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On this subject

Racing

The Voiles de Saint-Tropez

Text: Gilles Pernet

Year: 2011

Why are the Voiles de Saint Tropez unequalled?

Is it the explosive cocktail of classic yachts and the most beautiful modern yachts? Classic yacht regattas are common. So are maxi and superyacht races…

Yet the meeting organized at the end of September by the Société Nautique de Saint Tropez retained this very particular, quite unique flavor. “You don’t take part in such regattas every day with more than one hundred classic yachts. For more than a week, a group of old friends (there are so many of us we could make up two football teams) meet to get the best out of a superb 100-year old yacht, which is no easy task as there aren’t any winches! And at night, back on the quays, before hitting the port’s bars and cafés, we are welcomed by a group of Harley Davidson riders… you don’t see this anywhere else,” says Edouard Kessi with contagious enthusiasm: the fine helmsman of Lake Geneva regattas is obviously in heaven at the tiller of Mariska, the 1908 Fife design, 15m class yacht. This venerable old lady is as glamorous as ever in her white dress underlined by varnished mahogany; her owner Christian Niels has surrounded himself with some serious players such as Steve Ravussin or his young son Marc, obviously thrilled with the new toy his father has bought. Mariska wins in front of the legendary Tuiga -so dear to Prince Albert of Monaco- and Paul Goss’s The Lady Anne.

A long story

It’s now been thirty years since Patrice de Colmont launched the idea of the Nioulargue during a lively conversation at his Club 55… We know the story: the owners of the Swan 44 Pride, and of IKRA (the former 12m class yacht which used to belong to Marcel Bic and was named Kurewa before her first trials for the America’ Cup) both maintained that their yacht was the fastest. Patrice de Colmont offered champagne to the one that would be the fastest on an improvised course: from the tower of Portalet to Pampelone beach and back, but going round the Nioulargue shallows, 5nm off his beach, towards Saint Raphael where his Riva was moored… Launched on October 1^st, 1981, the idea of this eccentric regatta, -rewarded by the Club 55 Cup-, was a hit: the very next year, other skippers begged Patrice de Colmont to join the IKRA/Pride challenge. “All I did was to reanimate the maritime roots that have always been grounded in this town; in the 19^th century, of the 3000 inhabitants of Saint-Tropez, 200 were long-haul captains…” says Patrice de Colmont. The oldest remember “Patrice’s gang’s pretty friends” who would welcome the participants on board improbable craft in the harbour, holding a glass of champagne…and most remarkably dressed -or more rightly skimpily dressed- in black and pink lace corsets and suspenders… But, besides this merry atmosphere that would become the Nioulargue label, Colmont and his gang succeeded in giving a real first-class sporting dimension to their event.

For safety reasons, the yachts don’t all race together anymore, but have separate start times according to their class. Thus, the classic yachts set off from the foot of the citadel whilst the modern yachts were racing off Pampelone, where one could admire the Wallys, the Swans, some prototypes and some of the most beautiful flagships of French and international shipyards. Exceptional teams crew these yachts. In the Wally class, Lindsay Owen-Jones snatched victory with Magic Carpet 2, yet the fight was even harder among the Maxi prototypes Highland Fling, Shockwave and Jethou. Some production boats also flourished, like Benoît de Froidemont’s Swan 80 Alpina by Finimmo, helmed by Marc Pajot.

A waiting list

An interesting paradox is that there is a genuine novelty that emerges from the world of classic yachts! A lot of passion (and some cash) is needed to unearth a wreck that was rotting in some mud flat, in the River Hamble for example. And after years of effort and expertise, these classic marvels reappear, as did the 100-year old, 38-metre Fife design Mariquita, the last survivor of the 19m class. “Every year we have more than a hundred yachts on the waiting list. The city is really supporting us, without expecting any particular return.

The modern yachts pay a registration fee, whilst the Tradition yachts are our guests but donate money to the Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer (the French Sea Rescue Society)” says André Beaufils, the President of Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez since 2000. A gold mine that is not about to be exhausted soon: there will always be more enthusiasts to build a classic yacht’s identical replica when the original cannot be restored.

Bathed in late summer sunshine, this last week of September attracted more people than on the August Bank Holiday weekend of 15^th of August! “Eric Tabarly once said: France will become a great country again the day she goes back to the sea”, adds Patrice de Colmont who remains the guardian of the “Nioulargue heritage”. All it takes is a story like this one to rediscover our maritime heritage’s exceptional wealth.