2010 was a very lean year for yacht sponsorship. Mike Golding Yacht Racing’s Imoca 60 was chartered out (renamed ‘President’ for the occasion) for the Barcelona World Race and was returned to them dismasted and in a sorry state. Undaunted, Mike set about putting her to rights while still negotiating a sponsorship deal. Now that is sealed, the pace has quickened and the prime target for the revamped boat is next year’s Vendée Globe.

His new title sponsor is the Spanish international wind energy company Gamesa, which has announced plans to make the UK the centre of its offshore wind business, starting with the establishment of an Offshore Technology Centre in Strathclyde Business Park. This allows Mike to continue his company’s association with ecologically-sensitive development, and gives him access to the funds needed to complete the conversion of the boat into a lean, mean singlehander.

Michel Desjoyeaux demonstrated the advantage of protecting the helmsman from the weather during his concentrated dash across the southern ocean in the last Vendée Globe, and one mod to Mike’s boat reflect this. However, he has gone a lot further.

Gamesa has been stripped of those winches which were really only needed for crewed racing, removing unwanted clutter and lightening the boat. Her new mast is non-rotating, reducing complexity and improving reliability. But the big surprise is that she has tiller steering – lighter, stronger and one less component to fail?

Here’s what Mike says about the project in his blog:

Through a series of planned modifications I believe the boat can be a highly competitive proposition for this race and nothing I have seen in the performances of the new boats on the Barcelona World Race has shaken my firm belief that our existing 2007/8 Owen Clarke Designed IMOCA 60 can be at the head of the 2012 Vendée Globe fleet. Quite apart from the obvious advantages of knowing our boat and having already gone through the early breakage phase most race boats go through the IMOCA rule has moved somewhat in our favour, leaving us with grandfathered design elements (to our advantage) and with some relatively easy (if quite expensive) further modifications we can be sure of a competitive entry into the 2012 edition of this non-stop solo around the world race the Vendée Globe.

What we can control I believe we have – but what we cannot control completely is all the pieces of the puzzle that must surely fall into place over the next few months…

It looks as if the America’s Cup has finally made it through the lawyer-dominated transition phase, and has become a new type of sailing event that will attract even those who know as little about the sport as the average F1 viewer does about motor racing. The AC72s should be interesting when they arrive.

Tante Fine

by Keith Kellett

The biggest of the Tall Ships are stately square-riggers, with three or more masts, averaging between 50 and 100 metres in length. In contrast, Tante Fine is a two-masted, gaff-rigged ketch, only 26 metres long….

In July 2002, Tall Ships came to the port of Brest. They left three days later, to race to La Coruña, Spain. Here, they met with other ships, which had raced from Alicante, and together, they cruised to Santander, before racing to Portsmouth.

The Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race is, in fact, a ‘race’ in name only. The fastest ship doesn’t take the most prestigious prize; it goes to the ship whose crew have ‘ … done most to promote international understanding and friendship.’ It’s not decided by the organisers or the sponsors, but by the captains of participating ships, acting on the advice of their crews … half of who must be, by the rules, between 15 and 25 years of age.

One ship which easily meets the crew age criterion is that of France’s sole entry, Tante Fine (‘Aunt Josephine’). During her working life as a langoustier (lobster boat), Tante Fine probably only carried a crew of three or four, but nowadays, she carries a crew of 24. Twenty of them are young people from the Rouen/Le Havre/Fécamp area, taking part in an educational programme called Les Voiles de l’Espoir (‘Sails of Hope’).

The biggest of the Tall Ships are stately square-riggers, with three or more masts, averaging between 50 and 100 metres in length. In contrast, Tante Fine is a two-masted, gaff-rigged ketch, only 26 metres long.

She was built at Plouhinec, Brittany, in 1960, and worked the lobster beds in the Bay of Biscay and off the coast of Mauritania. She brought her last catch home in 1986, and was bought, in a sadly dilapidated condition, by Les Voiles de l’Espoir in 1991.

More than 8000 man-hours were spent in her restoration in the boatyard at Fécamp, where she is now based, and, in 2001, Tante Fine set sail for Antwerp, to participate in the Tall Ships Race for the first time. This year, a new group crewed the ship in the race, and it’s hoped that it won’t be too long before she brings some silverware home to Normandy.

When not racing, or teaching youngsters seamanship and teamwork, Tante Fine can usually be found at Fécamp, where she participates in the promotion of the tourist industry. So, naturally, visitors are welcome.

Les Voiles de l’Espoir, 39, Quai Bériguy, 76400 Fécamp, FRANCE

Tel: (+33)(0)2 35 29 78 01

All images on this page copyright Keith Kellett 2002

Now imagine sailing her singlehanded in next year’s Vendée Globe.