Hard not to be impressed
by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS 5 Aug 2018 23:00 PDT
Even breakfast went blue with all the nautical activity of the week! © John Curnow
Yes, even my breakfast went blue to pay homage to all things nautical this week. For anyone interested, the blue algae deconstructed smoothie was really awesome! The company with good friend and WA sailing icon, Manfred Speicher, was equally impressive.
Alas, the week's eye-popping information began with Ultime Tri, Macif, coming out of the shed after some mods. Both our Managing Editor, Mark Jardine, and I were taken at the way this project has kept on delivering the goods, and not stuck idle sitting on its hands. Built only in 2015, this seventh month refit is all about optimising the already proven package that CDK and Keroman did so well with initially.
Essentially it was about new foils, and this meant the casings in the floats had to be altered. Those foils have a very interesting shape with a genuine kick in them, a little bit like the ones we saw in super high speed cruising cat concept we featured some time back (https://www.sail-world.com/news/200438/Introducing-mxCat88-Volante). There are also new rudders, along with a much lighter sandwich boom. One of the big parts of the target was actually to complete it in time for François Gabart, to get out on the water for sea trials before the Route du Rhum.
Talking right here and now, and Peter Harburg's Black Jack recently secured their biggest win to date. It was for the prestigious Sydney to Gold Coast run, and in a lot of ways really does complete the loop, as far as the master plan was concerned and the decision to buy that particular supermaxi. They had stayed in touch with the leaders, and then were in the right place when the wind died down to less than six knots, which is definitely a sweet spot for them.
Skipper Mark Bradford, from North Sails, commented "Thanks. We are very happy with the outcome. It is wonderful to see four 100-footers out there, and it will be great to have five on hand at Christmas time. Together with the resurgence in the 50-footers it shows that the sport is keeping on, keeping on, and this is great for all concerned."
"We are certainly inspired by the win, but know how much the others will be at us in the lead up to the Hobart. It makes for a terrific five months. Peter is such a delight, and our team is proud of the result."
On the other side of the planet, Victor Kovalenko and his charges, Mat Belcher and Will Ryan did a bit of a Bradbury to come from 14th place to finish third in the 470s at Aarhus. The World Champions for the last two years running, as well as collecting Silver at Rio and Gold at London, are just so good at making the impossible look achievable. Small gains on every beat and run add up, and the next thing you know is that nowhere just became somewhere! I guess the point is that in behind all that dominance it is important to remember the magnitude of the achievements...
Michael Blackburn's Laser squad is also operating well inside their fleet. Burton continues to display great skill, and there is Matt Wearn and Luke Elliott a little further astern, with Finn Alexander and Mitch Kennedy another tad behind them. David Gilmour and Joel Turner lead our 49er squad, with new combo Will Phillips and Iain Jensen amongst it too. Amelia Stabback and Ella Clark are the best placed our 49erFX crews, and it all show just how big this year's team is, along with how well they are doing.
The next item to be impressed by hasn't even happened yet, but going on the way the Gold Coast race went along, and as 'Squark' mentioned earlier, the battle in the 52s is going to be hot at Hammo. Never a class to miss out on names, I see Moth sailor and Volvo legend Rob Greenhalgh is joining Gordon Maguire, Will Oxley and Matt Allen in Fantasy Land on Ichi Ban. All of that is in just one of the fifteen divisions that will be out there. Against a lighter Hooligan with shallower draft (could be handy with all those bricks there) and a shorter stick, but slightly higher rating, who knows? Damn good fun I suspect...
A little bit different now, and Lisa Blair is off to circumnavigate Australia solo in a monohull, non-stop and unassisted, and be the first female to do so. It comes on the back of Wendy Tuck's historic RTW, of which Lisa says, "Amazing effort, just incredible!" Lisa is off to chase the record, in addition to being the first female, and you can still contribute to her campaign, see https://lisablairsailstheworld.com for details. "So yes, open to all donations and sponsorships."
BTW, the monohulls crewed record is 37 days, 1 hour, 23 minutes, and 57 seconds. Ian Thomson did solo in 42 days 5 hours 30 minutes and 2 seconds, which was much faster than David Beard's 68d, 8h, 30m. None of which takes away from the efforts of the multihuller, Bruce Arms - 38d 21h 41m 42s.
The very gifted Brian Gatt from Logix Group has gone over the boat to ensure there are none of the unseen issues that befelled the last campaign. Equally, you could argue that that particular issue indeed prepared Lisa for this one, for she sure knows how shell be in a jam, and how well the boat will do too! "The boat is going into refit over September. I replaced the rigging wire for the Hobart, and it has just been done again. So we have to do antifoul, full check of the electronics after the run around Antarctica, some more rigging, and rudder bearing, as well."
Always evident is her inimitable never say die attitude, and of course, is a bit like getting back on the horse. "I kind of do think that way, but I was always looking at this one. I had to weigh up the pros and cons of both, and this one is more dangerous as it is all coastal, with ships, boats and tinnies (to say nothing of islands and bricks) everywhere, and then there is the cyclone issue and changeability in the Great Australian Bight."
"Storm management will be a key factor in this pursuit, as I have nowhere to run. I know I can handle it, and the boat too, but preparation is critical. Overall though, I am really excited to be going out sailing again. I kind of feel like I have been on land for too long. So it bring it on, and I plan to be back in December with two world records."
At the well-attended Sydney International Boat Show, there was time with Beneteau supremo, Gianguido Girotti. He elucidated very well how much they look to our region for input into their programmes, given the respect they have for us as sailors. We were there for the World Premiere of the new Oceanis 46.1, which follows on in this seventh generation of the line from its larger sister, the 51.1, which was also on display. Offered with your choice of rigs and keels to tone it down or tune it up, they come with a narrow waterline, volume up top philosophy. So the clients get a bigger boat inside, and a performance upgrade outside. Win. Win. It is important to remember this all comes form the biggest brand in the world, and that is just one of the reasons why it is impressive.
Note also that both craft have a 12-month waiting list (July 2019), notwithstanding slots pre-booked by certain distribution channels. "It is a nice problem to have, and where we can do more for our customer, we will certainly try to make one available", said G3 as he is best known by. Given he was the man instrumental in this latest line, he is justifiably proud, and the board at Beneteau have noticed as well, garnering him two further promotions in the last two years alone.
Having done two of the biggest first, the question was do you go up, or do you head down with the changes? The answer is that Oceanis will go down, whereas the Oceanis Yacht, including premium service, presently only available in the 62 format, will also go down to bridge the gap above 50. "We have already designed all the new craft, and so now only have to make and launch them."
And all of that was lovely a segue into the comments I made earlier about Beneteau's appetite for expansion, on the back of the purchases of firstly Seascape and then Delphia. From September first, the former's craft will form a new line of craft under the famous 'First' moniker. "These will extend from 14 feet on up to 27. First stands for Fun, Intuitive, Robust, Simple and Sophisticated, and Technological, have to be integrated into what a First is."
At the impending Cannes Yachting Festival there will no doubt be a lot of things to come out of it all, as the French powerhouse brand makes yet even more headway as the massive kite fills, and the sheet gets some real Larry in it.
Yet the whole strategy is also to do with Delphia, which was securing capacity for the ever-increasing outboard powered craft market and compliments the groups existing Polish plant. There was interest in Bavaria for the very same reason. Now whilst the cone of silence lowered over the whole subject a little while ago, you do wonder if Beneteau is still there as part of the mix. Seems like there is a few weeks wait on that one to see if the appetite is sated in some way.
Also, and coming right back to Oz, it would seem one of the mighty Beneteau Figaro 3's will be in Melbourne around October. Hull #1, which I sailed last October, just had a maiden win in a really major race, and this has raised plenty of eyebrows, for the 50 Figaro crews don't get to sample theirs until January, when their Hull Number is literally drawn out of a barrel.
Now it could be that even though it did not make Olympic selection for Paris, and is unlikely to be a marquee display event at Tokyo, the Southern Figaro Event we published a while ago may have some legs taking shape. Talking of legs, long legs around Port Phillip, and some dashes across the paddock to say King Island and back, where it is mainly 15-25 knots and over 1.5m, is bang on the sweet spot for the righting moment, short-handed flyer.
Right oh - here today there are some gems for you to review. We have information from Aarhus, GC32s, J/24s, Cowes Week, the Five-Ohs, Fast40+s, North Sails and Kiteboarding, RTW in multis, Finns, more on the slick new J/99, Cadets, Contenders, the Pantaenius Newport to Coffs race, the late Tony Bullimore, Festival of Sails, Golden Globe, the great Bruce Taylor, and certainly there is much, much more.
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John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS