May 2024
FEATURES
Time for a Bovril!
THOMAS COVILLE
Zooming in – Admiral’s Cup
ROB WEILAND rolls through the various format options for a ‘new’ mixed inshore/offshore regatta
Catamarán loco
DR IAN WARD was one of the two people (with Jon Ilett) who first got a single centreline foil to successfully fly an International Moth. Now he’s doing away with appendages altogether
Big fella – Part II
After his unsuccessful flirtation in Newport, RI in 1983, for the 1987 Australian defence IAIN MURRAY now puts his serious Cup hat on
Carbon cathedrals
YANN PENFORNIS has built more large multihulls than anyone else on the planet. He speaks to JOCELYN BLERIOT
The Royal Escape
King Charles II escapes and DAN HOUSTON (eventually) also makes it to Fécamp
TECH STREET
REGULARS
Commodore’s letter
DEB FISH
Editorial
ANDREW HURST
Update
Down in Barcelona the mood is hotting up at last, TERRY HUTCHINSON is particularly looking forward to seeing the covers coming off and DAN BERNASCONI and GIULIANO LUZZATTO discuss the clever young child that is Gomboc…
World News
Arkéa Ultim Challenge and they almost all made it round, the USA celebrates a new champion ocean racer, big farewell in Auckland, the Medal Factory winds up for Paris, Sydney’s new 18-footer star and US Sailing’s ‘problems’ rumble on. DOBBS DAVIS, PATRICE CARPENTIER, CARLOS PICH, IVOR WILKINS, PHILIPPE DELAMARE, MAGNUS WHEATLEY, EMMA RANKIN
Paul Cayard – It’s about the future
A great new initiative, a great ‘old’ champion
TP52 Super Series – When the flag drops the BS stops
Three new boats, lots of personnel and technical changes and now we will discover what actually works
Bruno Dubois – En avant!
And it’s almost party time…
ORC Column – Stability simplicity
ANDY CLAUGHTON
Seahorse build table – It’s been too long
A new US custom raceboat at last. DOBBS DAVIS
RORC
JOHN BURNIE… and a very good old friend
So, so close
CHRIS DICKSON
Seahorse regatta calendar
Sailor of the Month
You now have to do a lot more to get this far!
The wolf wears silk

Exhilarating yet easy to sail with an unmatched racing record, Savannah is arguably the most successful Spirit of Tradition yacht ever built…
Imagine a yacht with all the elegance and grace of a J Class, scaled down slightly for a major reduction in operating costs, with fully optimised modern underwater sections, keel and rudder. That yacht is Savannah.

This perfectly proportioned, swift and versatile 27-metre (90ft) beauty has a credible claim to be the most successful Spirit Of Tradition yacht ever built. She has only had two owners since her launch in 1997, one of whom, Hugh Morrison, used her as a trial horse for his current J Class Shamrock V. Savannah has earned iconic status within the classic yachting fraternity. And she’s for sale.
Savannah’s all-carbon composite construction, concealed beneath a finely crafted finish of traditional timber, is engineered and built to last more than a hundred years. She shares a design pedigree with two America’s Cup winners and dominates her class on the regatta circuit, yet is also easy, comfortable and rewarding to daysail or cruise with a minimal crew in a very wide range of wind and sea conditions.

Design
Savannah’s story begins in the mid-1990s when her first owner, Randolph Watkins, conducted an exhaustive study of classic yacht aesthetics before commissioning the naval architect David Pedrick to design a cruiser-racer with a brief to create ‘the most beautiful yacht conceivable’. Her hull shape, with its long overhangs, low freeboard, slight sheer and subtle tumblehome, is inspired by William Fife’s perfectly proportioned Hallowe’en and the iconic J Class Endeavour.
Beneath the waterline Savannah is a different beast. With a moderately shallow canoe body, deep fin keel and high-aspect rudder she is more akin to a modern highperformance cruiser or indeed a late 20th century maxi. Pedrick had already designed the 12 Metres Courageous and Stars & Stripes, and some of the finest, fastest IOR maxis from Kialoa III to Nirvana, so it is perhaps hardly surprising that Savannah exceeded all expectations in both aesthetics and performance.

The styling of her deck and cockpit is a clean, uncluttered take on the traditional layout of a vintage racer with low-profile lantern skylights, dorade vents, coamings and capping rails. From a technical perspective, however, the deck plan is informed by practical sail-trimming considerations with a modern rig and hydraulics, and designed above all for easy handling by either a full or shorthanded crew. The sightlines from the helm are superb. When she’s daysailing or anchored there are great swathes of open deck for friends and family to lounge on. When sailing offshore her comfortable cockpit is snug and secure.
Construction
The quality of Savannah’s build by Concordia Custom Yachts is world class. A major factor in her exceptional performance and acceleration is her composite construction, cutting edge when she was built and still state of the art today. Her displacement is notably light for a yacht of this type, she’s very robust and impressively stiff.

The carbon fibre laminate hull has S-glass and E-glass skins with Kevlar in areas where chafe or abrasion might occur. The deck is carbon and Corecell sandwich with carbon beams underneath and laid teak on top. Her traditional teak hatches, companionways and skylights are all reinforced internally with carbon.

The rig is conservatively built and thus extremely robust with the mast and slab reefing boom in high-modulus carbon and rod rigging. An under-deck hydraulic headsail furler is used with racing as well as cruising headsails, which makes her easier to handle with fewer crew on board. The runners are tensioned in strong winds but the movement at the top of the rig is only slight. Even without them the mast is more than adequately strong.
Performance
So how does she sail? Most boats have a sweet spot in either light or heavy weather but Savannah excels all the way through the wind range. Four to five knots of breeze is enough to switch off the engine, whereas most yachts of her size need 8-10kts to get going. She carries her full No1 genoa up to 24kts before changing down or furling, and the mainsail doesn’t need reefing at all until it’s blowing 30kts plus. Thus she’s well suited to typical summer conditions in any of the world’s sailing hotspots, from the often fickle breezes of the western Med to the steady trade winds of the Caribbean and all the way up to a full-blown Meltemi in the Aegean.

Upwind performance is crucial both for cruising and for inshore windward-leeward racing and it’s one of Savannah’s key strengths. She points incredibly well and is close-winded, making very little leeway. Optimal VMG is achieved at 26° in any breeze over five knots true. She has ample righting moment in stronger winds and is a dry boat to sail in a seaway.
Off the wind she flies a big asymmetric rather than using a symmetrical spinnaker, which again makes her easier to handle and requires fewer experienced crew on board. She has logged up to 18kts downwind in her current ownership.
She’s very rewarding on the helm: well-balanced, responsive and nimble, as one would expect from a boat with her design pedigree, and also quick to tack and accelerate. She surfs well in following seas and is remarkably stable with an easy, comfortable motion.

Despite being set up primarily for daysailing and coastal passage-making she has crossed the Atlantic in both directions often enough to prove her blue water sailing potential and she excels in heavy weather. With six hydraulic winches on deck, for cruising and delivery trips she only needs a permanent crew or two or three to sail her well. For racing a full crew of 12 is ideal. In either of these modes there is ample space to also have a good number of guests on board.
Down below
Just as exceptional as her build quality and performance under sail, Savannah’s elegant interior was designed and styled by Jon Munford who has won more awards for his yacht interiors than almost anyone else. Warm and inviting, luxurious and exquisitely detailed, it’s an impressively authentic trip back in time to the 1930s with the big difference that it’s far more comfortable at sea or in harbour than any yacht from that time, with clever use of space and plenty of natural light to brighten the saloon and cabins from above.

The white-painted beams overhead look traditional but they’re actually carbon fibre, part of the meticulously engineered, planned and integrated modern structure and systems that lie behind the panelled mahogany and beneath the buttoned leather seats. The saloon and the owner’s suite both have their own dedicated companionways leading up to the deck and cockpit, and there’s a separate companionway on the foredeck for the crew’s accommodation.
Enough weight was saved in her carbon composite construction to allow solid hardwood to be used for the interior joinery rather than the usual veneers or plywood. This also allows for some wonderful period details like the roll-top enamel bath in the en suite bathroom of the master cabin, and the library and wood-burning stove in the saloon, without any significant impact on her sailing characteristics.
Rather than cramming in extra beds that are likely to be used only occasionally, Savannah’s two-cabin layout (with separate crew’s quarters) enables the owners and two guests to enjoy an abundance of space. She hasn’t yet been chartered but the quality and style of her accommodation would be a unique asset for that purpose – as would her looks and sailing performance – and with her short waterline length the process of coding her for commercial charter work should be relatively simple.
Results
While she undoubtedly has great potential for any sort of cruising, Savannah is best known for her astonishingly successful track record on the Mediterranean Classic Yacht Circuit where she has notched up a large number of victories in each the last 20 years (except during Covid lockdown when racing was cancelled).

She has been the boat to beat in the Spirit Of Tradition class for the full 15-year extent of her current ownership and has a very competitive rating in IRC, ORC and ORCsy. From 2007 to 2019 she won most races and her class overall in both Antibes and Mahon. She has won her class eight times at Les Voiles de St Tropez and the Club 55 Challenge Cup both times she entered. In the Yacht Club de France Autumn Cup she raced against the J Class and beat them all on IRC handicap. She has also won the Loro Piana Maxi Cup, the Corsica Classic Regatta, the Spetses Classic Yacht Regatta twice, and too many others to mention.
Beyond the Med her wins include Antigua Classic Week, British Classic YC Regatta, NYYC 175th Anniversary regatta in Newport, RI and a variety of RORC races.
The last word about Savannah comes from her designer, David Pedrick, who quite recently said she’s the best yacht to come out of Concordia and perhaps even the best ever to come out of Newport. That’s one heck of an endorsement.
We invite you to read on and find out for yourself why Seahorse is the most highly-rated source in the world for anyone who is serious about their racing.
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As good as it gets

Almost three decades after it was first staged as an end-of-season jamboree for yachts and crews preparing to cross the Atlantic, the 2024 edition of Superyacht Cup Palma promises to be a cracker, says Phil Riley
Superyacht Cup Palma, Europe's longest-running superyacht regatta, is now gearing up to celebrate its 28th anniversary from June 19-22 in what may be a spectacular 2024.
‘If you build it, they will come’ — the now famous prophetic line from the 1989 film Field of Dreams that inspired farmer Kevin Costner to build a baseball diamond in his Iowa cornfields, which then attracted crowds to view a who's who of ghostly baseball stars.
In the service of full disclosure it is unlikely that, 28 years ago, the Mallorca-based sailmakers Patrick Whetter and Spike Thompson had quite that vision in mind when they put together an end of Mediterranean sailing season party for yacht crews about to go transatlantic.
Ghostly apparitions aside however, the consequences of that humble gathering back in 1996 has had a similarly significant outcome: Little acorns, mighty oaks hardly begin to cover it.
Legend has it that the first few editions of Superyacht Cup Palma were competed for in the absence of, in many cases, the competing yachts’ owners. In any event, the 33.6m Dubois-designed Alloy Yachts sloop Imagine was the first to take the SYC title in 1997, while the following year saw a second successive victory for a Dubois-Alloy combo with the 36m Sovereign claiming top spot. And so it began, the word spread and Superyacht Cup Palma quickly found its place in the diaries of superyacht owners and captains.
In the run-up to the millennium it was the 33m Bolero — named after her South African yard — that took the 1999 title, a feat the Frers design was remarkably able to repeat as recently as 2017.
Next up in the winners' enclosure — and pre-dating Bolero’s double by some margin — was the 42m Kokomo, with the late Lang Walkerowned uber sloop taking consecutive victories in 2000 and 2001, a double whammy for the clearly formidable Dubois-Alloy double act.
Dubois design no doubt also played a part in the success of the Vitters-built Timoneer as the imposing 44m ketch took the SYC crown in both 2002 and 2004, with the 34m Unfurled filling the gap while flying the flag for Frers and Royal Huisman, and also returning for a second overall victory in 2014.
Over the following years other yachts would work their magic to claim two titles — the 47m Hyperion in 2006 and 2008 again highlighting the Frers-Huisman magic, and Mallorca's own Javier Jaudenes’s high-performance 33m Baltic Yachts design Win Win in 2016 and 2019.
However, the growing level of interest in Superyacht Cup Palma also served to increase the level of competition in the always diverse fleet, with the event delivering no fewer than 15 one-time winners to date.
While the Bay of Palma and its seemingly nailed on sea breeze is the gift that has kept on giving over the years, behind the scenes and off the water a series of other initiatives have helped to keep the superyacht festival of sail buoyant and responsive to changing demands.
In 2011 SYC Palma took on professional race management courtesy of the famed Real Club Náutico de Palma, a long-standing partnership that has now extended to the RCNP also hosting the event for the third year in succession.
The following year saw the formation of the SuperYacht Racing Association in recognition of the growth and particular requirements of this eye-catching racing, followed by the arrival of the ORC Superyacht Rule (ORCsy) — aka the ‘wine and piano rating’ — which has created a remarkably level playing field embracing the wide diversity of superyachts seeking a competitive outing, as many of the winners mentioned above can testify.

Above: the J Class is a spectacular element of the regatta, with half a dozen of them making regular appearances.
Below: use of the ORCsy rating system has helped create a remarkably level playing field for all participants

Then in 2013 Kate Branagh’s Aquamarine Events took over the regatta, continuing a clear-eyed vision that Superyacht Cup Palma needed to have an across-the-board appeal that encompassed the professional racing sailors, Corinthian owners and their friends and families, along with entry-level crews.
‘It has been one of the real pleasures of playing a part in Superyacht Cup Palma that we have been able to deliver an event that has proved popular with an eclectic mix of owners and sailors, young and old, delivering the professionalism that they expect alongside great racing and a fun and informal social scene back on shore at the RCNP,’ says Branagh.
The considerable evidence to date suggests that Branagh’s responsive approach — which includes the offer of Performance and Corinthian classes — has struck a chord within the superyacht community, with first-timers a constant feature at SYC alongside repeat attendees who return regularly over the years.
Among this latter group are the J Class, who clearly recognise well-managed racing when they see it. Over the years a variety of these classic vessels have claimed bragging rights in their own class, with Ranger, Hanuman, Lionheart and Svea among them, while the venerable Velsheda took an overall SYC win in 2018.
This year will see all three of the current J Class racing campaigns taking part, with the newly refitted Rainbow, her new owner and experienced crew going head to head with Velsheda and Svea, last year’s class winner. Their appearance at Superyacht Cup Palma launches a trio of regattas in 2024 which will also include the J Class World Championships held during the America’s Cup in Barcelona.
It’s worth noting that at the last Mediterranean America’s Cup — Valencia in 2007 — SYC Palma attracted 54 entries, the largest superyacht regatta ever held. While there is no expectation of a repeat on quite that scale in 2024, alongside the Js the event has already attracted a number of first timers comprising a trio of Hoek designs, the 32m Namuun (ex- Simba) from Turquoise Yachts and two Pendennis-built Hoek Truly Classics — the 40m Halekai and the 39m Vijonara — as well as the striking 28m Ron Holland Design ketch Tawera (ex-Catalyst), from Alloy Yachts NZ. Further adding to the mix, the 24m Wally Rose will be returning to defend her hard-won SYC title.
It’s a further indication of Superyacht Cup Palma’s durability that organisers are able to rely on the continued support of Preferred Hotel Partner St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca and Official Timepiece Jaquet Droz, while welcoming the return of Pendennis as a Gold Partner alongside long-standing Silver Partners Astilleros de Mallorca, Marinepool, North Sails, Southern Spars, Pantaenius Yacht Insurance and RSB Rigging Solutions. The pitch is prepared, so it’s game on for 2024.
Click here for more information on Superyacht Cup Palma »
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Kid gloves at the ready

To ship a classic yacht requires a slightly different sort of careful treatment
The ability to reliably ship yachts around the globe is a pre-requisite for many of today's regattas. As with state-of-the-art racing yachts, Sevenstar recognises that classic yachts of all sizes and descriptions need special attention.
‘These are unique yachts that are often similar to works of art and must be treated with the greatest of care,’ says Sevenstar's classic yacht expert Matthieu Le Bihan. The company transports roughly 3,000 yachts a year on its own vessels, so the master, officers and crew all have a clear understanding of the processes involved.
In any industry the calibre of clients is a good endorsement and Sevenstar has long-running close relationships with many owners and project managers. These include America's Cup legend Bruno Troublé, who has re-established the 55ft P Class from the early 20th century. ‘We have already transported three boats for him and are now making plans for a fourth,’ says Le Bihan.
Another regular is Rémy Gérin, a member of Yacht Club de France who owns Faïaoahé, a 20-metre (65ft) modern classic and is passionate about solo and double-handed races. Sevenstar has shipped his yacht back to Europe after both the RORC Transatlantic race and the Route du Rhum. The firm is also currently working on logistics to get the boat back from New York after this year's CIC Transat race. ‘The considerations are different for a yacht with a long keel than for modern cruising and racing yachts,’ says Le Bihan. ‘They are heavier and the centre of gravity tends to be in a different place.’ The correct lifting equipment is therefore essential - Sevenstar's ships are equipped to lift yachts of up to 2,000 tonnes displacement. To put that in context, the giant J Class racing yachts, a number of which are also regularly transported by Sevenstar, weigh only 160 -180 tonnes.
Extra strops are often needed and, when necessary, Sevenstar has divers on hand to ensure these are placed exactly where the lifting plan drawn up by the in-house engineering department specifies. Wherever possible, this is based on the yacht designer's original drawings. ‘We're very lucky in the classic yacht world that these are often available,’ says Le Bihan. Nevertheless, it's still important to ascertain that the boat has not undergone subsequent changes.
Preparation for shipping is similar in some respects to winterising a yacht, including taking all sails and canvas off, plus securing anything that's left on deck. To reduce displacement, it's also worth ensuring tanks are as near to empty as possible. It's possible to use a yacht's own cradle, though the engineering drawings need to be checked before transport - regular yacht cradles may not be able to support the dynamic loads experienced at sea - and most classic yachts use Sevenstar's own cradles and supports. Yachts can also be shipped with the rig in place, which cuts down on preparation time once the yacht arrives for the next event.
Once the yacht is on board the ship Sevenstar's own loading masters will tap the hull, in a similar manner to a surveyor, as a double check that supports are placed against appropriate frames and bulkheads, as per the loading plan. The upper limit of wind strength in the which loading will take place varies with different locations, partly because it also depends on sea state. An advantage of using a service that owns the ships used for transport is that it has a greater degree of flexibility when faced with a prolonged period of bad weather. ‘If the weather is risky for loading there's not the same pressure for us to move on immediately if it's not sensible,’ says Le Bihan.
This overall level of care is also reflected in the insurance rate Sevenstar pays for each yacht it ships. Le Bihan says this is: ‘One of the lowest in the market, reflecting that we have the best safety procedures and processes in place for safe transport.’ This insurance is effective from the moment the first mooring line is taken by the ship as the yacht comes alongside, to the moment the final one is cast off in the destination port.
Popular routes include North Europe to the Mediterranean and back, which operate monthly from March to September. The thriving classic yacht scene in the north-east of the USA means this area is also well served, both from the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, including several direct sailings to Newport, Rhode Island. There are also seasonal services to and from the Caribbean.
Click here for more information on Sevenstar »
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Tailored to the task

Code sails and flying headsails put huge demands on the reliability of sailcloth. Now there’s a solution
The advent of code zeros and flying headsails has produced a big leap forward in reaching performance among all boat types, from cruisers to flat-out Grand Prix racers. The market has responded favorably with sales of these sails being robust for all sailmakers at all scales.
To achieve the same levels of efficiency that decades of their development of upwind headsail sailcloth has produced, Dimension- Polyant has now put the same effort of development into the introduction of a new cloth style, CZ Uni Black.
The wide range of wind angles and wind speeds where these sails operate places tremendous demand on the reliability of sail material to perform as predicted in the design and construction process.
‘This new material therefore has been developed specifically for these sails and is a progression from our TyraPLY material,’ says Ben Rogers of Dimension-Polyant. ‘Construction is similar to our traditional CZ fabric but the warp yarns are replaced with a TyraPLY warp orientated uni-directional “sheet” and the proven light woven taffeta replaced with a new black woven taffeta produced with spun-dyed yarn for best in class colour fastness.’
The result is a carefully engineered material ideally suited to strike the balance between the light weight needed to preserve the boat’s stability, ease of sail handling characteristics like abrasion and chafe durability, and the strength needed where it counts. This is vitally important for sailmakers to be assured their careful efforts in design and manufacturing are translated to integrity in the intended flying shape of the final product.
Below: the new CZ UNI Black from Dimension-Polyant is specifically developed to address this issue

‘With CZ Uni Black, the TyraPLY range is becoming more complete, specifically in the PSA patch and structural reinforcement materials,’ says Rogers. ‘CZ Uni Black will use the uni-directional PSA material as radial patches and we will also offer balanced TyraPLY PSA and Lite Skin PSA to match the TyraPLY Lite Skin surface. All are designed to save weight, build strength into the sail where needed and make the finished sail look harmonised.’
Dimension-Polyant’s CZ Uni Black development process is more than just testing with design software and in the laboratory. It also involves application in the real world. A development Code Zero made from CZ Uni Black wlll be supplied to Alexandre Ozon’s Bepox 990 Team 2 Choc, which is entered in the second edition of the Cap Martinique 2024.
This 3800-mile ocean race from La Trinité-Sur-Mer in Brittany to Fort-de-France in Martinique will be a gruelling test for the singlehanded and double-handed teams who are racing boats from 30ft to 40ft in length from the Bay of Biscay, across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean.
The shorthanded teams and their boats will likely be tested in all conditions of wind and seas. With nearly 80 entries anticipated to be on the start line in mid-April, this race has nearly doubled in size since the first edition ran in 2022 and will thus be an appropriate test for the sails and equipment aboard Team 2 Choc.
Ozon has an impressive track record of singlehanded success to put Dimension- Polyant’s CZ Uni Black to the test: he was the solo division winner in the 2018 and 2021 editions of the Transquadra Race and also won the solo division of the Cap Martinique 2022.
He is meticulous in preparation and monitoring his achievements, and works closely in parallel with his sailmaker Jèrôme Dupin of Starvoiles to optimise his performance for both the yacht and his race strategies. Hence, he is one of the most successful IRC Solo sailors.
‘Alexandre already has upwind sails that will be TyraPLY, and at this stage Team 2 Choc intends to use a Code Zero from our traditional CZ GP laminate for the race,’ says Mathieu Bourdais, sales manager of Dimension-Polyant in France. ‘But in parallel we look to engineer a sail beyond the established limits using CZ Uni Black and Tyra UD TAPES PSA. Understandably, given that the skipper’s aim is to repeat his win in 2022 they need to be 100 per cent sure and confident with what equipment they take.
‘Regardless, the pre-race period will be a good testbed and get us valuable feedback,’ he concludes. ‘Depending on this feedback, the CZ Uni Black sail may get used for the race and help Ozon achieve his goal to defend his title.’
Click here for more information on Dimension-Polyant »
We invite you to read on and find out for yourself why Seahorse is the most highly-rated source in the world for anyone who is serious about their racing.
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