News

Following a 5,000 mile Atlantic marathon, a series of gruelling storms and many other highs and lows, the inaugural Class 40 event- La Solidaire du Chocolat has proved to be the ultimate testing ground for the Class 40s. We are delighted and proud to say that the two Rogers designs have come out on top: Tanguy de Lamotte/Adrien Hardy (Initiatives-Novedia) 1st overall and Bruno Jourdren/Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) claiming 3rd overall, having match raced with Giovanni Soldini/Pietro D’Ali for some 1,500 miles- narrowly missing 2nd by 18 minutes!! As Bruno highlighted shortly after finishing this morning: “It is mad, mad, mad……until the end.”

On arrival Tanguy had a few words to say: “After 5,000 miles of probably the most challenging offshore racing I have ever experienced, I can say that my boat (Rogers Class 40) has proven exceptional. Adrien and I actually worked out the number of impacts she was subjected to in the waves and series of six low pressure systems we endured, and it came to something around 40 000 impacts; that says a lot! She has looked after us fantastically and given both Adrien and me the most incredible and memorable ride to Mexico……..just awesome!”

These outstanding results coupled with a generally phenomenal 2009 season for the Rogers Class 40s, now set the perfect platform for the launch of the new Rogers Class 40 MkII. We thank our owners for the set up!

Click on the Current Projects button on the left to find out more!

After 4400 miles of nail biting racing, the two Rogers Class 40’s approach the last hurdle, still showing a clean set of heals! As of this evenings 20.00 hrs polling, Tanguy De Lamotte/Adrien Hardy still maintain a healthy lead of 143 miles over Soldini/D’Ali and Bruno Jourdren/ Bernard Stamm. The later two yachts have literally been trading places for the last 3000 miles, with only a mile between them; they seem to be stuck to each other like elastic bands.

A recent hurricane has upset the Yucatan weather patterns and has sucked most of the wind north, leaving a large zone of light airs to the south of Cuba. Tactically the next 36 hours will be very challenging and Tanguy and Adrien need to keep their nerve. A 143 mile lead should be safe lead but there is still 600miles of new waters to be navigated. At present the two Rogers Class 40’s look good for both placing in the top three and we wish them every bit of luck for this last transition in to the new breeze off the Yucatan Peninsula and round the point to the finish line…….cold beers and good food!!

To follow the race log on to:www.lasolidaireduchocolat.com/en

On Sunday 8th November from Le Harve, the 9th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre got underway. This time the race offers it’s double handed crews a completely new route following an original coffee trade route and culminates in Caribbean sunshine and the warmth of Costa Rica.

As we ventured out to the start line with the Artemis team on board Rum Jungle, most were preoccupied with the vertical smoke that was rising from the two infamous chimney stacks, located at Le Harve docks, with no visible sign of solid breeze. With minutes to spare, a nice 12 knot breeze built from the SE and enabling the fleet to clear the line with a mixture of A2 and A3’s kites at 12 knots of boat speed.

Two days in and Sam and Sidney have found their rhythm and well into considering what lies ahead. A major pressure system will be at the front of their minds right now which is likely to produce 45 knots right on the nose. Lets hope they get through this first major test trouble free!

Go Sam and Sidney!

To follow the race, log on to: jacques-vabre.com/en/s01_home/s01p01_home.php

Since the start of this 5,000 mile double handed Trans Atlantic sprint two weeks ago, if anyone had been in any doubt about the performance capabilities of the Rogers Class 40…….they won’t be now. With 24 starters, to date 8 abandonments and three mid Atlantic storms the two Rogers boats sailed by Tanguy de Lamotte/ Adrien Hardy and Bruno Jourdren/ Bernard Stamm have not ventured out of the top five places.

At 1600hrs today once again the Rogers Class 40s have taken charge and have regained there 1st and 2nd places dominating the fleet. The MkII is coming and promises more!

To follow the latter part of this exciting race, log onto the event tracker: http://lasolidaireduchocolat.geovoile.com/

Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet, co-skippers on board Artemis Ocean Racing II arrived in Le Havre a few days ago, in preparation for the start of their 4,720-mile transatlantic race from Le Havre to Puerto Limon in Costa Rica – The Transat Jacques Vabre.

They had a great delivery trip to Le Harve with plenty of rest, great conditions and cruising in excess of 20knots.They are fully race ready and eager to start this Sunday.

All at RYD wish Sam and Sidney the very best of luck in the TJV. We will be glued to the tracker!

Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm won the Brittany Ferries 1000 miles race in emphatic style, more than 10 ½ hours ahead of the second placed boat, a new Akilaria 2. They finished in the early hours of Saturday 12th September, continuing the offshore dominance of the Rogers Class 40 in 2009. This victory, which included winning all three legs of the gruelling race, follows on from Tanguy de Lamotte’s Fastnet win in his Rogers Class 40.

Bernard has now raced with Bruno on a number of occasions on board his Rogers Class 40 and he had a few words to say: "We're very happy with the result. It’s a super powerful boat, very stable, easy to sail, strong in all conditions. We have sailed against all the other designs and we are very confident with this boat".

Their next appearance will be in the double handed race- Solitaire du Chocolat which starts in Nantes/ Saint-Nazaire and finishes in Yucatan, Mexico. Bruno will once again be partnered with Bernard Stamm and Tanguy de Lamotte will be racing in his Rogers Class 40 with Adrien Hardy. Good luck boys!

Photo: Benoit Stichelbaut/Cheminees Poujlouat

Having suffered various technical and weather set backs, Hilary Lister armed with tenacity, guts, determination and sheer focus has just become the first disabled woman ever to have sailed solo around Britain, adding yet another record to her list.

Talking about the highly adaptable Artemis 20 yacht, Hilary concluded, "I love the Artemis 20, she is a fantastic boat to sail that has looked after me so well, seeing me through everything from force 0 to force 6 and gusting 40 knots. The important thing is that she is a great looking boat that people want to sail, whether they are professionals, amateurs, have never sailed or go on the water every day, and that is very important for disabled people. Everybody is very excited about the prospect of what the Artemis 20 can do and I hope I have shown some of that potential."

The Artemis 20 now forms the core of the Even Keel Project in the UK, designed to offer sailing to disabled and disadvantaged audiences who would not usually have access to the sport. As international momentum now grows for this most worthy of projects, we look forward to following progress. How can we possibly sign off without asking ourselves- what next from Hilary- the woman who knows no bounds!

For further information on the Even Keel Project, log on to:www.theevenkeel.com

Photos: www.lloydimages.com

Artemis Ocean Racing skipper Samantha Davies, co-skipper Sidney Gavignet and crew, Graham ‘Gringo’ Tourell and Gareth Rowley, crossed the finish line of the classic Rolex Fastnet race at 0615 BST on Wednesday 12th August to finish 2nd in the IMOCA 60 class. Artemis Ocean Racing took 2 days, 18 hours, 15 minutes and 41 seconds to complete the 608-mile race in varied and demanding conditions.

“I think tactically we sailed the right route in terms of the wind and sailing round the coast – I don’t think we could have done anything more than we did,” said Sam at the finish. “It’s been pretty tiring, the sprints always are, and I probably need to go and sleep for 24 hours!”

They exchanged the lead with Seb Josse aboard BT for much of the race, which facilitated for a great tuning opportunity. This race has provided Sam and Sidney with yet more valuable experience and data to assess the boats true capabilities, in readiness for the double handed Transat Race in November.

RYD are an integral part of the Artemis team working closely with Sam, Sidney and the OC team to help realise the true capabilities of Artemis Ocean Racing . A member of our design team was invited on the delivery back from Plymouth post-finish which enabled more analysis to be completed. We are now working closely to optimise her performance profile in readiness for the TJV.

Tanguy and his crew aboard his Rogers Class 40 Initiatives Saveurs-Novedia Group were delighted to have crossed the finish line first out of the 19 Class 40s which took part in the 608 mile infamous Fastnet race course. Having beaten some top opposition including Giovanni Soldini, the Italian skipper of Telecom Italia and Boris Hermann’s Beluga Racing, Tanguy won by over an hour.

“Really there were two places that we got away from the rest, at Portland Bill we went offshore and got a small lead but at Land’s End, we also went offshore whilst Giovanni and Boris went inshore. The breeze came in from the west and we got it first to open up a lead. Now we are looking forward to the Class 40 Worlds in Hamble next week.”

The Rogers Class 40 has once again proved her pedigree and demonstrated that she can excel in all conditions- from light upwind to 20+ knots downwind.

"Good genes is an expression heard often today, but can it be used when describing a race boat? This past month I had the opportunity to race aboard Varuna" [Roger 46/001 ex. Danebury] for the 2009 Gotlund Rund. Having built this boat in 2006, I knew her performance envelope and expected a similar spread of Polars, however, the improvements undertaken by her new owner Jens Kellinghusen and facilitated by Tim Daase his boat captain, rewrote my expectations.

Amongst these improvement are, all new carbon rigging, a new fixed bowsprit and new sail inventory. The performance increase is noticeable, especially in the light and tricky conditions of this year's event. Acceleration out of a tack seemed smoother and when we had breeze, Varuna remained easy to drive with boat speeds climbing to the high teens, almost effortlessly. The foundation of the Rogers 46 is, the excellent design, this strength hides untapped potential for individual yachts and the class alike. Good genes….. I think so." Mike Castania.

In similar style to Germany’s Christopher Wuttke- owner of the Rogers 46 Guts’n Glory who claimed victory in his first race in Finland (Classic Fyn Rundt 2008), Jens Kellinghusen (the new owner of Danebury) claimed victory in his first event in Heligoland where he comfortably won IRC, beating favoured yachts such as Outsider (the Elliott 52).

More recently Jens took part in the 488 nautical mile Round Gotland Race with Varuna and won the Grand Open ORC class, beating the much favoured racer Progressiva. In addition, they were delighted with their 3rd overall in the Grand Open IRC class where they were up against the TP52’s Ran and Artemis.

Well done to all and the very best of luck in the up and coming Fastnet Race starting on Sunday 9th August ’09. We will all be glued to our screens!

Three new British sailors, Sam Davies, Nick Bubb and Ollie Bond, have joined the Artemis Ocean Racing Team for the next 6 months to the end of the current programme - skippers and boats that cover a spectrum of British talent and short-handed events. This announcement only reinforces the commitment that Artemis has had from the start to fly the British flag within yachting and they have done so in an unwavering fashion.

It was also announced that Sam Davies, Britain’s top performer in Vendée Globe 2008 finishing 4th will Skipper the new Artemis II for the key IMOCA race of the year, the two-up Transat Jacques Vabre Race in November. Her co-skipper will be the vastly experienced French ocean racing sailor Sidney Gavignet who recently returned from the Volvo Ocean Race on Puma.

After the hull and deck were united for the first time in Late April, the dry fit of the deck has now been completed and the lid is back off to allow the first fit of the hydraulic and electrical systems, including integration of the state of the art CanBUS control for all systems monitoring. The Client, Rogers Yacht Design and Goetz Custom Technologies are all delighted with progress and are looking forward to an exclusive open evening at the Rhode-Island facility on the 11th June......2 days time.

All three of the European based Rogers 46’s have confirmed places in the 2009 Fastnet Race. Varuna and Guts n' Glory will both be travelling from Germany for the event, whilst David Aisher’s Yeoman XXXII will be back from a successful Caribbean season, which included class victory in a future offshore classic, the RORC 600. RYD is looking forward to seeing all three boats together again in our home waters and hope to see them competing against each other in Cowes Week as a pre-Fastnet tune-up.

Photo: Nico Krauss

Sailing her specially adapted Rogers designed Artemis 20, Hilary restarted her journey around the British Isles at the end of last month, and has been making excellent progress, despite experiencing everything from storms to calms as she navigated the West Country Coast.

A few days ago, Hilary arrived in Fishguard, after one of the longest legs of her Round Britain Dream. Maybe the sailing was the easier part as Hilary and her team had then to face what she describes as the “greatly exaggerated and, in some cases, incorrectly reported” involvement of the RNLI in terms of assistance on the closing stages of this leg.

One person who understands just what Hilary is up against is the quadriplegic yachtsman Geoff Holt who in 2007, completed this Everest of challenges to become the first disabled person to sail single handed around Great Britain: “It seems so strange following Hilary and her team as they make their way around the British coastline. For me it's like déjà vu as they make the same daily journeys and visit the same destinations as we did in 2007. I know how tough it is for them and I have nothing but admiration and respect. Post event, the one thing I felt most difficult to convey was the logistics of such an operation. I'm sure Hilary would agree with me, the sailing is the easy bit.” We all contiune to wish her the very best of luck!

To follow her blogs, log on to:http://www.hilarylister.com