Darketing clouds....
Early November we saw real signs of worry and confusion in the international press about the start of The Race. The event was a huge gamble. Four years ago the organisers had a dream of a big fleet of 'megamarans'. The biggest and fastest sailing machines ever built.

Only the best and fastest 10 of them would be chosen, after qualification races across the Pacific and the Atlantic. Bruno Peyron, the inventor of The Race, expended huge energy in presenting the event to the world, sailing his Explorer catamaran (the unbeaten former Jet Services V) to the shores of Japan, Australia and Hawaii, as well as to northern Europe.

Nearly 75 skippers declared their interest in this non-stop, no-limit crewed race around the blue planet. Twice a year the potential skippers met at Euro Disney, north of Paris, to discuss numerous technical questions, the rules, safety, the course and so on. All the experience and the knowledge of some of the best of the world's skippers were shared in order to get the best event. It was a big jump in a high-tech discipline.

For example, Yves Devillers, one of the best brains in transmission technologies, worked for three years with US satellite engineers to develop an antenna able to stay connected with a satellite whatever the size of the waves and the movement of the boat. Nothing had existed before. The goal was to transmit one hour-long full daily 
reports of The Race, with movies from each competitor to be carried on the world's biggest TV channels every evening.

From Japan to South America.....

SEE SEAHORSE JANUARY 2001 FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE