Strong spirit
Nic Compton delves into the fast-growing – and increasingly fast – Spirit of Tradition sector of today’s classic yacht racing circuit
Something strange is happening on the classic yacht circuit. Whereas 10 years ago the top regattas were graced with fleets of old yachts sporting great clouds of cream sails on lofty varnished spars, there are now increasing numbers of modern yachts with pointy white sails worming their way through the fleet. What’s more, they are usually faster, more comfortable and considerably drier than their more ancient counterparts. What’s going on?
After years of being refused entry and then only being tolerated reluctantly, the Spirit of Tradition class is now the fastestgrowing sector of the classic yacht scene, and shows no sign of going away. Hardly a month goes by without some spectacular new project being announced, and the class is more keenly raced than ever. Established designers such as Gerard Dykstra, André Hoek and Sean McMillan have an everincreasing range of designs, and diehard traditionalists such as Fairlie Restorations – once the doyen of authentic classic restorations – have bowed to the demand for ‘new’ classics by producing their own range of Spirit of Tradition yachts.
So what’s the fascination? Why don’t these people just make up their minds and either restore a vintage yacht or, if they’re after style and comfort, buy a Swan? Put another way, what’s the point of sticking a new Ferrari engine in a D-Type Jaguar?
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Forty-nine years young
Andy Rice talks 470 development with London 2012 competitors Hannah Mills and Luke Patience
Seahorse: You and Stuart [Bithell] were leading the pioneers of 470 crews really bouncing hard off the trapeze handle…
Luke Patience: Well, the unlimited pumping rule in the class has dropped over time from 14kt minimum windspeed down to 8kt. And in a 470 the difference between 8kt and 10kt is massive. You can’t even class them in the same bracket of wind strength. By 10kt you are pulling on kicker, you are flat out and you are just starting to ease mainsheet. In 8kt you are absolutely not. You are so far from that.
You are all mainsheet tension. The flag coming up now at 8kt has opened up a huge opportunity to pump like a windsurfer and create power through hard leeches and fanning the leech. I would like to think that Stuart and I were among the pioneers. Even at our first regatta together, the 2009 worlds in Copenhagen [where they won a surprise silver medal], if I felt that the boat was sticking Stu would unclip for me; he would not be flicking his hips like a regular crew would do but he’s unclipping, he’s holding the trapeze loop, literally pulling and pulling as hard as he can in a downforce through the wire and just lighting the boat up.
It gives you options: you can either power the boat up and drop the bow for speed, or it allows me to really haul on the leeches and point up and chop the wind in half. Suddenly we know we can stay in a lane even if it’s looking like an absolute no-go. We can also seriously impact the boat to windward of us to lose their lane, even if we were a few boat lengths apart, because it just disturbs them so much.
SH: And the official name for this technique?
LP: (laughing) You know the answer... shagging.
SH: Shagging, right. Can’t wait to hear that on the BBC TV commentary. And is shagging having an effect on rig design?
LP: For us, yes, and I’m sure for other boats too. Surely people are aware of that. I can’t see how that wouldn’t make a difference. You are doing something radically different in a fickle wind strength. You can’t be having a spaghetti in the air that has got a barnyard door hanging at the back of it. You need depth and power and stability. We are needing rounder, harder leeches to be able to hold that power when the crew is bouncing.
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July 2012
FEATURES
Confidence of crisis...
STEWART HOSFORD believes that, considering the environment, sailing is doing pretty good
49 years young
ANDY RICE talks 470 development with London 2012 Olympians HANNAH MILLS and LUKE PATIENCE
Strong spirit
NIC COMPTON and ERIK WASSEN delve into the inexorable rise of the Spirit of Tradition classics class
Design for manufacture – Not so fast!
MARC VAN PETEGHEM and VINCENT LAURIOT PREVOST feel strongly that the designers and builders are not entirely to blame for the recent spate of raceboat structural failures
Top down
We just needed better torsion cables in order to make top-down furling a broader reality… and now we have them, says ANDY MEIKLEJOHN
Artisan approach
RYAN GODFREY made sure the cameras were all off before he started rebuilding Puma’s 3Di J2 headsail. But BLUE ROBINSON was in there…
No walk in the park
Puma trainer MICHAEL CECCHI on rebuilding his athletes and WOUTER VERBRAAK talks routeing strategy following a tricky VOR leg 6
REGULARS
Commodore’s letter
MIKE GREVILLE
Editorial
ANDREW HURST
Update
TERRY HUTCHINSON reckons deal with the fear early, ALESSANDRA SENSINI is singularly unimpressed and JULIAN BETHWAITE offers praise for rivals at ISAF’s Olympic class trials
World news
Praise for Nacira’s new 6.50, RICCARDO BONADEO diversifies, BOTIN’s next step, JIM YOUNG still shaking the tree, McConaghy’s deep commitment… and the offshore community spirit. DOBBS DAVIS, BLUE ROBINSON, CARLOS PICH, GIULIANO LUZZATTO, IVOR WILKINS, PATRICE CARPENTIER
Paul Cayard
Sailing every single day in San Francisco – fuggeraboudit!
Technical soapbox - In the works
And at Persico Marine they are already tooling up for their second AC72 wing…
IRC column
The trick is in the courses, says JAMES DADD, who’s also underwhelmed by pricey ‘mega-40s’
Design – Organic growth
He’s not stopped since moving back to South Africa and SHAUN CARKEEK now has a new 45-footer coming that looks very quick indeed
Seahorse build table – Good lineage
Another very fast-looking machine, this one a mid-sized canting-keeler from GREG ELLIOTT
RORC news
EDDIE WARDEN OWEN
Seahorse regatta calendar
Sailor of the Month
Two magnificent, classy performances…