Get a crew of friends and family, strictly non-professionals. Put them aboard a boat designed 30 years ago. You would never expect them to win a European offshore championship. Instead, that’s exactly what happened.
Marseille shipowner Yves Giroux, with his Farr 36 Absolutely II, won the IRC continental title in San Remo: in addition to the overall victory came first place in the IRC3 class (the largest class) and the Corinthian trophy dedicated to amateurs. With peace of mind for the fiercer teams with pre-paid champions on board.
AN EVERGREEN BOAT
The secret to success is definitely the tight-knit crew. (with which the shipowner, a former drifter on the Finn and vice president of the Union Nationale Course Au Large, has been sailing for many, many years) and a boat that, despite being a 1990 design, is a guarantee in racing, capable of going strong both on the high seas and between the buoys: the Farr 36 (formerly Mumm 36), produced in more than 120 examples, from 1993 to 1998. The composite-built hull is 10.92 m long with a waterline length of 9.68 m and is 3.61 m wide.
The draft is 2.23 m, the boat has a displacement of 3,697 kg (with lead ballast of 1,588 kg) for a sail area of 59.83 m. Born in the wake of strong market demand for a 36-foot IMS, designed by Bruce Farr in collaboration with the Carroll Marine shipyard (and marketed by Beneteau), it is the younger sibling of the Farr IMS 40 and 50. It has fractional sail plan, tiller steering, and triangular bulb keel.
At the championship, there were a few days with strong breeze, and Farr’s good old planing hull still makes a difference in the sticks where a boat that not only has pure speed but can express it in all gaits counts, paired with a balanced sail plan that does not penalize its rating.
THE OVERALL PODIUM
Returning to the overall rankings, in second place is another French team, on Jean-Pierre Joly’s GP42 Confluence Sopra, followed by Gialuigi Dubbini’sItaly 998 Sarchiapone Fuoriserie (bearer of the organizing club, Yacht Club Sanremo).
In individual classes, continental titles went to:
IRC 0 – 6 enrolled
1st Jean-Jacques Chaubard’s Team Vision Future – TP52 – France – YC Toulon
2nd Red Arrow by Vadim Yakimenko – TP52 – Russia – YC Moscow
3rd Rowdy Too by Howard Dyer – TP52 – British Virgin Island YC
IRC 1 – 10 enrolled
1st Confluence Above by Jean-Piere Joly – GP 42 – France – S.N. Marseille
2nd Bewild by Renzo Grottesi – Club Swan 42 – Italy – C.V. Portocivitanova
3rd Ange Transparent by Valter Pizzoli – Swan 45 – Italy – Yacht Club de Monaco
IRC 2 – 5 enrolled
1st Sayann by Paolo Cavarocchi – First 40 – Italy – LNI Anzio
2nd Obsession by Mario Rosselo – First 45 – Italy – LNI Savona
3rd Gian Marco Magrini’s Vito 2 – A40 – Italy – SNST
IRC 3 – 14 enrolled
1st Absolutely II by Yves Ginoux – Farr 36 – CNTL Marseille
2ndSarchiapone Fuoriserie by Gianluigi Dubbini – IY 998 – Italy -Yacht Club Sanremo
3rd Chenapan 3 by Gilles Caminade – A35 – France – UNCL
IRC 4 – 7 enrolled
1st Alkaid by Christophe Heurtault – JPK 10.10 – CNTL Marseille
2nd Faster 2 by Marcello Focosi – Italy – First 34.7 – CN San Vincenzo
3rd Jean-Luc Hamon’s Racing Dee – France – JPK 10.10 – CN Toulon
