Teasing Machine, you again! What boat is the “matador” of the long

Teasing Machine, the boat of the deputy commodore of the RORC Eric de Turckheim (72), with an Italian also on board, Gabriele Olivo (Bellunese, born 1978, with Luna Rossa at the 2003 America’s Cup as designer and at the 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race aboard Telefonica Blu), won in the IRC class, the most competitive, the RORC Caribbean 600. A hat trick, for the Nivelt-Muratet Yacht Design 54, which continues to grind out successes after wins at the Rolex Middle Sea Race and the RORC Transatlantic Race (first boat ever to win two editions in 2017 and 2023).

Teasing Machine’s success at RORC Caribbean 600

Second overall, behind Pyewacket 70 the Volvo 70 of Roy P. Disney, great-grandson of Walt Disney, but first in IRC Zero, Teasing Machine (FRA) got the better of Kate and Jim Murray’s Pac52 Callisto (USA) and Frederic Puzin’s Ker 46 Daguet 3 – Corum (FRA).

“The RORC Caribbean 600 is one of the most fantastic 600 miles in the world; it is non-stop action with lots of wind,” commented Eric de Turckheim. “It was quite a sight to see the entire RORC fleet at the start, with such a variety of boats in a single race: Volvo 70s, classics such as Pen Duick VI and the Class40s. This year’s IRC Zero class was very close with four highly competitive boats with which Teasing Machine played it out to the last. We finished within 30 minutes of each other.”

• Read also RORC Caribbean 600, Bona and Beccaria “Coppi and Bartali of sailing”

Teasing Machine, born to run in IRC

The boat, launched in July 2017 at the King Marine shipyards in Valencia (great composite specialists who also recently built FlyingNikka, the first flying offshore boat) is a prototype created to go faster within the IRC racing regulations. It is 16.54 m long and 4 m wide, with a long keel fishing 3 m. Teasing Machine was designed by the very famous firm that was once called Joubert-Nivelt, with more than 25,000 boats born from their designs, and which in 2016, founder Michel Joubert having passed away, the firm’s other partner Bernard Nivelt sent forward by co-opting the best of its designers, Alexis Muratet.

Fixed keel and walking

The deck looks a lot like the VO65s in the Ocean Race, with a very similar configuration characterized by the open cockpit. Its real secret to winning in IRC is its keel: it is not canting, not retractable. A good old fixed keel, among other things without a bulb but with a heavy fin. Ideal for rating gains in IRC, where great performance is matched by great penalties in plywood, and it is necessary to find the right balance between performance and rating.

James Barbaro