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.
Parti le 19 septembre dernier de Manhattan, le trimaran de 53 pieds Great American II vient d’arriver en Australie. Il a franchit la ligne d’arrivée mouillée devant le Royal Yacht Club of Victoria. Il était 13h29 mardi après midi (heure australienne).
A finish gun fired from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria at 1:29 PM today signaled a new sailing record from New York City to Melbourne. The 53-foot trimaran Great American II completed the 15,000-mile voyage to Australia in 68 days 10 hours 7 minutes 52 seconds, breaking a record that had stood for 146 years.
The SeaSailSurfer of the month has won the two-handed transatlantic from Le Havre to Salvador de Bahia. He is from Switzerland and is nearly 33 years old : Stève Ravussin was Franck Cammas crew aboard the 60’ trimaran Groupama.
Le SeaSailSurfer du mois s’est illustré entre Le Havre et Salvador de Bahia. Il s’agit du Suisse Stève Ravussin, vainqueur au coté de Franck Cammas de la Transat Jacques Vabre dans la catégorie des monocoques.
FRA 46 et NZL 32 en plein circling devant l’île de Groix. Photo : Ch.Guigueno
Samedi 24 novembre, dans le petit Solent breton qui sépare Lorient de l’île de Groix, s’est déroulé le dernier entraînement de l’année des deux Class America français, FRA 46 et NZL 32. Les deux bateaux, l’ex-6e Sens, demi-finaliste de la Louis Vuitton Cup 1999 et Black Magic, vainqueur de la Cup 1995, ne reverront la mer qu’en mars 2002 avec (…)
Sailors worldwide will be able to keep up with the latest sailing news with CNN’s new TV programme Inside Sailing starting this Sunday the 25th November at 2030 GMT.
Course au Large était un magazine de l’époque des maxi-multicoques. Édité par l’Union Nationale pour la Course au Large, il était le pendant français du britannique Seahorse, le magazine du RORC. Course au Large avait terminé sa carrière sous un grand format illisible.
The Transat Jacques Vabre 2001 was the last event to count in the biennial FICO-LACOSTE 2001 World Championships, for skipper, crews and sponsors alike, and the results of this race have finally determined the winners, who will be presented with their titles on the 7th December in Paris, at the
official Awards Ceremony.
Pendant que la concurrence s’entraîne à Auckland, les membres du Défi Français pour la Coupe de l’America poursuivent leur préparation à Lorient dans le Morbihan. La nouvelle base, créée entre les deux bases sous-marines, vestiges de la dernière guerre mondiale, va être inaugurée ce soir en présence de Jean-Yves Le Drian. Le président de la (…)
Après 14 ans d’absence dans la première épreuve sportive du monde créée dans leurs eaux, les Anglais viennent de concrétiser leur retour dans la Coupe de l’America en ouvrant leur base à Auckland.