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Nautor to enter Volvo Ocean Race with two new boats
Author: Jour J
To mark the new era of Nautor, the world renowned builder of fine racing and cruising yachts, the company has decided to launch Nautor Challenges for the next Volvo Ocean Race with two new Volvo Ocean 60s to be built in a yard, under Nautor's responsibility.
Supported by the Amer Group, a world leader in sports equipment, this announcement is seen as a return to the roots of Nautor's early success.
It was in 1974 that Ramon Carlin's production Swan 65 "Sayula II" won the first Whitbread Round the World Race with a mixed crew of amateurs, professionals and members of Carlin's own family. In spite of many one-off racing prototypes the first Whitbread was, by today's standards, a gentle cruise around the world.
The first Round the World Race did however turn out to be a battle of performance and reliability, something that the Swan 65 proved it had, and something that has been maintained and developed in every Swan since. Sayula's victory set the way for future round the world races. Ten Swans were to race with distinction in the next three Whitbread races, finishing as high as third overall ("Fazer Finland") in 1986.
Amer Group, the leading partner of the Challenge, is a leading global supplier of sports equipment. The Group's operations are based on strong, reliable global brands, of which the best known are Wilson, Atomic and Suunto.
"Amer Group's target is to become the leader in the global sporting goods equipment market. The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the most respected sports events, and toughest offshore races and it is a good means by which Amer can achieve global exposure for its global brands - Wilson, Atomic and Suunto. Nautor, Amer and their other partners together with the crew make a strong team, with a good chance of winning." says Roger Talermo, CEO of Amer Group.
Nearly 2000 Swans have been built to date and most, if not all, have sailed significant miles offshore in all corners of the world. Today's new project will allow the Nautor boatyard to continue to gather current design and operating experience in arguably the world's toughest test for sailing boats, a fully-crewed round the world race.
This is the first time that Nautor has entered the realm of pure grand prix sailing. This new development will benefit the company but will not detract or alter the heritage of Nautor in building and designing fast cruiser-racers. To draw an analogy with other mechanised sports, Nautor Challenges is to Nautor what McLaren is to Mercedes and Ferrari is to Fiat.
Leonardo Ferragamo, President of The Nautor Group said: "We are not there only to win or to compete. We are aware that we will have to fight with very strong teams but we are entering this tough race to increase our experience and extend our development and innovation. We will never challenge our Swan Owners with unnecessary experiments".
World class yachtsman, and most recent winner of the Whitbread Race, Paul Cayard, is the Chairman of this new Nautor division. Currently in Auckland preparing for the next America's Cup he had this to say:
- "To win the Volvo you need a fast design, well built boat, strong sailing team, and good logistical organisation. Nautor Challenges has all of these."
"For Nautor, returning to the Volvo Ocean Race will have several benefits - not least of which will be the use of technology in construction and design which will trickle down into the production of the world's finest cruising yachts."
To best exploit the opportunity from a comprehensive 'works' entry in the Volvo Ocean Race and the experience gained with this return to the offshore testing arena, Nautor is using a specialised yard on the French Mediterranean coast.
This Nautor/French yard, dedicated to custom build and special projects, currently has two Volvo Ocean 60 hulls, the class used for the Volvo Ocean Race, in mid-construction. The first of these boats, to be launched in May, will be a German Frers design. Frers is the Swan range 'house' designer and has entered several boats in the Whitbread Race before including the line honours and overall winner in the 1981-82 race, the Dutch Maxi "Flyer". The second boat, to be launched in late June, will be a Bruce Farr design. Farr is the current reference in Volvo Ocean Race design having won every Whitbread Race since 1985.
Once launched, the two boats will engage in an intensive two-boat testing programme before both boats start the Volvo Ocean Race from Southampton on 23rd September 2001.
Sailing director and sports project manager for this exciting Volvo 60 build and test programme will be New Zealander Grant Dalton. Dalton is currently at sea, as skipper aboard the Maxi-catamaran Club Med, which is currently leading The Race and which last week broke the 24 hour record sailing 655 miles in 24 hours - an average of 27.3 knots. For this Volvo project, Dalton is being supported by Dutch-born sailor Bouwe Bekking.
Contacted at sea near the Falkland Islands Grant Dalton had this to say:
- "I'm excited to be involved with another significant project like this. The reputation and skills accumulated by Nautor over the last 35 years means that our boats will be the best available for the next Volvo Ocean Race. I will bring my extensive round-the-world project experience and will choose the crew and set the goals and work ethic for the preparation and the competition."
Nautor Challenges will have a board of directors including Riccardo Bonadeo (Chairman) who was Managing Director of the first Italian challenge for the America's Cup; Fred Andersson, head of the EF Challenge, winner of the previous 'round the world race and Enrico Chieffi, from Nautor, Star gold medallist.
The Nautor Challenges' boats will fly the burgees of two yacht clubs, the Finnish NJK Yacht Club and the Italian Yacht Club Costa Smeralda which was the first Italian yacht club to challenge in an America's Cup.
This dual flagged Challenges reflects the history and current status of Nautor, a Finnish boat building company established in 1965 and recently acquired by an Italian Group, and the early backing brought to the project by Amer. Several other sponsorships are under development with multinational groups, and will be finalised in the near future.
More Information:
- YachtsandYachting.com Volvo Ocean Race Information Page
- www.VolvoOceanRace.org
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