recalls. ‘She was built in a huge rush and leaked from day 1. She was very fast, but during a southwesterly bash to windward before the race the boat slammed so heavily that jets of water started springing up from welded seams.’ That was the least of their problems. During those panicked days
before the start of the 1973 Whitbread Burton Cutter failed her rating checks. A considerable amount of extra weight was needed in the stern to get her to her marks, which had her designer and crew scratching their heads… until owner Alan Smith brought his county-set mind to the problem. Smith called in his gunsmith who simply continued pouring lead
shot down into the skeg until she was right. The carpenters left the boat only moments before Burton Cutter left the dock with the interior at best half-finished, leaving the crew to cut and fit the wood to make their bunks as they sailed out of the Solent and down the Atlantic. A stack of cardboard-packed beer cans formed the companionway
steps. And a week went by before the crew realised that only one of six toilets onboard had been connected to their skin fittings. During that first leg Alan-Williams recalls that crew watches were
SEAHORSE 15
JONATHAN EASTLAND/ALAMY
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