A dazzling final day of Act I of Les Voiles Trophies and awards Shenandoah, Scud, Skylark, Sumurun, Jap, EugeniaV, Espar II, Lulu, Bona, stars of the Classics… Nanoq wins the BMW Trophy again
Thousands of square metres of sails were hoisted in a joyous din this Saturday evening at the end of a breathtaking closing day for the first part of the Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2022. The particularly rough conditions on this final day had prompted the committee and teams from the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez to change the programme at the crack of dawn to take advantage of a rougher, but more manageable, window early in the morning. The several thousand crew involved in the modern boats under 60 feet and the incredible fleet of traditional sailing boats who took to the water one last time will have no regrets. It’s clear that they’ve filled up on memories to recharge that poignant desire to – always – come back to Les Voiles!
Classics are chic! For this final day, the gulf was decked out in its finest finery, with calm to rough seas and moderate to strong westerly winds, favouring sumptuous starts under spinnaker, on port tack in all the classes, the prelude to often decisive jousts at the head of each of the groups. Between the Mistral at the start of the week and the Challenge Day on Thursday, the Classic yachts completed two races, each contested in very different conditions: moderate winds yesterday, and a freshening Mistral today. As a result, the sailors were able to put their venerable steeds through their paces in very different ways on an extremely changeable stretch of water, forcing them to carry out a whole host of heavy manoeuvres, not least changing the headsails. Carrying under spinnaker, wind on the beam under genoa, then back upwind towards the head of the gulf and the Portalet under jib and genoa redrew the beautiful spectacle of the Voiles, a fantastic spectacle both on the water and from the piers. The three 12m JI boats, Il Moro di Venezia, France and Ikra were all keen to put on a spectacular speed run. In a matter of seconds, France got the better of Ikra, but not by enough to overtake Eugenia V (Rhodes 1968) on corrected time. It was the same scenario in the Auric Epoque Group as in Spartan, with Herreshoff’s speedy New York 50 dominating on the line, but unable to overcome its measurement handicap against Torben Grael’s formidable Scud (Herreshoff 1903), another winner in Saint-Tropez. Shenandoah of Sark, the impressive three-masted schooner (Ferris 1902) was the scarecrow of the Rolex Trophy support group. Beaten in Race 1 by the astonishing Paine Viveka, she bounced back magnificently in the breeze to win the day’s race and, at the same time, the prestigious Rolex Trophy.
8 other Trophies were awarded this evening, rewarding the winners of as many Tradition groups. The winners were as follows: Torpez Trophy (Classic Marconi A), Eugenia V (Rhodes 1968), Turquoise Trophy (Classic Marconi B), Espar II (Sangermani 1968). Mercantour Trophy (Auric A), to Scud (Herreshoff 1903) Byblos Trophy (Auric B), to Lulu (Rabot 1897), Marshall Trophy (Marconi A) Skylark1937 (Olin Stephens 1937), the Trophée SNSM (Epoque Marconi B) to Bona (Baglietto 1934), Trophée Besserat de Bellefon (Grand Tradition) to Sumurun (Fife 1914) and the Trophée Pierre Basset, won by Jap (Fife 1897) crowning the best yacht in the “Guests” group.
Moderns, the pleasure of gliding The day was all about gliding for the 132 yachts in the ‘Modern’ section of the Voiles. A perfectly smooth stretch of water on the start line, with the wind blowing in the direction of the exit from the gulf, encouraged sailors and tacticians to put out all their sails in the direction of Cavalaire. As predicted, the Mistral took hold during the day, and it was in a good 25 knots, gusting to 30, with a heavy chop, that the finishes were judged. The BMW Trophy crowned an undisputed winner in the IRC C class, a familiar name on the podium in the Tropez and elsewhere, the TP52 Nanoq owned by the Prince of Denmark. The member of the Hong Kong Yacht Club, Karl Kwok (Beau Geste), who made a dazzling start to the week, dropped back in Friday’s stole. He took a deserved second place, well ahead of another TP52, Peter Harrison’s Jolt 3. The North Sails Trophy, IRC B, also provided the backdrop for some epic battles throughout the week. Laurent Courbin (First 53 Yaziga), emerged victorious from the tug-of-war which pitted him against Linda Goddard (Swan 53 Bedouin), and the Solaris 50 Nergy (Jean François Guillon). Peter Dubens (North Star II Cape 31) was awarded the Suzuki Trophy for his victory in IRC D. He edged out Marc Pajot (Cape 31 Dopamine), again at the end of a terrible mano a mano. Jolt 4, Tilly Harrison’s third Cape 31, completed the podium. The Trophée Marine de Cogolin (IRC E) and Trophée Bernard Optique (IRC F) were awarded respectively to King Of Blue, Pascal Fran, and Pippa, Bernard Giroux’s Tofinou 9.5.
Prize-giving ceremony It was in the Village des Voiles that the prize-giving ceremony for the 24th Voiles de Saint-Tropez was held, in a warm atmosphere, chaired by Pierre Roinson and attended by Sylvie Siri, Mayor of Saint-Tropez, Eric Colombin, Managing Director of Rolex France, and Patrice de Colmont, initiator of the Nioulargue. Tomorrow, Sunday, will be a pivotal day in the new format of the Voiles: some will leave, others will arrive. From tomorrow onwards, the Classic yachts will be setting sail for new adventures, a well-deserved winter refit for some, and a transhumance to the West Indies for others. They will make way for other, more futuristic ‘racing beasts’, the Maxi yachts over 60 feet long, which will liven up the second week of the Voiles in the most sporting sense of the word. 50 of these yachts are expected this week.
In their own words: Georges Korhel, Principal Race Officer “A great week of sailing. Of course we regret the absence of regattas for the Traditions at the start of the week due to the Mistral. We’re adapting by waking everyone up a little earlier today, for example, to avoid the strongest wind in the afternoon. Today’s starts were absolutely superb. We’ve been choosing coastal courses all week, to avoid the heavy seas. Challenge Day was another success. It was a great Club 55 Cup with a course that was also adapted to avoid the sea at La Nioulargue. After 24 years, we’re still finding ways to sail well. Scheduling the Maxis in the second week means we can have shorter courses that are well suited to the fleet. The geopositioned buoys have worked well and that’s a plus. Our computer application means we don’t have to use paper.
Serge Guilhaumou, captain of Shenandoah from 1993 to 2002, crew member on today’s race “We set off in good conditions, downwind, in a variable wind. From the Sèche mark, the wind started to pick up from the land, and we had to adapt our sail plan to the conditions, i.e. without hoisting the jib sails or all the headsails. It was 25 knots at the time. We were returning to Naema in gusts of over 32 knots. It was magnificent! We did everything on one tack, there were some big gusts and we had to ease off a lot to avoid breaking. We were doing over 12 knots. Naema had to tack just before the finish line, and we took advantage of that to get past them and win the regatta. There were 21 of us on board, but we can go up to 30. The boat was completely rebuilt in New Zealand over a 2-year period in 1996. We’ve been round the world almost twice since the refit.
Programme 2022
Semaine 2 : Les Voiles Maxi Yachts
Dimanche 3 et lundi 4 octobre : accueil des grandes unités modernes (Wally, Mini Maxis, Maxis, Super Maxis)
Mardi 4, mercredi 5, vendredi 7, samedi 8 : régates
Jeudi 6 : lay day/reserve day
Samedi 8 octobre : remise des prix (semaine 2)
Partners of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez ROLEX BMW NORTH SAILS WALLY SUZUKI MARINE MARSHALL MERCANTOUR BYBLOS BESSERAT DE BELLEFON TORPEZ (VIGNOBLES DE SAINT-TROPEZ) BERNARD OPTIC PEPINIERES PIERRE BASSET ESPRIT VILLAGE A SAINT-TROPEZ
VILLE DE SAINT-TROPEZ
PORT DE SAINT-TROPEZ
LES MARINES DE COGOLIN
FEDERATION FRANCAISE DE VOILE
YACHT CLUB DE FRANCE
INTERNATIONAL MAXI ASSOCIATION
Organisation :
Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez
Président : Pierre Roinson
Principal Race Officer : Georges Korhel
Responsable Régates : Frédérique Fantino
Responsable technique : Philippe Martinez
Communication et Attachée de Direction : Chloé de Brouwer
Rédaction : Denis Van den Brink
Site internet : www.lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr
Media site : www.snst-media.com/
Facebook : les Voiles de Saint-Tropez Officiel www.facebook.com/VoilesDeSaintTropezOfficiel
Twitter : @VoilesSTOrg
Instagram : les_voiles_de_saint_tropez https://www.instagram.com/les_voiles_de_saint_tropez/
Photo
SNST/Gilles Martin-Raget
Vidéo
SNST/Guilain Grenier, 6G
Relations Presse :
Maguelonne Turcat