25/09/ 2009
The 150 years exclusive club
The first sailor from Cannes came from… Paris! The engineer and
builder Léopold Bucquet moved to Cannes in an effort to improve his
poor health, yet continued to remember with fondness his days racing
on the river Seine. This propelled him to start designing his first
boat that was then built by a local shipyard owned by Honoré Arluc.
At the beginning of the 19th century Cannes was just a small village
dating back to the Middle-ages and essentially populated by fishermen
and monks. It’s only around 1830 that it began attracting English
and European aristocrats who followed Lord Henry Peter Brougham’s
example. Having abandoned politics, this orator, writer and scientist
(physics and geometry) chose the French Riviera as his residence. The
area soon become the favoured holiday destination of aristocrats and
wealthy people who built magnificent villas to enjoy the warm climate
all year round. The fine climate, the peacefulness and the
Mediterranean deep blue waters soon made Cannes one of the most
fashionable destinations in southern Europe, whilst yachting was just
a a popular pastime…
Léopold Bucquet’s arrival and his sailing onboard Alma in front of
la Croisette drew attention, which spread into enthusiasm among the
Cannes residents who started to build new boats like Alphonse
Gioan’s Léro (1858), Eugène Tripet-Skrypitzine’s Olga, and
Touriste (1859) that went on toreplace Alma, by then considered to be
too slow. The Duke of Vallombrosa then commissioned Fantaisie whilst
M. Turcat’s cutter Jeannette was moored in the Bay. Action was
required and the local sailing gentlemen start organising racing events.
The Société des Régates de Cannes, a unique story
Sailing was booming in France, mid 19th century, and especially on
the Côte d’Azur where yachts grew in numbers; the water being the
perfect meeting point for friends wishing to liven up the sport.
During the spring of 1859 Béchard, Tripet-Skrypitzone, de Colquhoum
and Bucquet created the Société des Régates de Cannes and organised
their first competitive event, a coastal race in the Bay with Léro,
Olga, Jeannette, Touriste and other small sailing or rowing boats
owned by the local fishermen all taking part.
In August 1860, a huge yachting rendez-vous was held to celebrate
Napoleon III’s and to name Lord Brougham and Vaux honorary president
of Société des Régates de Cannes (SRC). Year after year, foreigners
would bring theirboats to the Côte d’Azur to enjoy the mild weather
contribute to building up the fleet. The Duke of Vallombrosa become
the club’s new president and contributed greatly to its development.
The races attracted more and more big yachts: Count Gerbel’s Cutler,
M. Dupont de la Thuillerie’s Queen of Island, Gleam owned by a
British yachtsman and Hornet, owned by M. Moos, member of the Cowes
Royal Yacht Squadron. The following year it become the renowned Yacht
Club de Cannes, which moves to a building belonging to the Cercle
Nautique de la Méditerranée. Te Russian empress donated a silver
trophy to be awarded to the Régates winner. The event has grew to
become the most attended regatta on la Croisette and in 1869 more
than 50 yachts competed.
Dukes, Emperors, Princes, Queens and Kings
The war marks a brutal halt to the Régates andracing resumes when the
Prince of Wales visits the region in 1872; the Dutch Queen offers new
trophies while the 1878 edition will be remembered as one of the most
spectacular. The Mistral, the wind from the North, blows so hard on
March 28th that three boats capsize and one runs aground. With the
death of Villombrosa, the event looses some of its glamour, only to
gain it once again when the Union des Yachtsmen de Cannes moves to a
floating pontoon and the following year, with the Prince of Wales as
guest of honour,conquers Cannes with his exceptionally fast royal
yacht Britannia. The boat is so good that Barclay Walker has Ailsa
especially built to duel with the Prince, but to little success: The
George Lennox Watson’s designed Britannia wins 24 races out of 32.
Cannes definitely becomes one of “the” sailing venues in Europe,
where yachtsmen and aristocrats alike race. Today there are maybe few
Princes and Kings but sailors still like to crowd the village and the
gorgeous yachts aligning on the pontoons can undoubtedly be called
Queens.
No wind, no race today
The wind was totally absent on this warm and sunny Friday in
Cannes, keeping the 79 Classic Yachts and the 62 Dragons waiting in
vain and the Race Committee forced to send all back to port. The
overall results therefore reindex unchanged and tomorrow’s racing
will be decisive in producing the winners. On the provisional
leaderboard after three races
Francis van de Velde’s Oriole still has one little point over
Giuseppe Giordano’s Bonafide among the under 15 metre Vintage
Gaffers, Claudio Mealli’s Peter is duelling with Bernard Duc’s
ElSinore and Hanns Georg Klein’s Anne-Sophie. In the under 15 metre
Classic Marconi category , Bruno Puzone Bifulco skippered Chaplin has
to fend off the attack by Borja Pella’s Galvana and Vittorio
Cavazzana’s Emeraude. Spirit of Tradition leader, Markus Daniel’s
French Kiss must watch out for the two Swiss boats, Beat Kuehni’s
Choices and Robin Detraz’s Duclop. Same goes for the Classic
Marconis where Florence Laffitte on Sagittarius, has to fend off
Jacques Guillaume’s Astrée III. Graham Walker’s Rowdy holds a
clear and health lead in the Vintage Marconi’s as does Monaco-based
Alberto Miani on Tuiga inthe Big Boats.
And the winner is…not decided yet!
After two races two crews are leading with a good margin in the
Dragons’ series: the American Yvan Bradbury on Blue Haze who has
three points on the Russian Anatoly Loginov’s Annapurna. Third is
Italian Giuseppe Duca on Cloud with 10 points followed by the British
entry, David Palmer (Princess Jalina) with 13 points, Olef Sorensen
(Christiana) and Christian Borenius (Thouban) are tied at 17 points.
Hamlet
Also present last year at the Régates Royales de Cannes, the 8M
ElSinore is now fighting back to Peter, the Marconi ketch owned by
Claudio Mealli in the under 15 metre Vintage Marconi class. Designed
by Tore Holm, an architect and boatbuilder who won no less than four
Olympic medals (gold in 1920 in the 40m2 class, bronze in 1928 on a
8M, gold in 1932 in the 6M, and again bronze in 1936 in the same
class) and who also designed a J Class in 1937 that never saw the
light of day but that is being built to the original plans which were
recently re-discovered. Bought by Bernard Duc some time ago, ElSinore
at the Régates Royales de Cannes is skippered by Pierre-Alexandre
Nuoffer: “the name of the boat is linked to Shakespeare: Elsinore is
an island in front of Stockholm where the Hamlet drama is set. The
boat used to be owned by a Swedish yachtsman who used her both for
racing and cruising. She was then destroyed, crashing on a rock, at
the end of the 90s and was restored in Portugal in 2001 by a new
owner, then she was sold to Duc. This year ElSinore took part inthe
whole Panerai circuit, races in Portofino and Barcelona and in the8M
Worlds in Hyères in mid September. She is one of the longest 8Ms
together with Angelica, as Tore Holm loved slim hulls. In the
beginning she was used for family cruises and was fitted with
comfortable interiors and six bunks.”
ElSinore in figures
Designer: Tore Holm
Builder: Holms Yachts Varv
Material/rig: wood/sloop
Year built: 1930
Owner: Bernard Duc (Hong-Kong)
Length: 15,34 m
Waterline: 10,30 m
Beam: 2,44 m
Draft: 2,00 m
Displacement: 8 600 kg
For a living planet
The former UAP 60 footer, which originally competed in the Vendée
Globe in 1989, is in Cannes with Jean-Yves Terlain flying the WWF
flag for living planet. The Colombus, as it is now known is hosting
some celebrities and supporters for the environmental organisation
and has been following the racing on the Bay.
Limited edition
The daily Les Echos launched an initiative and formed a special jury
that will judge the boats’ elegance, fair-play, good humour and will
award a prize called Série Limitée – Limited Edition- on Saturday
evening during the official prizegiving ceremony. The ten selected
boats are: Avel, Bonafide, Cambria, Dainty, Midinette, Moonbeam of
Fife, Moonbeam IV, Seven Seas, Shamrock V, Tuiga.
Photos free of rights available on request–
Further information on: www.regatesroyales.com
Les Régates Royales – Trophée Panerai une course organisée par
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