The Voiles de Saint-Tropez has celebrated its thirtieth anniversary, already, of a timeless event that sometimes borders on a daydream. This new week dedicated to triumphant and, it seems, eternal yachting, passed as if in a dream, so much so that no one tires day after day of seeing the most beautiful yachts glide across the waves, born of the desire to sail well for nearly 140 years. Beyond the rankings and other trophies, we will remember above all the beautiful communion of spirit that brought together the 4,200 or so sailors, skippers or owners who came from all over the world to celebrate sailing and to thank in their own way Ikra, Pride, Patrice de Colmont and Saint Tropez for having had this simple idea one day in September 1981 to celebrate the art of living well at sea in this magical gulf. A torch taken up today with passion, and in the same spirit, by the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez.
The breath of the Nioulargue
“We would like everyone to remember, or learn, how the Nioulargue was born,” suggests André Beaufils, president of the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, “when in 1981, Patrice de Colmont, with his characteristic intuition, imagined a challenge without stakes, a regatta between a group of friends who had come to say hello at the end of the summer before the next sailing season. Initially named “Club 55 Cup”, the regatta born between two boats, Ikra and Pride, was to expand the following year and take the name of Nioulargue. A name inspired by the Provençal “Nioulargo” literally “Nest of the sea” after a shoal located 5 miles from the bay of Pampelonne and which serves as a shelter for the reproduction of multiple species of Mediterranean fish. It is also very interesting to note that it is the original regatta between a classic 12mJI and a modern racing-cruising yacht that gave its main characteristic to the Nioulargue, and then to the Voiles de Saint-Tropez: to make the boats of the last generation and those that wrote the history of yachting sail on the same water.
The year of the yawls
It is said to have been one of the first acts of President John F Kennedy at the beginning of his term of office, to make Manitou the Presidential Yacht in place of a powerful 92 foot motor boat. Kennedy loved this 62-foot Sparkman&Stephens yawl launched in 1936 and donated to the Coast Guards in 1955. Equipped with all the modern means of communication, Manitou was quickly nicknamed “The floating White house” by JFK himself. Five years after the Dallas assassination, Manitou was sold to the Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship in Piney Point, Maryland for $35,000. Olin Stephens had designed Manitou based on Dorado and Stormy Weather. A trio of enthusiasts bought her and brought her back to Europe to sail in the Mediterranean. The Swedish Claes Goran Nilsson, the New Zealander Phil Jordan and the American Pat Tierney have a cult passion for their boat. The three men and their cosmopolitan crew are committed to “learning” the boat. Eighth at the end of this week, they promise that next year, Manitou will be the boat to beat in Saint Tropez.
Other “newbies” that were very popular this year were Firefly, a Dutch 115-footer designed by Hoek Design and built in 2011 at the Jachtbouw shipyard, and the revival of Skylark, a 53-foot yawl launched in 1937 by the Pendleton shipyard in Maine, based on a Sparkman and Stephens design. Skylark is considered as an evolution of Stormy Weather or Sonny. We were also pleasantly surprised by the excellent behavior in light airs of another yawl; Runa IV, helmed by Bruno Troublé; built in 1918 at the Nielsen shipyard in Denmark, (10m73), this small auric cannot deny its Viking origins. This wooden racer with a long keel was saved from destruction in 2009 by Yves Carcelle who brought it back from San Francisco to have it completely restored at the Guip shipyard in Brest.
On Thursdays, we challenge ourselves!
13 Défis, the regatta of the centenarians have, in addition to the Club 55 Cup, animated the water level of Les Voiles last Thursday, in accordance with the tradition. The race direction and Georges Kohrel, taking into account the huge anticyclone which bathes the whole country, had drawn a small course of 6,5 miles in the heart of the gulf, where a small flow of east-northeast had since the beginning of the week taken the habit of taking residence at midday. The various challengers were invited from midday onwards to set off as close as possible to Portalet, towards the La Rabiou mark, then the Sèche à l’huile at the entrance to the gulf, before slipping downwind towards a finish anchored off the Jean Réveille mole.
Mariquita and Altaïr faced each other in a titanic battle on the Nioulargue Club 55 course as part of the Club 55 Cup. Particularity 2011 – and thirtieth anniversary – Ikra, with on board a part of the original crew of the 12M and Pride, was associated to the duel. After a nice start on the right side of the race course, the scenario of the first days of the Voiles was repeated on the way of the giants who, as soon as they left the gulf, ran out of wind. The two challengers came together to shake hands. A tie in the chivalrous spirit of the Voiles was declared.
Avel wins the Rolex Trophy
The auric cutter Avel (wind in Breton), characterized by its bow with guibre and its tiller is the new holder of the Rolex Trophy. Commissioned in 1896 by René Calame to Charles Nicholson, Avel was from the start designed for racing. In 1927, the beautiful cutter fell into oblivion, and spent many years in a mudflat in England. It was Maurizio Gucci who saved her in 1990, entrusting her restoration to Harry Spencer and Clark Poston in Cowes. In 1994, Avel joined the Mediterranean Classic circuit, where she still shines. Avel is the very first auric cutter to win this prestigious trophy.
Les Echos Trophy/Limited Edition
Yacht elected Prix Les Echos/Limited Edition 2011 at the Voiles de Saint-Tropez : VERONIQUE !
Paris Première Trophy :
The Trophée Paris Première is open to modern yachts with an overall length of 16 meters or more. The ranking is established from the race ranking. Highland Fling, Irvine Laidlaw, Proto Wally
Centenary Regatta, Gstaad Yacht Club Trophy ;
Thursday is a day of challenges, and this year saw the emergence of a new idea from the Gstaad Yacht Club. Peter Erzberger, Commodore of the GYC, in a commendable desire to get closer to the world of the sea and regattas, chose Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez and its organizing club, the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, to offer centenarian sailboats their own regatta, within the framework of the day dedicated to this type of challenge, the Thursday day. The Gstaad Yacht Club offers a trophy to the winning yacht of a handicap race, according to the rules of the International Mediterranean Committee. The slowest yacht starts first, the fastest last. The winner was the first to cross the finish line under the Portalet. The Gstaad Yacht Club, founded in 1998 in the Swiss mountains, thus signs its rapprochement with Saint Tropez. The club has 400 members of 23 nationalities.
The huge fleet of beautiful yachts registered at Les Voiles includes no less than 18 “centenarians”. Victory, with a pedigree dating back to 1883, is the oldest, while Pesa and Mariquita, born in 1911, are the youngest members of this informally prestigious club.
result:
1- Bonafide (Sibbick 1899)
2- Tuiga (Fife 1909)
3- Pesa (Oertz 1911)
4- Mariska (Fife 1908)
5- Nan of Fife (Fife 1896)
6- Victory (Hitchens 1883)
7- Kelpie (Mylne 1903)
8- Avel (Nicholson 1896)
9- Partridge (Beavor Webb 1885)
10- Marigold (Nicholson 1892)
11- Veronique (Luke 1907)
12- Windhover (Hambleants 1904)
13- Wayward (Shepherd 1908)
14- Owl (Shepher 1909)
15- Sif (Hansen 1894)