Class 40 Mondial

Monday, 23 July 2007

Courtesy M Ranchi www.maxranchi.com Courtesy M Ranchi www.maxranchi.com Courtesy M Ranchi www.maxranchi.com The Morbihan Mondial 40 is the first time that the rapidly expanding fleet of Class 40’s has contested a world championship. Based out of La Trinite Sur Mer from the 20th to 22nd July the event drew sixteen yachts with the leading lights of the Class 40 fleet along with Class 40 newcomers Peter Harding and Miranda Merron aboard their new Jaz Marine built Owen Clarke Design ‘40 Degrees’. Here is a report In Miranda's own words 'After what has seemed like an eternity of working 7 days a week to get 40 Degrees through measurement and to La Trinite in time for the inaugural Class Worlds, the Morbihan Mondial, we have had a fabulous weekend of fun. Other than half a practice race with half the crew (it was pouring with rain, and aperitif time, so most of the fleet opted to go in), Friday was the first time that we have lined up with other boats. The aim for us was to learn how to set the boat up, and enjoy ourselves. We have had three days of 15-20 knots and sunshine. The race committee at the SNT are not afraid of setting long races and making sure everyone gets the most out of the conditions. We were treated to two coastal races on Friday (two 6th places), and two on Saturday (two 2nd places), the second of which was a 50 mile affair around Belle Ile, and didn’t start till early afternoon. On Saturday night we discovered that we were lying 2nd overall with several boats very close behind, so the pressure was on to perform in the last race on Sunday. We led for much of the race, with Atao Audio System, which won the first four races, constantly trying to get ahead of us. We managed to hold it all together, including some interesting sail changes, and 40 Degrees crossed the finish line in 1st place by a few metres, to give us 2nd overall. Crew: Miranda Merron, Peter Harding, Alex Sizer, Sam Davies, Jean-Marie Peyret, Giovanni Soldini/ Ned Wakefield. Peter and I are off tomorrow (Tuesday) on our 1000 mile qualifier for the Transat Jacques Vabre. Our route takes us a few hundred miles to the west into the Atlantic, then up to the Fastnet Rock, then to Hamble. Now that we have learnt plenty about the boat over the last few days of racing, Peter and I have to learn to sail the boat as efficiently as possible double-handed. It will be a good test of the boat in a variety of conditions, including a reasonable amount of breeze. The motivation for going as fast as possible is that we will finally get 40 Degrees to the UK! The next major Class 40 outing for ‘40 degrees’ will be the RORC annual Fastnet race and we are all looking forward to seeing how Miranda and Peter fare with their new steed.

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