Left: Team New Zealand close out the deal in Cagliari to win the 2010 Audi MedCup on their Botín-designed TP52. With offshore racing stronger in many regions it’s time to look again at giving these stunning boats more room to let rip. During the 1980s and 90s the offshore races in the Admiral’s Cup were normally too close to be boring. This is the 1985 Fastnet start (opposite); two years later the 615nm contest would be won by just five seconds
disappeared does not help of course. Events like the Southern Cross, Kenwood Cup, Sardinia Cup and the Admiral’s Cup, but again was the events disappearing the chicken or the egg? Possibly and for sure partially true, it was the other common denominator: these were all team events. So was that the main stumbling block?
events require. They often see the Super Series as too narrow, too specific an environment.
I have to appreciate that I happen to work in this specific Super
Series environment and so must somehow contain my desire to send them off on an epic voyage every now and then. The focus certainly has changed over the past 10 years, then again the writing was on the wall ever since the class moved from California to find its home in the Med.
At first sight offshore racing is in good shape, classic offshore races like the Fastnet flourish. But if we look at a wider picture? I sense a risk in that we seem to be drifting towards specialist boats for day racing if not W/L racing and different specialist boats for offshore racing. Also, many owners building new boats for fully crewed competition seem to shy away from offshore races in favour of day-racing events.
It is rare nowadays to build new below maxi size primarily for fully crewed offshore racing. Chicken or egg but with it new boats will shy away from offshore optimisation, some will even go as far as to design below what is structurally required for the big offshore races (Melges40) or apply design concepts not fit to go offshore full stop (RC44).
The fact that most grand prix-level ‘mixed discipline events’ have
After the demise of these events we have seen that new trends in yacht design like canting keels and foils of all sorts have, so far, been predominantly introduced and tested in the offshore environ- ment. For obvious reasons but this will further encourage the split between the two types of racing. Is this good or bad? Probably best ask whether it is avoidable? I guess not, so then we have to make the best of it.
To find a new balance, one option could be that slowly the day- racers adapt to canting keels and/or foils as well. Personally I feel we should aim to keep boats in classes that still see healthy interest in new builds, like the Fast40 and the TP52. These boats are adaptable enough to take part in both types of racing, which allows a reasonable mix of events if that is what the owners want. This dual-approach does not just ensure a healthy secondhand market, it also allows the return of a modern version of the great mixed discipline events we lost. For this to happen we need boats that can race in the day or in the night.
The reintroduction of such events would stimulate the process of finding creative solutions for multifunctional boats that are great fun in both disciplines. And those events will once more possibly be seen as a true test of all-round skill and stamina, equal to any world championship in our sport if not slightly above world championship status. Why not?
SEAHORSE 25
SANDER VAN DER BORCH
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