Régates Royales - Trophée Panerai : Consistency pays

Last racing day for the 44-boats strong Dragon fleet, that closed the event in style. UK’s Yvan Bradbury was declared the winner of the 39th Régates Royales de Cannes, with Russia’s Anatoly Loginov getting silver. Classic yachts had one more race on a triangular course, better defining the overall scoreboard, in view of tomorrow’s final round.

Even before the Dragons got on the race course, set east of the famous Palm Beach, there were few doubts that UK’s  Yvan Bradbury on Blue Haze, was going to win the 39th edition of the Régates Royales, thanks to a solid margin on Anatoly Loginov on Annapurna. The British team only had to control the Russians to be on the safe side and take the trophy home with him, with France’s Jean Bréger on Ulysse and Germany’s Pedro Rebelo de Andrade on Pow Wowbattling for bronze. At the end of the day, Bradbury and his crew managed to finish in 24th place and grab victory with a six-points advantage on the Russians.

The last race was crucial to define the remaining top spots. The course shortened due to an extremely light and shifty wind, it was German Pedro Rebelo de Andrade to finish second and make it to the third step of the podium.

Among the 5.5, Merk Holowesko from Bahamas on New Moon is still leading with an impressive series of  six wins out of eight races, with Swiss Christian Bent Wilhemsen on Otto in second. In the Tofinou class France’s  Patrice Riboud on Pitchsnatched victory from England’s Edward Fort on Pippa.

The Classics benefitted from a light wind to complete a race on a triangular course, with Cambria and Mariska duelling for the leadership, the latter winning yet another race in corrected time. Olympian, totally at ease in light airs, succeeded in leaving behind his nearly sistership Chips, skippered by Bruno Troublé.  Likewise Brendan Mc Carty's NY-40  Rowdy and Q Class  Leonore skippered by Italian Mauro Piani crossed in first and second  respectively, whilst Argentinean Daniel Sielecki’s Cippino only managed to finish in eighth place today, losing several points in the overall. These three boats will have the last say tomorrow for overall  victory in the regatta.

Among the smaller Marconi class, world-famous yacht designer German Frers, helming Fjord III, the boat designed by his father in 1947,  scored a first and is now separated by just point from Angelo Mozzarella’s Carron II. Today’s slightly stronger air also favoured the One Tonner Ganbare skippered by Don Wood, with Italy’s  Maxi Il Moro di Venezia owned by Massimiliano Ferruzzi closing in second.

Serial sailors
Jacques Fauroux

They may be America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, Mini Transat, offshore or Olympic sailors or maybe all of the above. Many can be seen on the dock in Cannes for the Régates Royales-Trophée Panerai.
Naval architect Jacques Fauroux is known internationally for his many winning boats, like  the Quarter Ton Cup Bullit and Three Quarter Ton Cup Maligawa or the 8 Metre Gaulois

Jacques Fauroux, you’re an aficionado of the Régates Royales de Cannes, who are you sailing with this time?
“I helped restoring Azaïs, a 6 Metre designed by François Camatte in 1933 and built here in Cannes for the Swiss owner Armand Martin. She was almost completely re-built by the shipyard  Phonem’s staff  and François Ramoger, François Camatte’s grandson. It was a huge task, almost all the ribs, the structure around the mast foot, 20% of the hull and the rig were replaced because the boat lied abandoned in the Netherlands. The owners wanted to take  the boat to her initial state and almost all the equipment is original.” 

And you helped with the restoration?
“Yes, as far as the rig is concerned. Azaïs spent most part of her life in Switzerland because he was owned by a member of the local yacht club, the Société Nautique de Genève. He kept and cared for the boat until 1951, when he expired and later his son raced her before she passed hands to several other owners.”

You’ve been involved in the designed of a few 8 Metre, right?
“Yes, the first  8 Metre I’ve designed was Gaulois in 1983 for Gaston Schmalz: the hull was aluminium, that was a first for the class.  I took part to the America’s Cup on France III between 1981 and 1983 in Newport, and that inspired me as far as materials were concerned because at the time there were no restrictions and the weight was to be similar to that of wooden boats. Later, in 1986 I designed  Gitana Sixty to celebrate baron de Rothschild’s sixtieth birthday, with a wooden deck and an aluminium hull, and four other identical 8 Metres called the Pandoras: La Fayette, Dora, Aluette and another one that has never been completed. The youngest one is Fleur de Lys , that was built in 2001 and I designed together with my son Nicolas. »

Have the boats changed much, since the inception of the International Rule in 1907?
“The 8 Metre haven’t changed much because there are few new boats but, on the other hand, there are more and more racing in the Classic division.”

Technical specs of a 6 Metres like Azaïs:
Designer: François Camatte
Builder: Chiesa de Cannes (1933)
LOA: 11,00 m
LWL: 7,00 m
Beam: 1,85 m
Draft: 1,60 m
Displacement: 40 000 kg
Sail area: 43 sq. m