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reasons why they are doing the race, the strength of the story. The tone of this race is going to be fantastic. ‘For instance, French entrant Dominique Dubois, co-owner of


the Multiplast Boatyard in Vannes, who previously owned a Swan 65 but sold it to buy a lighter 57-footer to compete in last year’s Route du Rhum. He is buying a Swan 651 and is planning to race in style, having fun with family and friends. He will have a chef onboard with wine cellar, fridges and freezers – they will be having sit-down meals and Sunday roasts, just as it was in 1973. ‘Early on we were approached by Maxi and Whitbread 60 owners


seeking to enter, which we politely declined. But on reflection we have added another fleet to celebrate the original Whitbread story and its evolution from enlightened amateurs to pro sailors. ‘We are already negotiating with host ports, with one keen to


sign up for three editions of the race, and with serious investment. It’s a race that can meet all their tourism and commercial objectives, in part because we are going back to the original races where there were big fleets. We will have race villages with 25-30 boats of all types and sizes, with big crews, with an exciting atmosphere and lots of spectacle.’ The announcement about the Classic challenge received an


encouraging response. Whitbread and Volvo race winner Grant Dalton said, ‘Those early Whitbread days really were full of passion and completely raw experiences. The stories and characters became legend… and we had a lot of fun! This is going to excite a lot of people.’ ‘Last night,’ adds McIntyre, ‘just hours after our news broke,


one of the big names from the early Whitbreads emailed me to say he and his Maxi will be coming – which he is going to completely refit for the event. I wish I could tell you his name but I can’t yet. ‘Obviously, we are talking to a number of UK ports, like the


original 1973 starting point of Portsmouth. But the race could start elsewhere in Europe, with a prologue from the UK, as we did with the Golden Globe from Plymouth to Les Sables d’Olonne. The Golden Globe boats arrived in the Southern Ocean much earlier than we expected and that made it very tough. With the OGR we will start them later to give them a kinder weather window. ‘Unlike the Retro class, Classic entries will be allowed sponsor


branding, as well as access to modern electronics including GPS, smartphones, satellite communications (to media only), satellite video feeds, drones, weather forecasts and so on, but not to routeing programs. For the Retro class we have also decided to ease up a bit on electronics… they can now access HF weather fax with thermal paper printout! And as we did in the Golden Globe, we will warn all boats of forecast winds over 35kt… And because we can, we are banning black wet weather gear. ‘I was talking to Johan Salen of the Ocean Race, emphasising


that we’re not running retro events because we hate foiling and high-tech equipment. On the contrary, we love all that stuff. It’s just that we are revitalising a different part of the sport and giving amateur sailors the opportunity to have wonderful adventures. I hope we can bring some fun back into round-the-world racing…’ Rob Kothe


q


Magnifique: the new F50 wing for 2020 gets the thumbs-up from the SailGP engineering team after initial sea trials. The F50 wing is now all fly-by-wire, allowing the complex camber and twist control rigging in the wing to be replaced with more reliable rams which control camber from the ends of the flaps. A new Danish team joins the circuit in 2020 while Ben Ainslie will now skipper the UK entry


20 SEAHORSE SNAPSHOTS Brought to you in association with


l New kid…Paul Bieker’s first Moth design joined the Exocets and Mach2s just in time for the worlds in Fremantle l And…it was definitely and immediately not slow l Why…would it be? l Less light…the AC75 foils weigh in at 1.4 tonnes l That’s… each, by the way l Imoca…foil systems are similarly weighty l You need… to pack in a lot of carbon to justify €500,000+ per set l Oops…better get moving out there, Team GBR has begun its development programme for the 2024 Olympic offshore discipline l Yeah…but what has Team GBR ever won? (yawn) l Surf’s up…a 25m wave was recorded only 280nm off California in early December l Child’s play… l Who’d…a thunk it? l Seems our Rusky…friends have been naughty l No Russian… sailors at Tokyo 2020 following a blanket ban for doping irregularities l At least… not under the Soviet flag… l Surely…doping is an irregularity? (ed) l Anyway…fortunately the Dragon fleet, dominated by Russian crews in recent years, is unaffected l Rather meanly…as they are not ranked a ‘major sporting category’ l Plus…the Dragon fleet takes its relaxation in the evenings... l Amazing…what Star enthusiast and sailing visionary (sic) Michel Niklas has achieved with the creation of the Star Sailors League l Next trick… 48 nations are committed to racing his next-step SSL Gold Cup in Geneva in 2021 l A single…‘sailing world champion’ l And it took… a single man to bring it to reality l OK…with lots and lots of support from some very talented people l But without…one of them it would not be happening l Thanks…Michel l Incredibly…it seems l The USA…is struggling to even qualify as a nation for the 2020 Olympic regatta l How good…was the crew led by Loïck Peyron and Pom Brian Thompson when they took the 140ft tri Banque Pop to a Jules Verne record? l Well…backed by ‘the might of Bertarelli’ in December Yann Guichard’s crew on the renamed Spindrift had to abandon their 25th (at least it feels like it…) attempt to set a new mark l And…Yann’s crew are no slouches l But t’was Peyron…that done it (again) l Smashing it…members of the Dongfeng Volvo-winning team were spread liberally across the podiums in both the Transat Jacques Vabre and Brest Atlantiques l Did…Volvo rivals ever realise what they were up against? l Remember… how the non-Frenchies laughed when it was suggested that Franck Cammas’s first-time Volvo entry Groupama could trouble the scorers l Conceit…never attractive l Jeez…though their final TJV result (4th... dreadful) on the brand new Manuard Class40 Banque du Léman was compromised by gear issues, Valentin Gautier and Simon Koster took pleasure in reporting back to the designer as they overtook a bunch of their fastest rivals… l At one point... sailing five (that’s five) knots faster l Now that’s…depreciation, folks l Good times…good to see some Class40 and Imoca helms buckling up (or rather down), using car seatbelts to keep them in contact with the deck on their bucking steeds l Very popular…with German Ton Cup sailors back in the day l The ‘benefits’…of those super-light ends l Fair winds…this month to Olympic Finn sailor Patrick Pym l Also…to a true gentleman and passionate Etchells sailor Bill Steel l Now inform yourself at… eurosailnews.com l And spend yourself silly…at raceboatsonly.com l And last…but definitely not least... l Longtime…reader Mike Evans has a large back-catalogue of Seahorse editions that he would like to go to a(nother) good home l And no…you terrible people, he is not planning to charge you


PAUL BIEKER


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