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Female sailors actually race in SailGP SailGP made good on its promise to introduce female athletes into the series, as double Olympic champion Hannah Mills joined Ben Ainslie and the Great Britain SailGP Team onboard the British F50, at the Cadiz event in early October. And it was an action-packed first event for Mills, who arrived fresh from her historic win at Tokyo 2020. Great Britain were doing well until a dramatic, high speed capsize on the final day put paid to their chances of an event win. Mills’ arrival meant the Great Britain team now boasts the most successful ever male and female Olympic sailors on board. She said: “I’ve been incredibly excited to be racing this weekend, it’s a really great step forward for the female athletes to be in the
thick of it, witnessing it all, getting stuck in and helping wherever we can – tactics, strategy, and communications. The adrenaline rush is massive on the race course.” SailGP introduced the Women’s Pathway Program at the start of Season 2 as part of a strategy to promote inclusion and more opportunities across the sport. About her role on board, Mills said: “I am in the loop with the communications, the tactics and strategy, but it has just been for two days so it is only going to improve as we understand the language and what’s useful. It is a big learning curve but I am loving it. My role stayed similar throughout, apart from when I had to do the odd bit of grinding when there was just four of us on the boat! I’m mostly focussed on the
tactics and strategy. It’s a role I love and a role that I believe I’ll get better at the more I do. This type of racing is different to what I’m used to, so I am learning so much every single race.” Of the pitchpole, Mill said: “We were blasting along that first reach and unfortunately things got a bit out of whack and in those conditions there’s not much room for error. We will be coming back to Sydney looking to win.” Ainslie said: “Having Hannah onboard this weekend was brilliant, she’s such a star. She’s an amazing sailor and a great team player. She fitted in naturally, was helping with the boat handling in the lighter airs and across all the conditions she was playing a big role tactically in helping me make some of the key decisions. It felt like a natural combination.”
Cross-Channel event for elderly cruisers A one-off rally regatta for elderly yachts will run next July from Dartmouth to La Rochelle and back. The Classic Channel Regatta is banding together with the Yacht Club Classique in France to run the once-only, two-week event. ‘Yachts designed before the end of 1968’ are eligible, as well as ‘approved production yachts designed up to the end of 1974 and more recent yachts built in classic and traditional style’. The Classic Channel Regatta is billed rightly as ‘a unique and truly international gathering with its own Westcountry and Breton ambiance’. The fleet often includes crews from Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Ireland and further afield. “Racing is the backbone of the regatta, but the conviviality and parties are its beating heart,” say the organisers. Racing will be under the increasingly widely used JCH Classic Handicap which is free to entrants and is easy to obtain online. The programme is: Dartmouth to Paimpol, July 10–16;
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DECEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
Paimpol to Camaret, July 17–19; Camaret to La Rochelle, July 20–24. The Classic Channel Regatta will again follow its successful formula, starting with two days of racing at Dartmouth before the Classic Channel Race, which will sail direct to Paimpol, arriving in time for a rest day in port on 14 July, when the regatta will be at the heart of Paimpol’s Bastille Day celebrations. Full details of eligibility and more on the regatta website. classic-channel-regatta.eu
