Unlike the first winner of the Jules Verne Trophy, Bruno Peyron’s fragile Commodore Explorer, which very nearly came to grief off Chile in a full-on ‘tempest’, for Peter Blake’s crew on Enza the most hazardous part of their circumnavigation was in the final miles back to Ushant and the finish when confronted in the last 200nm with a winter storm in the north Atlantic; as they approached the finish of their 74-day Jules Verne trip Blake and Knox-Johnston’s team were dragging everything they could find including anchors, chain, warps and spare halyards to slow their boat down and reduce the chances of the big cat pitchpoling in steep following seas
Dominic, finishing third out of 30 entries. She had less luck in the Course de
l’Europe in 1985, when she was dismasted on the first leg and finished ninth. Later that year she finally took her first big win, in the new Monaco-New York race. Then, in 1986, Mike teamed up with French sailor Olivier Moussy and came second in the TwoStar transatlantic race in its second year of running. Later that year Mike raced the huge cat on his own, claiming fourth place in the Route du Rhum. By then the boat had been renamed TAG Heuer, to reflect its sponsor’s merger with the Swiss watchmaking company. So far so good, but so not sensational.
Formule TAG’s best years were yet to come. After three years’ racing Mike’s sponsors withdrew their support and the boat was bought by Canadian Tom Curry who chartered her out for several years. By the time Robin Knox-Johnston came
to view her in Newport, RI in September 1992, she was looking ‘neglected and forlorn’. Robin had teamed up with Peter Blake to make an attempt on the inaugural Jules Verne trophy and had homed in on Formule TAG as a possible contender. Others with an eye on the trophy also
spotted the virtues of the TAG platform and were working in the same direction (including this magazine’s editor who worked hard in vain to persuade computer giant IBM of the questionable value of relatively obscure sailing sponsorship…). Not surprisingly the formidable pairing
of Peter Blake, who not long before had crushed his rivals in the 1989 Whitbread Race, and oceanic legend Robin Knox- Johnston won this pre-race and they had soon secured TAG for her next adventure.
44 SEAHORSE First, however, they would need to
make some changes. For a start they decided to extend the sterns of the hulls to bring her back to her original designed length of 85ft. The old aluminium mast was replaced with a carbon spar, length- ened from 98ft to 102ft and raked at a dramatic angle to move the centre of effort (and CoG) aft. Ballast tanks capable of holding three tons each were fitted in each hull. Finally, a central pod, or ‘nacelle’, was fitted between the hulls to act as a control centre where Robin and Peter could work and sleep. It quickly became known by the crew as the ‘god pod’. The pair’s sponsor was the New
Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board, which was keen to promote eating their produce in the northern hemisphere, and the boat was duly rechristened Enza New Zealand – Enza standing for ‘eat New Zealand apples’. The changes seemed to have the desired
effect, with Robin later writing: ‘Enza was a far more sparkling craft than TAG ever was and there was no question that the modifications dramatically improved both performance and handling.’ Enza set off from the startline off
Ushant on 31 January 1993, but her first attempt at the record didn’t last long. Less than a month later, as she was entering the Southern Ocean proper, she hit an uniden- tified floating object and started taking in water in her starboard hull. They were forced to pull in at Cape Town and watch the more fragile Commodore Explorer, skippered by Bruno Peyron, complete a famously difficult trip to set the first Jules Verne benchmark of 79d 16h 15m. Despite this setback the first campaign
had given the pair valuable insights into their boat’s performance and how to improve it. After a brief visit to the UK Enza was shipped down to New Zealand where further modifications were made, led by naval architect David Alan- Williams, who had sailed onboard during the original record attempt. Once again the hulls were lengthened,
this time by adding scoops on the stern to increase the boat’s length to 92ft. Just as dramatically, the hulls were given more volume with the addition of an outer skin of Kevlar filled with foam. The extra layer was also intended to help protect the hull against any future collisions with floating objects. Finally the boat was given a new livery: a brightly coloured line of giant apples and pears, which would soon become recognisable the world over. Enza set off on her second Jules Verne
attempt on 16 January 1994, this time racing against Olivier de Kersauson on his trimaran Lyonnaise des Eaux. Both boats flew down the Atlantic, averaging 20kt and both beating Formule TAG’s 24-hour record, with Enza clocking up 520 miles and Lyonnaise 524 miles in 24 hours. But once in the Southern Ocean Enza pulled away fast and by mid-February was 1,400 miles ahead of the French boat. The reality of racing a big modern multi-
hull was apparent in an article Robin posted during the voyage: ‘The vibration is relent- less. If it’s not caused by a sail, then it’s the hulls bouncing along the top of the waves as our catamaran Enza New Zealand hurtles through the Southern Ocean, heading for Cape Horn. Down in the hulls it’s a constant roar, a cross between a tube train and being inside a car in an overenthusiastic car wash.’
HENRI THIBAULT/DPPI
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
