News Around the World
When the Formula 40 Class appeared in the late 1980s it was inevitable that as the top multihull skipper at the time Philippe Poupon would get involved with his longterm sponsor Fleury Michon. Once again an Irens design was chosen although this time Jeanneau Techniques Avancées would build a short run of these good-looking cats for different skippers. But after some initial success for the cats the new Formula 40 trimarans quickly asserted themselves, being much faster upwind and no slower downhill. Poupon’s own boat (above) has since been impeccably restored by photographer Jacques Vapillon who sails her regularly out of La Trinité-sur-Mer
After two months of preparation we get to the heart of the matter, I am very happy!’ And happy he stays. Sam finished the Maître Coq, the first race
of the Figaro circuit delayed until the end of June, only 20 seconds behind the winner, Tom Laperche. Then in mid-July Sam wins the Drheam Cup in front of a crowd of Figaro stars. Fifteen days later Sam took the best start at the Solo Guy Cotten
very close to the committee boat. The 31 Figaristes then set off on a 270nm course under a hot sun and in winds of no more than 5kt towards the Glénan archipelago. To cut a long story short, the Solo Guy Cotten was a tricky race won by the young Pierre Quiroga from the Skipper Macif team in front of… another Brit named Alan Roberts. Alan, 30, is in his sixth Figaro season and is currently training in Port La Forêt. Last year he was crowned Vivi Trophy winner as the ‘First International’ (ie non-French!). Along with Sam Goodchild, Jack Boutell (ninth in the Guy Cotten),
the offshore expert Phil Sharp and the two Irishmen Tom Dolan and Kenneth Rumball, Roberts now plans to ‘rendre la vie dure aux Froggies’ during the four stages of this year’s La Solitaire du Figaro. A nice story that we hope has a happy ending! Patrice Carpentier
NEW ZEALAND Regular joggers and dog-walkers on their circuit around Auckland’s Westhaven Marina are accustomed to the buzz of activity as the Elliott 7m keelboat fleet moored outside the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is readied for battle. They often have to weave their way through sailors ferrying long sail bags down to the dock as the high-performance one-designs are rigged up and head out for spirited racing in the club’s much vaunted Youth Training Programme. However, passers-by would have had cause for several double-
takes in recent months as the superstars of New Zealand sailing have commandeered the fleet for intensely competitive private sessions of their own on the Waitemata Harbour. Sailing talent-spotters would have noted the likes of double Olympic medallists, multiple world champions and current America’s
26 SEAHORSE
Cup holders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, women’s 470 double Olympic medallist Jo Aleh, triple 470 world champion Hamish Willcox, siblings Sam and Molly Meech, both Olympic medallists in separate classes, and Alex and Andy Maloney, Olympic medallist and America’s Cup winner respectively. Those with a wider Olympic knowledge base might also have
noticed rowing and cycling medallists Joe Sullivan and Simon von Velthoven as well. The list could go on… but the comment of one star-struck onlooker about summed it up: ‘If somebody dropped a bomb on this little group it would wipe out a substantial part of New Zealand’s sailing talent pool in a couple of seconds.’ Ordinarily mid-winter in New Zealand would find very few of these
people in the country, let alone sailing a one-design class together on the Auckland Harbour. They would normally migrate to the north- ern hemisphere to race in their respective class events to hone their skills for world championship or Olympic Games competitions. In fact, the early August outing coincided with what would have been the closing stages of the Japan Olympics and instead marked a year to go to the postponed event – assuming the Covid-19 pandemic has been brought under control by then. ‘This whole initiative arose out of necessity,’ said Yachting New
Zealand’s High Performance Director Ian Stewart. ‘We are com- pletely starved of any international racing, so we had to think of ways to provide decent top-level competition on a regular basis at home. To have faced 12 months without competitive racing would have been terrible.’ With four of the New Zealand Olympic Sailing squad also part
of the Emirates Team New Zealand crew preparing to defend the America’s Cup, it was a logical step to cast the net wider and combine resources to make up the 40 crew required to race the fleet of 10 Elliott 7s. Members of the Olympic Development Squad have also been brought in to help them gain skills and absorb knowledge and experience from the senior players. The first session in June was approached as an experiment –
but the concept was quickly embraced by all the participants as providing great value. For the Olympic sailors, it takes them out of
JACQUES VAPILLON/DPPI
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