Under the Table |
| Friday, 16 June 2006 |
| ‘Friends of the Earth’, Jonathan Crinion's custom Class 40 racing yacht for the 2006 Route du Rhum was launched last week from Jaz Marine in Cape Town.
In the shadow of South Africa’s foremost geographical feature the latest Owen Clarke designed Class 40 emerged from her build shed. With the enthusiasm and excitement generated by this event all hands turned out and passers by stared as Friends of the Earth was eased into the African sun, a short piggy back ride on a transport lorry completed the final stage of the yachts first voyage from the Jaz Marine build facilities to the Elliot basin for the fitting of her keel and spars prior to a gentle launch.
Allen Clarke partner in Owen Clarke design ‘tore’ himself away from world cup soccer fever in Europe to witness the latest launching. Blessed with good weather in Cape Town, its mid winter in the southern hemisphere, the launch went without a hitch and after the ceremonial naming and traditional splash of the champagne Friends of the Earth was lowered gently into the water to sit on her marks.
A busy day and all manner of people turn up to see a launch that invariably takes time as the riggers, boat builder, transport and crane operators all have to co-ordinate. Couple this with the fact that Uwe Jaspersen proprietor of Jaz Marine has to speak three different languages in his own build facility, it is easy to see that creating a yacht and getting it to the water is no mean feat. From opening up the shed doors at six in the morning to locking the hatch on board at her marina berth took nearly twelve hours. Big grins all round and a wash down beer or three were the order of the day in the marina bar later.
With the yacht now in the water the numerous small jobs get done and preparing for the all important first sea trials becomes the next milestone. Friends of the Earth will undertake a number of rigorous shakedown day sails in Table Bay before a more adventurous 24hr overnight offshore trip will conclude the sailing trials and yard handover to Jonathan Crinion. From then on it becomes a race to get the yacht stocked up and prepared for her epic delivery sail back to Europe, via Saint Helena and the Azores where Jonathans fellow crew member Brian McCallum will depart the yacht so that the significant single-handed qualifying passage can be completed by Jonathan for the up and coming Route du Rhum (St Malo – Guadeloupe) in October. It is clear that Jonathan will have a real edge on knowing his boat and how to get the best out of it after he has completed his nearly 7000nm delivery trip. We wish Jonathan fair winds and good speed to bring him and Friends of the Earth safely back to Europe.
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