While Jonjo was on 31ft Senza the rest of us were at the other end of the spectrum on Clive Emerson's, Lutine. Unfortunately my photograph does not do this boat justice, she is trully magnificent. She was built for Lloyds of London in 1952 by Camper and Nicholson and designed by Laurent Giles. A 58ft cutter rigged yawl, she was restored by Clive's yard, Gweek Quay after he acquired her in 1999 as a wreck with a missing stern and collapsed deck. Once finished her first event was the America's Cup Jubilee in 2001. Many miles and hours later Clive helms her like she was half her size.
In Satuday's race as we approached the first mark we called starboard on Rona, a similarly rigged 75 footer being helmed by Ellen Macarthur. Maybe because there aren't so many port and starboard calls on the Vendee Globe there was no response. Rona stood on and, to avoid a collission, we had to bear away and go under her stern. Meanwhile she tacked onto starboard and, being able to lay the mark Clive, now red faced with the injustice of their tactics, tacked onto port. I was rather perturbed to see that as Lutine accelerated away from the tack she was heading dead amidships at Rona who could do nothing but wait for the crunch as these two heavyweights collided. Time slowed down, nobody spoke and eyes widened as we surged forward like Titanic heading towards the iceberg. Clive spun the wheel and Lutine began to respond, but slowly, achingly slowly, with 15 feet to go her bow pointed straight at the diminutive mariner on the helm. This will definitely make her cry, I thought to myself. Then as if it had all been a big tease, Lutine bore away and her forestay kissed the end of Rona's mizzen boom. She surged on round the mark and on to the next. Rona was dead in the water, in the lee of the shore and being pushed away from the mark by the strong tide. By the time she had recovered her momentum and rounded, we were already round the next. I pointed this out to Clive. A wry smile had already settled on his face. Poetic Justice |
