Yachting World Aug-2018

The 27m spirit of tradition yacht Savannah reaches past islands off the coast of Sardinia during the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in June. The courses made a spectacular sight from the air as the fleet rounded some of the many rocky outcrops – though this year two yachts miscued and hit. Savannah went on to win her class in the regatta with a hat trick of wins. “It’s a wonderful regatta and the best location in the world,” enthused her owner, Hugh Morrison.…

This 8m foiling yacht has been developed in secret over the last two years at Weiss Yachts in Switzerland. The design and build began before the latest America’s Cup foiling monohull plans were unveiled by Emirates Team New Zealand. Skippered by its designer Eric Monnin at the Bol d’Or Mirabaud in June, this super lightweight trapeze boat weighing only 850kg has a relatively modest sail area to make it easy to handle by four crew. The two retractable side foils, which stick out like bent cranefly legs, enabled her to hit 25 knots after initial trials. Foil design is by Jean-Claude Monnin, Eric’s brother, who happens to be one of the Emirates Team New Zealand design team……

Matured through solo racing Won by six seconds Victory in the 2018 edition of the 1,000 mile Normandy Channel Race came down to just six seconds when Phil Sharp and Julien Pulvé on Imerys got away from their closest rivals on the final gybe. The original 27 competitors gradually fell out of contention, leaving a three-way final that went right to the wire. The victory sees Sharp, from Jersey, become a double consecutive champion of the event despite sailing an older generation boat. Groupama base gutted by fire A fire has badly damaged the Groupama Team France base in Lorient. The facility, which included dock front access, vast storage and maintenance spaces, as well as meeting rooms, and a gym, has been home to many iconic campaigns including Jules Verne…

AN ECLECTIC SELECTION OF YACHTS and their single-handed skippers gathered in Falmouth ahead of a mass race to les Sables d’Olonne for the start of the solo Golden Globe round the world race in July. The Suhaili Falmouth 50 Parade of sail marked the 50th anniversary of the day Robin Knox-Johnston set sail from the Cornish town on his 32ft ketch Suhaili to begin the original Sunday times Golden Globe Race. Knox-Johnston and Suhaili were joined on the water by historic vessels including Sir Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV and Sir Alec Rose’s Lively Lady as well as the 2018 Golden Globe Race skippers. A 200-yacht armada tacked between Falmouth and St Mawes before Knox-Johnston set up a start line between Suhaili and Gipsy Moth IV. Then a cannon was…

A historic reunion of two legendary yachts was engineered at Les Sables d’Olonne prior to the start of the Golden Globe Race. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Suhaili came together with old rival, the late Bernard Moitessier’s Joshua, to mark both ends of the race starting line. Knox-Johnston and Moitessier were strangers when the race was under way. “We never met because we started from different ports six weeks apart,” says Sir Robin. Nor could they communicate during the race, as Moitessier refused to take a radio, saying it would taint his voyage. Moitessier rounded Cape Horn 19 days behind Suhaili and, had he continued Bernard would undoubtedly have set a faster time around the world, but is unlikely to have beaten Sir Robin back to the UK. “We finally met many…

What: A non-stop 30,000-mile solo race around the world, starting and finishing in Les Sables d’Olonne. Who: 18 skippers, ranging from 28-year-old Briton Suzy Goodall, taking part in her first round the world race, to 73-year-old Jean-Luc van den Heede, who has completed five circumnavigations. The race has attracted yachtsmen such as Philippe Péché, a pillar of the Breton ocean racing community who has twice won the Jules Verne Trophy with Bruno Peyron and raced alongside skippers such as Tabarly, Desjoyeaux, and MacArthur. But it has also drawn entrants like Abhilash Tomy, who became the first Indian sailor to circumnavigate the planet just five years ago. The boats: must be production boats of 32-36ft LOA, designed before 1988, and must have a full-length keel with rudder attached to their trailing…