Globe 40 race

[r_h]

Anyone following this double handed race round the world in Class 40s?

I'm competing on Jangada 40. We left Sydney on Jan 1 for the start of Leg 4 and have just passed south of New Zealand at 48.5 degrees south.

After a week at sea and 1400 miles, the two Scow bow boats are only 200 meters apart and four of the older sharp bow boats are all within 20 miles of each other.

Here's a piece I wrote for Yachting World while in Sydney: What it’s like racing double-handed around the world in a 40-footer - Yachting World

 

[John_Silver]

Am now….Hope that there are more pieces in the pipeline? Fair wind!

Tracker here. Plus coverage on this Voiles et Voiliers tab (sub required)

 

[Ed Sned]

Rupert - yes, have been following you all since the start!
It's a long race in a boat as brutally stripped out as a Class40! Is Janganda (a Verdier 40 from 2017?) any more comfortable than the latest boats?
Anyway, good luck - will be watching you!

 

[John_Silver]

Jangada Racing / Rupert & Richard back story. Arriving at Reunion (4.14 in - should open there)

And leaving Sydney, on the current leg

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[r_h]

Rupert - yes, have been following you all since the start!
It's a long race in a boat as brutally stripped out as a Class40! Is Janganda (a Verdier 40 from 2017?) any more comfortable than the latest boats?
Anyway, good luck - will be watching you!

Thanks Ed!
Yes, she's a 2017 Verdier - the same design in which Yannick Bestevan won the 2015 Tranast Jacques Vabre.
The newer Scows have an even more violent motion, but we are just as stripped out as they are. One advantage we share with the scows that the other older sharp bow boats lack is a decent cuddy with a couple of seats at the front of the cockpit - it makes a huge difference.

 

[John_Silver]

Rupert enjoys Jangada’s cuddy:





Three way fleet split: Two scows duel out front (Credit Mutuel & Belgian Ocean). Four way fight between the sharps (Jangada, Whiskey Jack, Barco & Wilson).

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Free Dom (sharp) in Sydney, repairing UFO damage.

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Richard reports “champagne sailing,” aboard Jangada. With rivals to all sides. Facebook vid.

 

[John_Silver]

Minutes apart at the date line, in the sharp fleet:

 

[John_Silver]

From the Jangada Racing FB page​

Here pictured leaving Sydney



Where the scow Mutuel Credit made a full crew change for the Big South: British Vendee Globe aspirant Alan Roberts (co skipper to Clarisse's L'Occitane / Alex Thomson Racing VG campaign in 2024 &, until sponsorship was terminated, on the Holcim / Rosalin Kuiper VG 2028 team).........





........pairs up with Antoine Carpentier, the 2021 Class40 champion



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[John_Silver]

Its time to reef, aboard (sharp) Whiskey Jack, holding to the rhumb line with Wilson and Barco. Jangada breaks north.



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[John_Silver]

Richard & Rupert talk tactics, aboard (sharp) Jangada:​

Jade repairs the J2, aboard (sharp) Wilson:



The oldest boat in the Globe40 fleet



Lisa's Blog tells their pre-race tale



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[John_Silver]

459nm day for (scow) Belgian Ocean Racing. Putting her ahead of (scow) Credit Mutuel by 19nm

Yacht Racing, Tech and Design




EDIT Helen Fretter interviews designer Sam Manuard (aka M. Scow Bow) fresh from Class40 success in the 2021 Fastnet. A strong advocate for the power of the scow and the simplicity of the Class40.

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[ridgy]

I'm surprised that there are only 8 entries when the McIntyre plodfest gets three times as such and when the costs are split between two it probably doesn't cost that much more.
Given that you would have to be of an adventurous mind to buy a class 40 in the first place and it avoids the deep south so much less chance of dying/losing the boat.

 

[John_Silver]

Weather warning issued by Race Control (auto-translated from original French....)



Whilst on the subject of unwelcome news: UFO damage to Free Dom looking “compliqué,” now that she has been lifted in Sydney. Not 'just' a bent rudder stock (post #6 ) but structural hull damage too. Thibaut setting to, with resin, rollers & rovings.

 

[John_Silver]

I'm surprised that there are only 8 entries when the McIntyre plodfest gets three times as such and when the costs are split between two it probably doesn't cost that much more.
Given that you would have to be of an adventurous mind to buy a class 40 in the first place and it avoids the deep south so much less chance of dying/losing the boat.

Not sure on the costs aspect, but Globe40 routes around Cape Horn (56 South) v Mini Globe through the Panama canal. Big adventures both!

 

[ridgy]

Not sure on the costs aspect, but Globe40 routes around Cape Horn (56 South) v Mini Globe through the Panama canal. Big adventures both!

I was referring to his GGR thing that also goes round the horn.

 

[John_Silver]

I was referring to his GGR thing that also goes round the horn.

My mistake. In that case, I share your surprise. Particularly given the strength of the Class40 fleet in the home of shorthanded ocean racing, Atlantic France. Fingers crossed that edition 3 of the Globe40 attracts more entries. Melodie, on Whiskey Jack, is back for her second ‘go.’….

 

[ridgy]

Exactly, given where it starts and finishes, and you can change crew so nobody has to take 6 months off work there should be a waiting list.

 

[John_Silver]

Wilson and Whiskey Jack join Jangada in the north. Where the weather is picking up, ahead of the storm. The scene aboard Wilson this morning.



Richard and Rupert's boat, Class40 No 152, has some claims to fame. Seen here in her 2017 launch livery



BUILT in the (then) yard of Vendee Globe veteran Louis Burton
DESIGNED by Guillaume Verdier. 'Imagineer' of Charlie Dalin's 2024 Vendee Globe winner; and the, paradigm shifting, Ultim Edmond de Rothschild 18.
PEAK SHARP. Launched just before the 2019 dawn of the David Raison scows.
SKIPPERED by Tom Laperche. Until he took the helm of Ultim SVR Lazartigue.



Renamed Jangada 40 in 2023 by Richard and Rupert






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[John_Silver]

Update from (sharp) Whiskey Jack. View from the mast cam with Melodie & Colin on the foredeck fighting the J1



Melodie explains



all was going well until the J1 unfurled itself​

EDIT Aboard Jangada, Richard & Rupert weigh their options. Pleased, no doubt, with their decision to head north two days ago. Now joined by, fellow sharps, Wilson and Whiskey Jack.



Of the sharps, only Barco has routed south along the rhumb line. Along with the two scows, 750ish nm further east (after 10 days at sea).​

 

[r_h]

I'm surprised that there are only 8 entries when the McIntyre plodfest gets three times as such and when the costs are split between two it probably doesn't cost that much more.
Given that you would have to be of an adventurous mind to buy a class 40 in the first place and it avoids the deep south so much less chance of dying/losing the boat.

These boats are a different ball game when it comes to costs - many multiples of a GGR campaign.
Another factor that reduced entries is that many (if not most) Class40s are sponsored by French companies, but there's limited return for them from a race that spends so long on the other side of the planet.
Originally 16 teams were signed up, but only 8 were able to get to the start line. Hopefully for the next edition more sponsors will follow the lead of Credit Mutuel.