The biannual Transpac too short for you, then why not try the Transpac Tahiti which is more than half as long again. Of course you can always do both, like ocean racing veteran John Jordane…

Few of us have not dreamed about crossing clear blue seas and azure skies to arrive in an archipelago of sandy tropical islands and quiet lagoons framed by forests of palm trees. For three centuries this lure of the South Pacific has captured the imaginations of many generations of westerners who have come to regard this as the very definition of paradise.

It was in 1925 the Transpacific Yacht Club first harnessed this allure to organise a race a bit longer than their biennial 2,225-mile race to Hawaii: a 3700-mile race to Tahiti from San Francisco. With a start of only four entries, this bold adventure race nonetheless marked the start of what has been an enduring tradition among oceanic sailors to challenge themselves in long races to paradise.

Even though the start has since moved to Los Angeles and cut down the number of days getting off the cold coast and into the warm trade winds, the race is still run by TPYC at irregular intervals until the demand builds up to hold another. Regardless, the timing and logistics for this race are demanding, and over its entire history only 76 yachts have ever entered this race.

Which begs the question: why do it?
The veteran Pacific navigator John Jourdane, who has amassed an outstanding 18 Transpacs, four Pacific Cups, three Vic-Maui and three Tahiti races, has some thoughts:

‘The Hawaii Transpac is a sailor’s delight. Other than a possible rough, cold first two or three days, it is a warm, fast downwind run to Hawaii. The navigation is pretty straightforward: a close reach to the desired waypoint to cross the north Pacific high ridge to a chosen isobar (Stan Honey calls it the ‘slot’), then run down the slot across the Pacific until you reach your desired layline into the finish. Every day it gets warmer and the trade winds supply great wind and waves for surfing.

‘The Tahiti Race is a lot different. It is 3,570 miles instead of 2,240 miles. After the start, and rounding West End, you put up the spinnaker, and run for several days southwest past Mexico. Then the easterly trades build and you beam reach in a lot of wind for a few days. Next you have to find the narrowest area of the ITCZ (doldrums), where there will be little or no wind and lots of rain squalls. Once you cross the Equator, the southeast trades will fill in and it can be a very windy, rough beam reach or close reach to the finish in Papeete.

Main picture: this synoptic chart for the 3,570-mile Tahiti Race tells the story: it usually kicks off with a spinnaker run past Mexico to pick up the easterly trade winds, then a cracking beam reach and a tactical challenge to cross the doldrums, followed by more beam reaching to the finish.

Above: after more than a few sea miles... you’re assured a proper Polynesian welcome in Papeete

‘It's a much longer race, and can be rougher, but it is well worth the adventure. Even though Papeete is busy with tourists and cruise ships, it is still beautiful, and once you leave Papeete, the other islands are like Hawaii was 50 years ago.’

Jourdane plans to do both races in this next cycle: the 50th Transpac this year on Mr Bill, an Andrews 70, and the 2020 Tahiti Race with a team yet to be named.

In the last race edition in 2012, Karl Kwok’s Farr 78 Beau Geste finished in 14 days five hours, but due to light winds could not get close to the course record of 11 days, 10 hours set by Doug Baker’s Andrews-designed Magnitude 80 in 2008. This record run cut three days off the previous record set in 1994 by Fred Kirschner’s 70ft Kathmandu.

With an average speed of 13 knots over the 3,571-mile course, could Magnitude 80’s mark be quite easily broken? Comanche’s 2017 race record in the LA-Honolulu Transpac was set for an average speed of 20.2 knots, so a Tahiti race record would seem ripe for the plucking.

Yet besides the ocean greyhounds hunting down record opportunities, there is another group that may be very interested in the Tahiti Race 2020: maxis, superyachts and those migrating west from their 2019-20 winter season in the Caribbean towards Auckland in time for the events affiliated with the 2021 America’s Cup.

Ocean passage racing for maxis and superyachts is not one of the ‘usual’ offerings in the Pacific offshore racing calendar. Boat captains are typically concerned about the risk of breaking things and the logistics of dockage and boatyard facilities needed for maintenance and repair of the complex systems installed on these magnificent yachts. Yet for all its bucolic splendour in quiet anchorages, Tahiti also has modern marina and boatyard facilities to act as a suitable stopover destination for transpacific passages to New Zealand.

Besides, Transpac Tahiti 2020 is not among the world’s ‘usual’ races – it’s something unique that beckons as a Legend of the South Seas.

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Chris Dickson was actually there first, with a huge sacrificial leech on the ‘upwind spinnaker’ used by his 1993 Whitbread entry Tokio*. But Paul Cayard’s EF Language team developed it into the modern Code Zero…

For 20 years Elvstrøm Sails has been steadily refining its ideas for Code Zero development alongside the advances in design and fabrication. Most recently, Elvstrøm Sails’ EPEX Technology of precisely matching film and fibre has been particularly useful for engineering these sails due to their complex shapes and load characteristics. In fact, it is this technology that has enabled the development of the cable-free code sail, where the cable is replaced by load-bearing fibre passes in the luff section. This has been vitally important in Elvstrøm Sails’ clever way of working around the restrictions on minimum mid-girth dimensions imposed by the rating rule authorities, who seek to define these sails as spinnakers. For IRC this is 75 per cent and DH in Denmark at 65 per cent, which makes it difficult to have an effective flying shape for a sail this big without having too much roach on the leech. [ORC rates these sails in a separate category, calling them headsails set flying, where there is a more flexible 55 per cent mid-girth minimum.]

Elvstrøm Sails’ solution is to not rely on a tight luff cable, but to design the sail with a large positive luff curve with no cable. This moves the roach from leech to luff, allowing more of the sail area to work and a cleaner exit flow off the leech. Stability in the mould shape is provided by precise alignment of fibres in the EPEX membrane to carry loads not just on the luff but throughout the structure over a wide range of wind angles. ‘This positive luff curve increases the range of angles at which this sail is effective,’ says Jesper Bank, Olympic gold medalist in the Soling at Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000, Louis Vuitton Cup helmsman for Victory Challenge in 2003 and United Internet Team Germany in 2007, and more recently the commercial director of Elvstrøm Sails.. ‘And because the luff loads are not as high as on cable-luffed sails, the weight and equipment needed to accommodate those loads are not necessary, so there’s less concern about reinforcing the boat, the bowsprit and the spar.’ Already, Elvstrøm Sails’ cable-less Code Zeros are appearing on a wide variety of racing and racer/cruiser boats, and with great results: in the 2018 RORC season the Ker 46 Lady Mariposa posted overall wins in both the Myth of Malham and Cherbourg races, and an impressive head-to-head showing against another well-sailed Ker 46 in the North Sea Race. This race consisted of sailing 70 per cent upwind and 30 per cent reaching in varying sea states, in five to 15 knots true wind speed. According to a thorough KND postrace analysis of the performance data, in one 44-mile reaching leg sailed in 12-14 knots at 85-100° true wind angle, the cable-free Code Zero was able to meet and exceed polars despite a confused sea state. And on the final six-mile leg sailed in only eight knots at 95° in flat water, polars were exceeded by five per cent... not that it mattered that much, as the competition was about 45 minutes astern. I think besides good speed, the major advantage on the long reaching leg was the fact that Lady Mariposa was able to hoist the cable-free Zero and scoot off,’ said navigator Marcel Korte. ‘[Our rivals] were not able to hold their traditional Zero at such high angles. They had to peel to their Jib Top and were not able to match the pace.’

Chris Dickson was actually there first, with a huge sacrificial leech on the ‘upwind spinnaker’ used by his 1993 Whitbread entry Tokio*. But Paul Cayard’s EF Language team developed it into the modern Code Zero…

The advent of the so-called Code Zero is normally attributed to that large, clever headsail design debuted by the winning EF Language team in the1997-98 Whitbread Round the World Race. While many know the story of EF’s success, what many don’t know is that at the same time – quietly and well away from the cutting edge – a similar development was being made for a popular club racing scene in Denmark by a Soling gold medalist and a sailmaking friend who together came up with a similar sail, with similarly devastating results. ‘We were having a good time sailing locally in a 34ft boat of mine that we kept trying to supercharge with more and more sail area to get through the typical light air of these races,’ says Bank.

‘Jesper had this idea of building a Code Zero, which was just the talk of the very elite of sailing in those days,’ says Jesper’s pal Ken Madsen of Dimension-Polyant. ‘Not many knew what such a sail would even look like and for sure no real sailcloth existed for it, but Jesper and I found some rolls of WS 3.0 yellow, a light film/ scrim/film laminate, in the D-P warehouse in Copenhagen. From this we built what I think was the first Code Zero sail in Denmark for racing around Fyn. We were in a class of boats with hiking wings – all sorts of extreme sailing boats (for the time). ‘We were lucky that we could fly that sail for 40 per cent of the 137- mile race around the island, which gave us a first in class. If I recall correctly, we were third to finish among some much bigger boats. It was fun to be at the leading edge!’

*Tokio would almost certainly have won that year’s round the world race had she not dropped her rig during the fifth leg.

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Hot on the tail of the brilliantly successful (and important) Star Sailors League comes another zinger of a concept – the Nations Gold Cup

Star Sailors League Nations Gold Cup
The idea for the SSL Nations Gold Cup is one of those ideas that once you have it explained, you wonder why it hasn’t already happened. It’s a keelboat regatta in identical onedesigns, with a strict nationality rule. The plan is for a maximum of 40 national teams to contest the first ever SSL Nations Gold Cup at a European venue in 2021. Since the concept was announced in November, the SSL phones have been ringing hot with applications and enquiries from around the world.

The SSL stands for Star Sailors League, and the Nations Gold Cup is the latest and grandest vision yet from the people who have delivered the successful Star Sailors League competition over the past five years. You may well have seen the live online coverage of the world’s greatest skippers going up against each other in Star class keelboats in the azure blue waters and sunny skies of the Bahamas.

The “Star” in SSL stands not for the Star boat, by the way, but for the stars of our sport: the sailors. The aim of all SSL competitions is to make the athletes the most important element of the race. Whereas the America’s Cup is primarily a design contest, the Nations Gold Cup is all about the people. The Gold Cup’s ambassador and one of the chief architects of the concept is himself a great sailor, Poland’s 1996 Olympic Champion in the Finn class dinghy, Mateusz Kusznierewicz. ‘We’ve had an unbelievable response to the concept since we launched the SSL Nations Gold Cup to the world,’ he says. ‘Some of the names are very impressive and we can’t wait to start announcing them in March.’

The format
Set to take place every other year from 2021 onwards, the competition will be open to all 140 countries whose national federations are recognised by World Sailing. The final phase of the SSL Nations Gold Cup will host a maximum of 40 teams, with a specific rule to ensure the presence of some of the “emerging sailing nations”. Borrowing from the tried-and-tested format used in major tennis and football tournaments, after the round-robin phase the top 16 teams will proceed to a thrilling knock-out phase. All scores up to that point will be wiped clean, so it will be a simple battle to qualify through to the next round. This format has already been well tested and widely enjoyed by some of the best sailors in the world at the SSL Finals in Nassau, every December since 2013. The most thrilling finale to date was Paul Goodison’s onesecond victory over Robert Scheidt in December 2017.

National pride
Kusznierewicz explains the appeal of the Nations Gold Cup: ‘it uses the same nationality principle as the Olympic Games to provide a countryagainst- country championship. By mixing the use of one-design big boats provided by SSL and exploiting the successful format of the FIFA World Cup, the SSL Nations Gold Cup aims to shine the spotlight on the athletes. We want this event to excite people’s passion for sport, and pride for their nation. Fans will stand behind their teams, they will support them wearing the T-shirt of their national heroes and kids all around the world will be able to collect their Panini stickers. That’s the vision we have for this event.’

Strong captain, diverse crew
Key to each national team will be the appointment of a captain, as Kusznierewicz explains: ‘The captain may well be a very good sailor, but not necessarily. Provided they are a good organiser, an inspiring leader, and an experienced manager, they might steer the boat or they might even stay ashore.’ The captain will have the right to select four of the 11 crew, while the remainder will be selected based on their position on the SSL Global Ranking [see end note]. ‘One of the strongest appeals of the SSL Nations Gold Cup is that we will offer equal chances for all top sailors to participate, regardless of financial and political barriers. So the top-ranked athletes in the SSL Global Ranking will automatically be selected, and they will come from all parts of the sport, from both inshore and offshore. We could see sailors from the Olympic circuit, the America’s Cup, the big offshore races and the champions from popular fleets like the J/70, the Snipe, the Melges classes and even the International Moth.’

The boat
The Star Sailors League will provide the boats for all participating teams. Currently in the design phase, the plan is for a powerful keelboat with a bowsprit and an overall length of around 45-47ft.

The venue
The first edition in 2021 will take place at a traditional European venue, says Kusznierewicz. ‘It will need to be a site capable of delivering good sailing conditions on the water and great entertainment on land. The race village will include all administration, race management, press centre, broadcast and hospitality facilities, as well as a spectator area close to the racecourse to allow the public to watch the regattas live on site. We aim to make sure the event venue is run in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.’

Below: A biennial event starting in 2021, the Nations Gold Cup will use the same nationality principle as the Olympic Games to enable teams to represent their country in closely matched international competition. Poland’s 1996 Olympic Finn class champion, Mateusz Kuznierewicz (number 2 in the photo below) is one of the chief architects of the concept. A powerful new 14-metre keelboat will be designed and purposebuilt as a dedicated one design fleet for the Cup to ensure an interesting modern boat and a level playing field for all of the competitors

The training centre
The Star Sailors League has a new headquarters located on the shores of a beautiful lake in Switzerland. The headquarters consists of a comfortable manor house, a private harbour and a boat park. This venue will offer training sessions to every team set to take part in the SSL Nations Gold Cup. Each team will be allocated a limited number of training days per year, with more training days permitted to emerging nations. Besides sailing skills development, each team will have access to help and support for developing their own sponsorship and promotional programme. The first three-day training sessions and workshop sessions are already scheduled and will take place in the spring of 2019. In March 2019 the first national teams will be introduced and their captains presented.

It’s all about the sailors
Dennis Conner, five-time America’s Cup winner and SSL honorary president, explains why he is excited by the SSL vision: ‘When I started sailing, the true legends – Straulino, Elvstrøm, North, Buchan, Melges, De Cardnas, Knowles – were the motivating examples that pushed me to progress and guided my way. I think that Schümann, Grael, Coutts, Ainslie and Cayard were also inspired by Olympic heroes to themselves become legends. Contemporary youth has the same desire as us; it seeks the heroes who will be their role models and who will give meaning to their daily lives. And rightly, the SSL Nations Gold Cup offers a media platform that will allow youth and also sports fans to discover Scheidt, Scott, Percy, Goodison, Fantela – our contemporary heroes.

‘It’s the people who make a sailing class great,’ he continues. ‘It’s the people who compete in the SSL events that really make the concept great, which is why I’m so proud to be the honorary president of the Star Sailors League.’

Robert Scheidt, five times an Olympic medallist, has been involved since the start of the Star Sailors League. ‘In 2013, with Bruno Prada, we helped to design and then participated in the first competition according to the SSL format, the first SSL Finals,’ he explains. ‘This tennisinspired elimination system, which aims to crown the champion after a single final, is immensely exciting. We chose the format, but it turned out to be incredibly demanding.

‘That year with Bruno, even after winning the qualifying, we had to fight every moment to stay alive in the quarters, then in the semifinals. In the one-heat final, the leader changed four times and we were so relieved once we’d crossed the finish line. We had won, but we had also found a new exciting racing concept for the public and the athletes, without changing the spirit and tradition of the sport.

With Torben Grael, I plan to participate in the SSL Nations Gold Cup to fly the flag for Brazil, but also for our sport, to help bring a new level of popularity to sailing and to the sailors.’

Click here for more information on the Star Sailors League »

McConaghy Boats has only ever built one type of watercraft… very quick ones

The current list of monohull elapsed time records for offshore races reads like an alumni book for McConaghy Boats – more first-to-finish line honour awards have gone to yachts from this builder than any other. The first-to-finish award going to Wild Oats XI once again in the latest Sydney- Hobart race is a testament to the high-quality build of this boat that is now a whopping 13 years old – very few Grand Prix race boats can claim this kind of competitive longevity.

McConaghy has been doing well for more than 50 years, having built more than 150 raceboats over 30ft that have been among the world’s fastest and most successful in all competitive contexts: from high-speed keelboat one-designs to custom inshore and offshore yachts of all sizes. The impressive cumulative race results of this enormous fleet likely exceeds that of any other builder in the world.

In the ultra-competitive and fastmoving world of modern composite technologies, how is it possible to amass such a remarkable track record over such a long history?

‘It’s simple, but complex as well,’ says Mark Evans, managing director of McConaghy Boats. ‘The answer is innovation. Our mission is to be one of the best composite facilities in the world, which means we have to not only use what we know works well, but also remain vigilant for new ideas in design, materials, and fabrications so that we are always getting our boats and their parts to be stronger, lighter and easier to use and maintain.’

This is not new for McConaghy since their expertise in working with advanced composites spans four decades and more at their facility in Sydney, and now in Zhuhai, in southern China too. An example is their composite built in pre-preg carbon skins, bonded to thermoformed honeycomb, and foam cores. Proprietary techniques developed in-house with use of high-temperature post-curing ovens, autoclaves, and precision tooling has ensured ideal resin/fibre ratios to meet or exceed weight targets from designers and structural engineers. As a result McConaghy hulls and decks are light, strong and they don’t break, even with complex geometries.

To continue to meet and exceed these standards Evans has overseen an expansion and equipment upgrade at Zhuhai with the installation of three digitally-controlled Kuka robots for highly accurate, repeatable fabrication and trim functions for moulds as well as composite parts. He has also worked hard to ensure a steady supply of high-quality carbon fibre, steel, titanium and other materials essential to high-tech boatbuilding, along with the craftsmen needed to work in these materials.

‘We’ve always had great composite work, and recently the work from our metal shop is now not only equal or better than our previous suppliers, but we have much more control on timing and cost than we ever had,’ says Evans. ‘While boat building is our core business, we’re getting enquiries all the time to fabricate high-quality custom moulds and parts for other builders’ projects. This is nice, though we do not want to lose focus on our own projects for our own clients.’

Along with the original McConaghy facility in Sydney, the work in Zhuhai is directed by a dozen in-house draftsmen who do the critical design work needed to transform ideas into reality. This is another indication of the flexibility and creativity that the team at McConaghy uses to pursue that ultimate goal of innovation.

And while some owners give free rein to the team to work through the details, many have project managers who participate in the build process alongside the McConaghy team.

‘It’s certainly not necessary, but if the client prefers, we are happy to work with owner’s representatives,’ says James Kinloch, sales director at McConaghy. ‘The more interaction we have with clients and their reps, the better job we do at finding solutions to meet everyone’s expectations.’

Wade Morgan has project-managed seven builds recently at McConaghy, for boats ranging from 38-72ft in length. ‘It's the details that are important,’ he says, ‘for everything from keels to bunks, and all the bits and pieces, small and large, that make the boat turn-key ready when it arrives with the client. McConaghy has been really great at collaborating on these details, and I have had many happy clients with successful boats out of Zhuhai.’

Happy clients from 2018 include Bill McKinley’s US-based Ker 46+ Denali 3, a design now optimised to perform well in both IRC and ORCi racing, and two Botin 40+ yachts Team Hollywood and Swing. Other notable recent builds include Sir Keith Mills’ Ker 40+ Invictus in the UK, a proven weapon in the white-hot Fast 40+ class, the Mark Millsdesigned 41ft Ambush and the Reichel-Pugh IRC52 Highland Fling XII. These boats have created a queue at McConaghy for owners interested in having their high-tech racing dreams turned into reality.

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