News Around the World
Lloyd Thornburg hauled his original Phaedo Gunboat 66 out of the shed for this year’s Voiles de St Barth, filling it with a very strong – friends but not really family – crew including 470 Olympic silver medallist Stuart Bithell, current 49er World Champion, with helm Dylan Fletcher. Phaedo split the lion’s share of the race wins with the slippery French TS42 cat of Christian Guyader, with the Frenchman ending up on top. The most spectacular entry, however, was the flying (often literally) turbo Sea Cart 30 of Shaun Carroll, third overall, regularly duking it out on the water with her much bigger rivals. Outrageous knots for bucks today, those Sea Carts…
Transquadra Race from Martinique had arrived in time at Lorient’. The Spi is the first major regatta of the season for the SNT, whose
calendar also includes other big events like the Mini en Mai (100 entries for a maximum of 80 places!), the Ar-Men offshore race (more than 200 boats), the 6 Metre Europeans with more than 30 boats, plus a new offshore race in July, La Trinité-Cowes, counting for the RORC championship. And in August we see the popular return of the very famous Trophée des Multicoques. Please remember that next year the Spi Ouest-France is
scheduled for 20 April, a month later, of course bringing warmer and sunnier weather… Patrice Carpentier
SPAIN Dancing with wolves The suspension of the Barcelona World Race, announced over Easter, launched an unusual controversy which began in Barcelona then spread rapidly through the rest of the country. While Spain lives through difficult political times, with the lack of a stable government alliance, in Catalonia the situation is even more complicated. The social and political divisions in the region are now enormous, with two sets of irreconcilable positions in play. Between them these instabilities left the BWR with little by way of sponsorship with companies understandably staying clear of the controversy. As with the start of the Volvo Race in Alicante, both regattas offer
important fiscal benefits for sponsoring companies. But this time delays by our unstable government in renewing these favourable fiscal regulations left little time for the organiser FNOB to raise backing. At the same time the situation in Catalonia had worsened. Faced with this situation the FNOB decided to suspend the fourth edition of the two-handed round-the-world race until 2022. The announcement had a devastating effect. Never before has
our national media devoted so much attention to this race, using it as an excuse to attack one or other parties politically. Soon other opportunistic cities declared that they too wanted to organise the BWR, unaware that this is impossible due to the agreement between the Imoca and the FNOB for the 2022 and 2026 editions. Mean- while, race skippers Anna Corbella and Guillermo Altadill announced a proposal to replace the BWR with another round-the-world regatta in Class40, which they had already offered to Barcelona city council… the main trustee of the FNOB. Unfortunately months ago, when there was still some time left,
Corbella and Altadill either did not know what was unfolding or they did not want to work with the FNOB. It would have been interesting as the two regattas could have been organised on a two-year cycle with the Class40 event coinciding in timing with the all-powerful Vendée Globe. In any case this option will not now happen, and it
20 SEAHORSE
seems impossible for the FNOB to switch from the Imoca to the Class40 for a replacement event. The Imoca class is planning to recover the BWR in 2022, in spite
of being close to an agreement with the Volvo Ocean Race. Mark Turner’s initial idea for the next VOR to be disputed in a 60ft mono- type based on the Imoca did not please the class. After Turner’s departure the new VOR managers quickly changed their plans, preferring to strike a deal with the Imoca class itself rather than try to impose something new. A switch to Imoca will also mean a move to fewer race legs, as well as shortening the event overall to cut costs for both the teams and the organisers. In my opinion, the impact this switch will have on the design of
Imoca boats will be interesting. The requirements for a boat for a round-the-world solo race are not the same as for a regatta with stages and crews of five or six sailors. Assuming the BWR comes back in four years, then I’m also intrigued how the Imoca class will solve the puzzle of three big regattas in a cycle of four years (the Vendée Globe will never move!). Plus boats and sailors can hardly withstand three round-the-world races in a row, especially when in the Volvo they squeeze the boats like lemons. But at the FNOB they have confidence in the harmonious co-
existence of the three regattas, and consider that the BWR has an assured future if it maintains its status as a qualifying test for the Vendée Globe. But will the distinctions between the BWR and VOR be sufficient for team sponsors? Will one regatta eat the other? We are going to live through some interesting months with
important decisions and changes of direction, which I hope will also be positive for the BWR in meeting the challenge of continuity. But the race must learn to dance with a ferocious pack of political
wolves. Carlos Pich
NEW ZEALAND America’s Cup fans, who have watched with dismay the bureaucratic muddle over hosting the event in Auckland in 2021, can at last heave a sigh of relief that an agreement has been reached that clears the way for the Defence to proceed. Watching from the side- lines as a triangular tug o’war unfolded between Emirates Team New Zealand, the newly installed government and the Auckland City Council has been an energy and hope-sapping experience. When ETNZ unveiled the Protocol for the 36th America’s Cup it
was made clear that the timeframes for establishing the required infrastructure to host the event in Auckland were tight. The Protocol undertook to formally announce the precise location of the regatta no later than 30 August this year. That date coincided with the latest possible deadline for actual physical construction of the infra - structure to begin if the completion targets were to be met.
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RACHEL FALLON-LANGDON
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