Rolex Sydney Hobart - The Peyron Perspective -Old People On New Boats

by Crosbie Lorimer on 25 Dec 2014 In the media scrum for interviews with the skippers and owners of the five super maxis that followed a short press conference at the CYCA on Christmas Eve, anyone from outside the yachting scene might not have noticed one of the world’s finest sailors and circumnavigators standing quietly to one side chatting with Iain Murray and Steve Jarvin.

Spotting the familiar face of French sailor (and national hero in that country) Loïck Peyron, Crosbie Lorimer took the opportunity to find out what had brought him to Sydney and to see what he made of the big race.

And by way of an introduction for those less familiar with the 54 year old Peyron’s impressive sailing CV, which dates back to the 1990s and before, the following are some of his most recent achievements:
• In 2010, Peyron sailed in the 33rd America's Cup as part of the Alinghi Team
• In early 2012 he won the Jules Verne Trophy (fully crewed round the world race), breaking fellow Frenchman Franck Cammas’ previous record by 2 days.
• In 2012 he was asked to join Artemis Racing, Challenger of Record for the 34th America's Cup, as one of the helmsmen
• In November 2014, he won the Route du Rhum single-handed transatlantic race on the 130 foot (40m) maxi trimaran Banque Populaire VII, setting a new race record.
• Peyron has recently gone back to the basics of sailing, rebuilding the famous 1970s trimaran ‘Happy’ and using only traditional navigation methods; he had originally planned to race 'Happy' in the Rhoute du Rhum.

CL: Welcome to Sydney Loïck, what’s brought you here? Sailing or a holiday?
LP: I’m here on holiday with my four kids and we’re planning a little road trip from Sydney to Melbourne and because I’m back in my job in a few weeks (AC helmsman for the Artemis Racing Team), I’m going to do the Moth Worlds at Sorrento.

CL: Will you be watching the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race?

LP: Yes, I was asking what would be the best place to take a little look at the start from the shore. I’ve been following this race for years now.

CL: Given the five super maxis in this race represent a design evolution of 10 years, what are your thoughts about how the different boats are going to fare?

LP: As far as I’ve heard the weather is not playing for Comanche; there is a lot of beating at the beginning if I’m not wrong. For sure the differences between the boats are huge, you have a narrow boat and a wide boat (Wild Oats XI and Comanche respectively). The wide one is very powerful; everything is made for speed.

Comanche is such a nice boat, but she’s very new and in this game, this is a very mechanical game, you need old people in new boats, but with quite a lot of time to manage them.

For sure the opposite is fine too, young people in new boats, but when the machine is new you need quite a lot of time to be sure that you are exploiting 100% of the potential power.

(Quick cut to Comanche’s skipper Ken Read when this point was put to him a few minutes later).

KR: Yes indeed, it’s a huge challenge. You look at the people on board Comanche and it’s probably far more of a veteran crew than if we’d had this boat for 8-10 years or even 8-10 months.

You can’t take a chance, you have to put people on board that have seen the movie before and know how to create a happy ending.

(Back to Loïck Peyron)

CL: How do you think the Comanche team will fare without hydraulics, given the energy that needs to be expended on the pumps (human powered pedestal winches that hoist and trim sails on Comanche)?

LP: I like the spirit of human power, that’s the way we have been since the beginning I should say. My last race was only human powered, even though I’m not big (referring to the massive trimaran, some 30 foot longer than any of the super maxis, on which he recently won the solo Rhoute du Rhum race across the Atlantic, managing all the sails with only his own power, including with a bike fixed in the cockpit, linked to the winches).

It’s very interesting to use human power; human power means also brains, not only muscles and that’s better than having to push on buttons to make the power.

CL So, the Moth Worlds and then back to the America’s Cup next, yes?

LP: Yes, back to Artemis Racing to the Artemis Racing Team just after the Moth Worlds; in fact I’m going to join the Artemis Team, all the sailors who are doing the Moth sailing, especially Nathan for sure (Nathan Outteridge), the World Champion, and ‘Goobs’ (Australian Iain Jensen also on the Artemis Racing Team) and other guys like that and then back to San Francisco in three week’s time to work on the next Cup.

CL: Thanks Loïck and Merry Christmas to you.