Chirs Sayer did finished third of the Mini-Transat 1999, just behind Sébastien Magnen (double winner and yacht designer) and Pierre-Yves Moreau. Now, he is going to be back in France to enter again in the single handed transatlantic race from La Rochelle to Brazil which will start in september 2003. With his new mini and his great experience, no doubt he will be between the favourite skippers of the race on the starting line. And may be the first non french skipper to take it. Mail interview.
1. Chris, did you follow the Transat 650 2001 and what do you think about this edition (the winner : Yannick Bestaven ; the design of Aquarelle.com : Magnen-Nivelt ; the course : to Brazil) ?
I did follow the mini and would have liked to have been there. It was very good to see so many familiar faces and I was very happy to see Yannick, Arnaud, Olivier and all the competitors do so well. It is very hard from down here to tell how the designs of the new boats have changed. The new course to Brazil does not change much as far as the sailing goes as far as I can see.
2. You are building a new mini 650 : Can you describe this new design by Brett Bakewell-White ? Wide, light, powerfull ? And which are her main differences from your previous mini ?
Yes it is wide light and powerful. The main difference between this boat and Navman is the building materials. Check out www.bakewell-white.com.
3. Why do you want to enter again in the mini after a third place in 1999 and which are your offshore projects after this new one ?
My dream since I was a young lad has been to campaign an Open 60 in the around the world races. When I got back to NZ in 2000 I tried to find a main sponsor but I have been unable to do so (even for the new mini). The response I got from the big corporate companies was ; Chris Sayer, who is he ? Mini Transat, what is that ? Third, well that is not very good is it ? So I had a choice, either to let the dream die or battle on. So after the 2003 mini it is anybodies guess what I will be up to. Aiming for the 2005 mini if we come 20th ?
We all know offshore racing multihulls with foils such as french ORMA trimarans (18 meters long), offshore speed multihulls such as the Hydroptère, and inshore foilers such as the TriFoiler of new flying Mothes. Here is a new concept for… a cruising monohull. The eXplorius.
This is the complete mail interview of the manager of the Volvo Ocean Race made for a report about the next event in the three-monthly french magazine Course Au Large. Glenn Bourke answers few questions about the new rules, the number of entries, the place and the budget of this race in world of round the world yacht races.
Russell Bowler, president of Farr Design, was questions by mail for a paper about the next Volvo Ocean Race published in the three-monthly french magazine Course Au Large. Here are his answers.
Le Néo Zélandais, vainqueur de la Whitbread, deuxième détenteur du trophée Jules Vernes et double vainqueur de la Coupe de l’America aurait été assassiné ce matin en Amazonie.
La maquette du nouveau monotype. Photos : Ch.Guigueno
Le nouveau Figaro Bénéteau serait-il déjà un succès ? La classe Figaro Bénéteau reconnaît comptabiliser entre 20 et 25 intentions d’achat. Le chantier Bénéteau qui a promis de construire 50 bateaux en un an remplit son carnet de commandes.
Après une saison record dont la principale épreuve était la Transat Jacques Vabre en double, Franck Cammas et Alain Gautier ont terminé au coude à coude. Chacun marque 78 points sur la saison mais c’est le skipper de Groupama qui s’impose grâce à sa victoire dans la transatlantique.
Onze skippers sont classés (Joyon, Duprey et Richards n’ont (…)
Le premier Open 570 exposé à la Porte de Versailles. Déjà dix commandes. Photo : Ch.Guigueno
Les chiffres sont inversés mais le concept reste le même. Une raison à cela, le papa des deux quillards moderne n’est autre que le Groupe Finot. “Finot a déposé la marque Open” précise, un brin énervé, Bruno Hervouet, le patron du chantier Phileas qui construit cette version assagie de la bête en série.
Laurent Brossat devant le Fun Power exposé au salon nautique de Paris. Photo : Ch.Guigueno
La carène possède un air d’Europe. Laurent Brossat, son architecte et constructeur, avoue justement être un ancien régatier de cette série. Il a aussi navigué en Laser et s’est inspiré des skiffs, les 18 pieds australiens, pour dessiner un dériveur en solitaire de la nouvelle génération.
L’Australienne Layne Beachley vient de remporter son quatrième titre mondial consécutif en se qualifiant pour les quarts de finale du Billabong Pro Maui. Sa compatriote Neridah Falconer s’adjuge de son côté l’épreuve en battant en finale Pauline Menczer.
Australian Layne Beachley today reached an ’Everest’ of a career goal by equaling the previous record set of four consecutive world titles by claiming her fourth at the Billabong Pro Maui, the final women’s World Championship Tour (WCT) of 2001. Neridah Falconer, meanwhile, achieved her own milestone this afternoon by defeating 1993 world (…)
illbruck arrive à Sydney à 2 heures GMT ce matin. Photo : Daniel Forster / illbruck
En franchissant en vainqueur, à 01h 22 (heure française – 11h 22 heure locale) la ligne d’arrivée de la seconde étape Cape Town – Sydney, illbruck signait une magnifique victoire, arrachée aux différentes fortunes de mer qui ont éprouvé l’équipage battant pavillon allemand depuis le début de cette manche de 6 550 milles. Les ennuis de illbruck (…)
Photo : Illbruck on the way to the finish with the Sydney Opera House in the background. Photo : Daniel Forster illbruck
illbruck’s victory on the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race was anything but straight forward. It is the story of disaster and a determined comeback in great style. With less than 24 hours at sea, the yacht flooded her bow section so bad that the bow was under water. In a dramatic team effort the crew managed to keep the yacht afloat and got (…)