Contributors EDITOR
Andrew Hurst DESIGNER
Stephen Stafford
SUB-EDITOR Sue Platt
EUROPE
Antoine Mermod…for the Imoca president the latest VG was a victory in itself with a maxed-out entry of 40 and just 7 retirements
Patrice Carpentier Carlos Pich Tim Jeffery
Manuel Fluck Andy Rice
Giuliano Luzzatto Jocelyn Blériot Øyvind Bordal Franck Cammas Magnus Wheatley
USA & CARIBBEAN Dobbs Davis
Peter Holmberg Cam Lewis
Chris Museler Carol Cronin
John Bertrand… guided by mentor Bill Monti the US John Bertrand brought dinghy sailing closer to athletics than ever before
JAPAN Yoichi Yabe
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE Ivor Wilkins
Blue Robinson Rob Brown Rob Kothe
Julian Bethwaite
COLUMNISTS Paul Cayard Rod Davis
Rob Weiland Sam Goodchild
AMERICA’S CUP Steve Killing
Megan Thomson who prefers to be described just as a match racer pure and simple and without any extra gender qualification
Andy Claughton Jack Griffin
Terry Hutchinson Dave Hollom
DESIGN & HERITAGE Clare McComb Julian Everitt Nic Compton Dan Houston
TECHNICAL BRIEFINGS Kieren Flatt & Lizzie Ward
ACCOUNTS & CIRCULATION Kirstie Jenkins & Liz Beeson
Yoann Richomme’s debut in the Vendée Globe rather impressively delivered the only close competition for race winner Charlie Dalin
ADVERTISING MANAGER Graeme Beeson
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Ian Williams…remains an enigma – it took 20 years for the best match racer of all time to finally be hired by an America’s Cup team
6 SEAHORSE
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A tough Vendée Globe for Thomas Ruyant, so no wonder he is happy to be reunited with his family at the finish. Ruyant was among the hot favourites this time, but major damage to his mainsail followed by the destruction in a 55kt squall of his J2 made for a painfully slow second half of this year’s race
me to amuse myself running a routeing several weeks before the race itself. I am unreliably informed that we will finish in 2d 16h. I will be interested to see how inaccurate it is! The Rolex Fastnet Race is on course for a record-breaking
fleet with over 400 entries. With more entries expected from the professional classes and what is shaping up to be a highly competitive fleet for the Admiral’s Cup it’s going to be one hell of a party in Cherbourg. Also to mark our centenary, I have challenged Jim Driver to give 100 young people the opportunity to race through our Griffin initiative in 2025, in the RORC series, the Tour Voile or the Nastro Rosa. The Vendée Globe has continued to entertain, long after
Charlie Dalin achieved his masterful victory. Aside from the outstanding trio on the podium, I was also impressed by Sam Goodchild, who sailed a brilliant race in an older-gener- ation boat, Paralympian Damien Seguin, who over- came race-threatening injuries on top of being literally single-handed, and the ever cheerful Violette Dorange, who showed maturity well beyond her 23 years. It is also remarkable how reliable the latest
boats are, given the historic attrition rate in this toughest of all yacht races.
Deb Fish Commodore
q
RORC Commodore T
he 2025 RORC Transatlantic Race got our centenary season off to the perfect start, competitors enjoying VMG-running in glorious trade winds from start to finish. Bryon Ehrhart’s Lucky (ex-Rambler 88) estab- lished a new course record, every boat finished and crews arriving in Grenada were elated after com-
pleting a challenging crossing. Christian Zugel’s VO70 Tschüss 2 took overall victory under IRC and reported completing 47 gybes to stay in the best pressure. Alister Richardson’s Class40 Tquilla came second, showing how competitive a six-year-old Class40 can be under IRC in the right conditions, and James Neville’s Ino Noir completed the podium. It was particularly pleasing to see the Corinthian crew on Pata Negra finishing second in their class after losing a rudder in the 2024 edition. Our crew is one of many eagerly looking forward to the RORC
Caribbean 600, surely the most enjoyable of the classic 600nm races: winter sun, trade winds and a busy course taking in 15 Caribbean islands. After the warmest January on record I found myself wondering how increasing temperatures are affecting the trade winds. The evidence is limited but observations and climate models do suggest weakening trade winds in the Atlantic. The EU’s Copernicus programme now offers seasonal forecasts of surface wind several months ahead, which enabled
MARK LLOYD/ALEA
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