Editorial Andrew Hurst Last chance saloon?
The Volvo 70 class was amazing; the most exciting monohull ocean racer ever has yet to be surpassed in terms of performance per foot. The VO70 was (bravely) introduced by then race CEO Glenn Bourke at a critical time for the Volvo Ocean Race, which after transitioning from an IOR fleet to IOR Maxis and Whitbread/Volvo 60s
was in urgent need of a reset as it started to lose pinnacle status. Ultimately the VO70 was too spectacular –with that outrageous
speed came enormous cost, matched by unreliability. But as intended, the VO70s maintained technical interest in the race and drew the very best sailors. Ironically it was the ability of a handful of these best sailors to attract big budgets – Groupama’s winning debut in 2011-12 cost 30million euros – that spelled the end. The VO65 used currently was another courageous initiative, this
time by the last CEO, Knut Frostad, which saved from extinction one of the four pillars of international sailing: the Olympics, the America’s Cup, the Volvo and the Vendée Globe. The VO65s are fast, robust and they really are equal in performance potential. The VO65s allowed the race to hang on. The first edition of the
VO65 attracted back previous race skippers for whom the cost of campaigning a competitive VO70 was now beyond reach. The winning skipper of the first VO65 edition, Ian Walker, after two bruising VO70 campaigns made clear he would only return for a third if the race went one-design. (It did, he did and he won.) The second edition has been more of a struggle – the race is
still hugely expensive, less than an America’s Cup but three times the cost of winning the Vendée Globe. The Volvo gives sponsors tremendous B2B exposure, as intended, the Vendée attracts two million spectators. Both events rely on sponsorship, while the America’s Cup has been a private event ever since 1851, providing a good playing field for the world’s wealthiest people – sailing is lucky to have it. A few bob come in here and there from associated commercial entities (I use the term a few bob in the loosest sense) but without private cash few Cup teams would get off the ground. At each of the two previous Volvo resets the use of the Imoca
60 was debated. Maybe they should, maybe they shouldn’t, probably they should have. To Volvo the Imoca was seen as lacking an identity that could be exclusive to their race. Until recently the Imoca class has also been reluctant to risk a cost explosion. Today the Imoca class is confident. They weathered the economic
dip and while budgets are high (5-6million euros to win the Vendée) they are less than half a Volvo programme in rented one designs. The Imoca is now undisputed king of offshore monohulls. The most recent, now aborted, Volvo reset proposed a one-design
‘sort of Imoca’, convertible for use in VOR and Imoca competition. Well-intentioned, it was never going to work. For a full VOR crew on speed the boats would need to be built too strong to be competitive
in Imoca. There were other more subtle technical flaws but it was a sensible initiative. A more confident Imoca is now in favour of allowing the use of
their boats, which could in turn enable the VOR to recover pinnacle status. There would also be access to Imocas of different eras and cost; for a VOR I’d expect only relatively recent boats to be allowed to race, in order to keep the fleet tight, but you could get a foot in the door with an old Imoca and build from there. Add full crews and speeds will be breathtaking. The best
24-hour runs for a solo Imoca and a crewed VO65 are near-identical at about 540nm (for a VO70 that number is 596nm…). Imagine five or six crew pressing a foiling Imoca at 100 per cent for 100 per cent of the time. There were 29 entries in the 1981 Whitbread Race and 23 in
1989. The Vendée Globe flirts with its limit of 30 boats. For the VOR an entry limit may also become necessary to preserve the elite nature of the event. But we’re not there yet; though we could and should be by the time you read this. Good times ahead. I hope.
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Those who still raise a sceptical eyebrow when they hear about owners of the new breed of large cats ‘pushing their boat hard’ should be mindful that this is not a one-off for a photographer… it’s simply Lloyd Thornburg’s much-travelled Gunboat 66 Phaedo Maxi-shaming during this year’s well-supported St Barths Bucket
Recycling? As for all those immaculately built, prepared and equalised carbon fibre VO65s, if not a more affordable Class B for the race itself then surely some regional regattas would be in order to fill in the gaps and give potential skippers the perfect sponsorship tool? Because we care.
getting a bit anxious – Capt Michael ‘Tubby’ Crawford onboard his groaning submarine HMS Unseen, on the seabed off Toulon in 1942 and being depth-charged from above while more than 150ft below the crush depth for his vessel
FAIR PLAY We were naturally
criminal – Jan Evensson, Stockholm chief of police
WHAT SWEDISH CRIME WAVE? It’s hard to be a
Grenade throwing [by criminals] is dangerous because those who pull out the pin expose themselves
to a huge risk – Fellow police chief Linda Staaf
LOWER THE VOTING AGE IN ENGLAND? Twenty per cent of British teenagers believe that fish fingers are fingers taken
from a fish – UK Food Standards survey
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE Our new W09 is easier to drive [than last year’s car] – even
Bottas handles it well – Niki Lauda
and in a straight line – Team manager Eric Boullier after the latest McLaren fails to set the world alight
DON’T OVER-PROMISE It seems we just need to make the car faster around the corners
went out – Ex-fighter turned airline pilot Capt Tammie Jo Shults calmly updates Air Traffic Control before safely making an emergency landing
BACK TO TUBBY CRAWFORD We are single engine. Descending. There is a hole and someone
will need to slow down – Shults Speed is at your
discretion… – [breathless] Air Traffic Control
fighter pilot – ‘Anonymous’ member of Shults’s former fighter squadron
She was some badass
disorienting – Yulia Skripal wakes up weeks after being poisoned with a Russian nerve agent
… AND AGAIN I am sure you appreciate that this episode is somewhat
Seahorse magazine and our associate raceboatsonly brokerage site are both at:
seahorsemagazine.com The editor is contactable by email at:
andrew@seahorse.co.uk
SEAHORSE 7
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We have got part of the aircraft missing and
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