Les Voiles de Saint Tropez - Day 5
by Denis van den Brink 4 Oct 2014 11:06 BST
27 September - 5 October 2014
An autumn in Pampelonne
It is a forgotten place in winter, where the morning sun beats down silvery rays over the crowds in search of a little coolness by the beaches. It's a site where boats of all sizes and types rule supreme over this October weekend, the futuristic and classic sails monopolising everyone's gaze. Saint Tropez, its bay and its beaches, extend the summer festivity, as much on shore as on the water, where no fewer than 4,000 sailors once again got together today, on the orders of their respective race committees, to lap up the racing on offer in the breeze. It may only be a zephyr in this the tail end of the week, but still the sun is shining. And so it was that some 120 Classic yachts set sail from midday, bound for a large triangle at the edge of the bay, whilst the Modern yachts headed off to tease the choppy conditions offshore of Pampelonne. With the exception of the large Wallys and J Classes, victims of a capricious wind, which put paid to any form of stability, all the Modern and Classic groups were able to compete in another hotly contested race that got the grey matter turning.
The Modern and Classic yachts validate a race
Back in the day of the Nioulargue, one can imagine the reaction of Eric Tabarly, the father of Les Voiles: "I'd have never imagined that one day I'd see in the flesh what I discovered in books..." And yet this is exactly what visitors get to see each year as they mass around the breakwaters or the various vantage points of the Vieux Port. The spectacle of no fewer than 120 classic yachts racing around the bay became a reality at midday, the little gaffers leading the way in a light westerly wind. A small, very short chop complicated the trimming for a brief moment before each group got out their entire sail wardrobe and made for the outside of the bay on a course, which had once again been cleverly studied to give each tactician, each crew, the opportunity to show-off their skills whatever the point of sail. Setting off slightly later in the early afternoon and following a course reduction at the entrance to the bay, the 5 IRC groups still managed to blend their modern rigs with those of the traditional yachts for a fabulous 'bottleneck of styles' below Portalet.
Newcomer to Les Voiles, the 8 mR Silhouette
Silhouette is an International 8 Metre craft designed by the famous William Fife III in 1910. She was built in Germany at the Abeking & Rasmussen yard for Otto C. Ernst, a German Consul from Hamburg. Christened Woge IV, she had a successful spell on the race circuit in North Germany before being sold to Denmark, where she was rediscovered by her former owner, Carl-Heinz Otto, in the mid-eighties. She was fully restored in Germany according to her original plans. Over the past 20 years, she has raced on Lake Constance as well as competing in both European and World Championships. "Last year, we had the opportunity to purchase Silhouette and today my wife and I are very happy to be the owners of such a beautiful yacht. Participating in the Centenary Trophy aboard Silhouette is a dream come true for us and we're very happy to be battling it out against the finest classic yachts in the world", explains Daniel Heine.
The Magic of the "8"s!
The "International Eight Metre Class" not surprisingly gathers together the 8-metre Class yachts. These so-called '8's' or 8mR are not absolutely identical, but they all have to abide by the same measurement rule. Prior to the Second World War, the '8's were the most prestigious international class. The '8 metre' title doesn't refer to the boat's length; rather it is a result of a class rule formula. 8mRs generally measure around 15 metres in length. Between 1907 and 2008, nearly 500 8mRs were built, of which 177 are still sailing today. The measurement rule established in 1907 enabled the creation of a class of fast, simple to build boats. The 8 mRs were selected as an Olympic Class in 1908 and they remained an Olympic craft through until 1936. William Fife III (1857-1944), also known as William Fife Jr., formed part of the third generation of a family of Scottish naval architects and builders. Renowned for his gaff cutters and his schooners, Fife created and built the particularly high performance 8mR in Fairlie. This design genius created over 600 boats, including two for the America's Cup, 4 for the 23m Class, two 19m, eight 15m, seventeen 12 m Js and over forty 8 mRs and fifty 6 ms. Silhouette, Rainbow III and Fulmar are sailing at Les Voiles under the prestigious dragon icon.
Queens of beauty
We celebrate and flatter all the many forms of beauty in Saint Tropez; the splendour of the venue, the elegance of the futuristic yachts and the centenarians, as well as, and why not, the eternal woman represented by Miss Provence, Anne Laure Formont, invited to race at Les Voiles today with the crew of Ikra, the now legendary 12 mJ. Sébastien Destremau, skipper of the white yacht with the red stripe, confirms it: Miss Provence, runner-up to Miss France 2014, is not here as a guest but rather as a member of the crew.
lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr/en