Everything that skipper Armel Le Cléac’h has said about the capsize of Banque Populaire IX is framed with an element of surprise. All the team have said is that there was a sudden squall and the boat capsized, seemingly in the conventional way with little or no element of pitchpole or violent deceleration. Did the foils play a part, perhaps hindering the sideslip that might have saved her? There was always going to be a huge amount to learn about such complex and experimental boats, but the journey will be amazing
the VOR…’ Antoine is waiting for a decision by the VOR managers which should be announced quite soon. Of course that choice recalls Mark Turner’s project when he was
at the head of the VOR. But that was more ‘we will design a new one-design that can be modified for the Imoca races’, says Antoine. ‘However, it is now more likely that the VOR will use the Imoca rule and work together on modifications so that boats made for solo or two-handed ocean racing can race around the world with a crew of five (half the crew of the VO65).’ Apart from the major decisions, the meeting saw the election of
two new board members: Swiss sailor Alan Roura and German Boris Herrmann. Of the eight members of the Imoca board, four now come from outside France which reflects the desire to internationalise the class. Herrmann said: ‘This meeting was a huge success. For once all of the proposals concerning rule changes were accepted. ‘Establishing the link with the Volvo is excellent news. If the two
most prestigious offshore races [Vendée Globe and Volvo] are raced on Imocas it will be a major help in increasing the popularity of the class internationally and making new projects much more attractive to sponsors.’ The skipper of SMA Paul Meilhat shares this enthusiasm: ‘I am
really pleased, the Volvo is a race I have been dreaming of for many years. Firstly, the race itself, the VOR is the toughest crew competition and enjoys a more international line-up. And for someone like me, running a project, it is a big bonus to offer the VOR as well because it will be of interest to global as well as European brands. And for those who do not have a boat a crewed event allows them to use their know-how to get aboard someone else’s boat. It’s all positive.’
A nice 40th birthday The wind was very helpful at the 40th edition of the Spi Ouest-France organised by the SNT in La Trinité-sur-Mer: from 10 to 30kt and quite steady in direction, day after day, with a record number of races completed. Only the sun was a bit absent (home boy… it rained non-stop for three days – ed) for the 374 entries; the Spi is the biggest racing rendezvous in France.
Christophe Gaumont, race director, was pleased with this edition:
‘I counted that we did 174 races over all the classes and I calculated that 3,520 boats made a start, a bit fewer to cross the finishing line… As usual the biggest fleet was the good old J/80 with 73 entries. On the sporting side it was also a success; especially for the one-designs which got in 12 or even 13 races. It means that to arrive first needed a beautiful consistency with few mistakes.’ In the crewed and two-handed IRC fleets and the multis we
enjoyed longer coastal races of up to 60 miles. In the two-handed IRC the competition was tough between the good-looking and very competitive, especially upwind in the fresh breeze, Jean-François Hamon’s Solaris 37 Festaand Jean-François Moriceau’s JPK 10.10 Mary. At the start of the final race, to win overall, Mary, with four good results, needed to control her rival (who had a poor score in one race) and keep her in her wake as long as possible. That’s what happened but not for long enough because Festa was much faster upwind, getting the fourth place she needed to win. In the IRC-crewed fleet Paprec Recyclage, the only TP52 racing,
was always well in front in IRC 1. More interesting was the battle between the existing fleet and the newcomer, the JPK 11.80 Courrier Recommandé of Géry Trentesaux. With the TP52 out of reach, Géry, who finished second overall, found he was mainly fighting the nicely optimised Grand Soleil 43 Codiam– which suffered an MOB incident (the guy was rapidly brought back onboard) and with it a retirement on the long race which cannot be discarded. The Ker 39 Tiger 3 was also expected to do well but she was rather curiously dismasted on the way out to the course on day two. Actually the Spi was disrupted by two dismastings and no fewer
than seven men overboard altogether (two from Codiam!). Fortunately in the intense Diam 24 fleet of 33 boats there was
only one collision and only one capsize this year – which is not many in the windy conditions for this fleet. Antoine Croyère, president of the Société Nautique de La Trinité
(SNT), was not sailing his own A35 Hey Joe but stayed ashore to look after the event. He said that ‘the fleet this year could have passed 400 boats if the ship bringing back the boats from the
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AURORA/ALAMY
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