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.
GBR Challenge Chairman Peter Harrison today officially opened the base from which the syndicate will mount its tilt at the world’s oldest sporting trophy, the America’s Cup. The internet entrepreneur informed his guests that Great Britain had last been part of the America’s Cup in 1987 and, in its historic return to the event, intended to go (…)
The British/Aussie pair, Alex Bennett & Paul Larsen, on board One Dream One Mission, arrived as victors of the Transat Jacques Vabre Open 50 division in Bahia, Brazil, at 0424hrs 45s GMT on Thursday 22nd November 2001. Their ‘yellow boat’, none other than the ex-Aqua Quorum of Pete Goss from the 1996 Vendée, and the ex-Kingfisher on which (…)
C’est à 2h24 heure locale soit à 5h24 heure française que One Dream, One Mission skippé par Alex Bennett et Paul Larsen a franchi la ligne d’arrivée de cette cinquième Transat Jacques Vabre, Le Havre/ Salvador de Bahia. Ce 50 pieds au palmarès incroyable a avalé les 4 340 milles du parcours en 18 jours, 16 heures, 34 minutes et 45 secondes. Un (…)
At last, out of this night will come the first two Open 50’s, both of whom are due to finish from 0200hrs GMT in Bahia. Leading by 40 miles in the ‘yellow boat’ One Dream One Mission is Brit/Aussie pair Alex Bennett & Paul Larsen. They are feeling more than just the Brazilian heat on their backs, but also the heat from the close competition (…)
Ce mardi, les arrivées se sont poursuivies à Salvador de Bahia. Nous avons pu joindre ceux qui n’allaient pas tarder à conclure, et d’autres pour qui la course n’est pas encore terminée. Certains se battent pour revenir sur le concurrent devant ou pour préserver leur place, tandis que d’autres poursuivent leur route vers le Brésil sans d’autre (…)
Volvo Ocean Race records have been tumbling over the last 48 hours, but what is required to sail a 24-hour record ? On Sunday News Corp first beat Silk Cut’s record from the previous race and shortly after, SEB moved the benchmark to 459 miles. Now just 9 more miles are needed to establish a new 24-hour world monohull speed record.
Vainqueur de la Transat Jacques Vabre avec son compère Steve Ravussin, Franck Cammas remporte son deuxième titre de Champion 9 TELECOM ORMA sur le fil ! En effet, à l’issue de six épreuves de la saison, le skipper de Groupama marque 78 points, à égalité parfaite avec Alain Gautier (Foncia) !
Sill Plein Fruit, skippered by Roland Jourdain and Gael Le Cleac’h, crossed the line at 2313hrs local time in Bahia on Monday night, or 0113hrs GMT, Tuesday 20th November. The red boat takes sweet victory in the Open 60 Monohull class, after spending 16 days, 13 hours, 23 mins & 41 seconds on course. An flawless race for this (…)
Déjà cinq multicoques à Bahia ! Après Bonduelle la nuit dernière, c’est Belgacom qui pointait ses étraves dans le port de Bahia ce mardi matin : Jean-Luc Nélias et Michel Desjoyeaux sont arrivés à 3 heures 18 minutes et 5 secondes (GMT) soit après 15 jours 15 heures 28 minutes et 5 secondes à la moyenne de 13,82 noeuds par rapport à la route (…)
Après Groupama, premier multicoque arrivé hier soir dimanche 18 novembre 2001 à 18h53 heure locale, c’est au tour de célébrer l’arrivée du premier monocoque de cette cinquième édition de la Transat Jacques Vabre, soit Sill Plein Fruit skippé par Roland Jourdain et Gaël Le Cléac’h. Le monocoque rouge a coupé la ligne d’arrivée à 23h13 heure (…)