Saint-Tropez wakes up still vibrating from a night of festivities animated until dawn by sailors eager to extend to the end a week of sport and festivities, in every way exceptional. The 2010 Voiles de Saint-Tropez drew to a close on Sunday at the traditional prize-giving ceremony at the citadel, where the sailors came to share a final moment of conviviality, before looking forward to next year and an anniversary edition that we can’t wait to see.
6 races for the Wally, 4 for the Moderns, and 4 for the Classics; a full house! The 2010 edition of the Voiles de Saint-Tropez will be remembered, and unanimously, as one of the most intense and successful. Perfectly inserted between Mistral and an easterly gale, the beautiful week in the Tropez area brought each day the right amount of wind, sun and sea to guarantee the holding of great regattas, perfectly fair, and suitable to compete each day on courses with varied relief. The winners celebrated today at the Citadelle of Saint-Tropez will not be challenged. The 5 IRC groups gathering the Modern yachts, the 10 categories identifying the different types of classic yachts, and of course the beautiful fleet of 11 Wallys all have their champion today, often designated after bitter nautical battles.
3 Three-masted ships on the Tropezian waterfront
A nautical festival, an exceptional gathering of more than 125 years of maritime engineering, the Voiles de Saint-Tropez also offered this year the rare spectacle of three large three-masted schooners sailing in the gulf. Atlantic (70 meters), the superb replica of Charlie Barr’s boat, fresh from its Dutch shipyard, came to greet the immense three-masted schooner Adix (66 meters), competing in elegance with Creole (65 meters), the magnificent three-masted ship designed in 1927 by Charles Nicholson.
Note the very interesting crossing on the water of Atlantic, record holder of the Atlantic crossing in 1903, with the all-carbon ketch Mari Cha III (44.70 m) which was 95 years later, in 1998. It was in Saint-Tropez, and nowhere else.
Lionheart
With the recent authorization to use aluminum for the hulls, new projects are born, based on the plans and specifications of the master Charles Ernest Nicholson and the rules of the J Class. During the Voiles de Saint Tropez, the latest replica from the Claasen Jachtbouw BV shipyard in the Netherlands, Lionheart, was built according to the research of Starling Burgess and Olin Stephens with the Dutchman Hoek at the helm. 20 large J Class were designed between 1930 and 1937. Ten were built. To Velsheda, Shamrock V and Endeavour are added today the faithful replicas Ranger (2004), Hanuman (2009) and Lionheart. Others could follow, Atlantis and Rainbow in the perspective of a great “historic” meeting in the Solent in June 2012. Lioheart has exceptional measurements, 44 meters long.
Icap Leopard3
Inspired in its hull volumes by the Open 60s or Volvo 70s that have made Farr Yacht Design so successful, Leopard 3 is a super yacht with exceptional comfort, combined with outstanding performance on the high seas. 30 meters long, 6.80 wide and with an air draft of 47 meters, Leopard benefits from a canting keel that can be tilted by 40 degrees, giving the yacht a stability equivalent to that of 200 men on rappel. Leopard has successfully sailed the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. A record-breaking sailboat, last summer it had to lose its attempt against the Atlantic crossing record due to a lack of wind.
They were at the Voiles…
Newcomers or regulars to the Voiles, the event is full of renowned sailors every year. The 2010 edition included, in alphabetical order: Alexia Barrier, Brad Butterworth, Catherine Chabaud, Bertrand de Broc, Karine Fauconnier, Philippe Monnet, Doug Peterson, Marc Pajot, Yves Parlier, Lionel Péan, Cécile Poujol, Mike Sanderson, Jean-Yves Terlain, Alain Thébault, Marc Thiercelin, Dominique Wavre, …
SPECIAL AWARDS :
Rolex Trophy: Ikra talent and luck
Still tied since last Tuesday, Ikra and Rowdy engaged in a magnificent duel from a distance that rewarded regularity and performance. Unfortunate in this final round, Rowdy accumulated some small mistakes and extra maneuvers, which almost cost him the final victory. Graham Walker’s genius and Rowdy’s strong performance allowed him to narrowly win the race and remain in contention for the “Rolex Trophy”. Very comfortable since the beginning of the week, even allowing itself to win with very comfortable gaps in compensated time, Yves-Marie Morault’s Ikra, skippered by Sébastien Destremau, is therefore competing against Rowdy for the title.
During the prize-giving ceremony, which took place at the Citadelle from 11 a.m., Mr. Philippe Schaeffer presented the trophy and a Rolex Submariner watch to Ikra, the winner of the draw between the two yachts with the same number of points.
“Traditional yacht of the year” prize organized by Les Echos Limited series
Avel wins the “Limited Edition” prize for traditional yachts at the Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2010. Awarded for the second consecutive year, this prize rewards a yacht that honors the values of fine yachting, quality of the boat, ethics, crew …. The winning boat of the year will be elected among the pre-selected boats during the six regattas and gatherings constituting the “Limited series of traditional yachting” circuit in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Its name will be unveiled during the inauguration of the Nautic in Paris.
Avel, name of a Breton wind, was ordered in 1896 by the Frenchman René Calame to Charles Nicholson. In 1897, the beautiful 23.50 meters long cutter left the Camper and Nicholson shipyards. Abandoned in 1927, she was renovated in the 90’s and has been sailing in the classic yacht fleets ever since. It joins the very closed clan of the contenders for the 2010 title.
Parade of crews
It is traditionally on Thursday evening that the participants in the Voiles de Saint-Tropez compete in originality and extravagance to lead the parade from the Voiles village to the Quai Jean Jaurès, in the wake of a jazz band and street artists. It is the crew of Tuiga, dressed as a Polynesian, who had the favor of the jury.
In Cambria the Club 55 Cup
It was one of the highlights of Thursday’s race, the Club 55 Cup, a challenge among challenges, which saw last year’s winner challenge a challenger on the historic and founding course of the Nioulargue, starting at Portalet and racing with a south-westerly wind towards the Nioulargue, with the finish judged at Pampelonne in front of the famous Club 55, a theoretical distance of 15 miles. The 23m JI Cambria (Fife 1927) won this year against the gold cutter Mariquita (Fife 1911). Winner on the water and on a regular basis, Cambria will nevertheless, and according to the very precise rules of the Club 55 Cup, have to leave its title of Defender next year to Mariquita. It is indeed stipulated that the Club 55 Cup cannot be won twice. So, it’s up to the gilt-edged cutter to challenge a challenger so that this beautiful moment of the Sails will continue in 2011.
They said:
André Beaufils, President of the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez
“A superb edition, which leaves a lot of happiness to all the sailors. I would like to thank all the teams on land and on the water who did a great job. I have a lot of regrets for our friends from the sailing boats Adria and Harlequin who were victims of collision. This reinforces our idea to go even further in terms of safety. The Voiles de Saint-Tropez are above all a celebration, a great gathering of sublime sailboats, and it is this spirit that must prevail, including over the spirit of competition.”
Georges Korehl, Race Director
“We can only be satisfied with such a week during which we have validated races for all our categories in competition every day. The weather helped us a lot and I don’t remember such a beautiful edition in terms of wind and sun conditions. Just a small regret that I share with the whole organization, and which concerns a slight excess of aggressiveness of some competitors, in particular during the starting phases. However, we had tightened our safety measures on the water. We will be even more demanding next year so that no incident will tarnish what must remain a party…”