2001- a yachting odyssey pt3

James Boyd looks back at July to September and memorable events like the Jubilee regatta

July kicked off with the Tour de France a la Voile, known most simply as the Tour Voile, an event in Mumm 30s coast hopping around France for the best part of a month. After Adrian Stead's victory in this event in 2000, Simon Shaw's British University Sailing Team had a lot to live up to, but got off to a good start even beating Team New Zealand.

Another event starting in north France was the Challenge Business' first foray into professional ocean racing with their EDS Atlantic Challenge. The fleet of Open 60s was limited, with many skippers still suffering fatigue or not having sponsors after the Vendee Globe. James Boyd examined the form of the entries. Emma Richards' sponsor Pindar, also backed an Open 60, Alphagraphics.But all eyes were on Ellen's Open 60 Kingfisher, which was being co-skippered by former America's Cup, Whitbread and Mini Transat sailor Nick Maloney .

After some strong contention the first leg from St Malo to Cuxhaven in German was won by Roland Jourdain's Sill. The red Open 60 which Ellen had beaten in by one place in both the Europe 1 New Man STAR and again in the Vendee Globe continued her winning streak by taking the second leg into Portsmouth.

At this stage of the year all eyes were on the various Volvo campaigns, which were by now were all in or on their way to Europe. The latest to the table was Grant Dalton's Nautor-backed campaign.

Meanwhile over in New York Steve Fossett was preparing the crew of PlayStation for their fourth attempt on the long standing transatlantic record from New York to the Lizard. Unfortunately the necessary weather failed to materialise and Fossett was forced to postpone. Cam Lewis also announced that he was going to take Team Adventure on the transat record and was hoping to race Fossett. Lewis eventually left on 9 August but less than 24 hours into their record they collided with an underwater object breaking the port bow. Skipper Cam Lewis explained what happened.

While the America's Cup campaigns continued to recruit, many were out training from their respective bases around the world. Ed Gorman spoke to Francesco de Angelis about Prada's preparations for the Cup. Many America's Cup crew were in Europe training in other classes. Team New Zealand took part in the Gotland Runt on their sponsor Hasso Plattner's SAP, while their erstwhile buddy Russell Coutts showed he has lost none of his talents by solidly winning the Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand. Ben Ainslie was also there racing with Peter Gilmour as part of his One World training.

On home ground Gerald New fired up his spreadsheet and gave the UK dinghy classes a health check. After the great British trawl at the Sydney Olympics, lining up for Athens was giving the contenders a high benchmark to work to. One hot prospect proving himself by a second place at the Finn Europeans was Andrew 'Bart' Simpson. Another hot prospect was Chris Brittle who despite being a junior finished 10th out of the 90 contenders. We also questioned the prospect of the 2008 Olympic venue Qingdao.

In the Volvo ISAF Youth World Championships in Brest, Britain did well with Mark Powell (left), 19, winning the Laser class while the Rawlinson sisters took the silver in the Women's 420 and Natalie Lloyd bronze in the Laser Radial.

On 8 July one of the pillars of the French sailing establishment, Route du Rhum creator and organiser, Michel Etevenon, passed away. Former colleague and friend Christian Fevrier paid his respects.

The action returned to the Solent on 15 July with the start of the EDS Atlantic Challenge's transatlantic leg to Baltimore. The charismatic Nick Moloney told madfor sailing all about his impressions sailing Open 60s after the Whitbread. The fleet passed through the Berthon Source Regatta off Lymington. This event was a costly one for Irvine Laidlaw - the brand new rig on his immaculate 12m Ecosse fell over the side and was caught mid-tumble by ace snapper Rick Tomlinson. This day was also a good one for the British students in the Tour Voile who scored their highest place - fourth.

Ellen MacArthur was not the only British woman to take to three hulls in 2001. Pindar girl Emma Richards was up in Sweden sailing trimarans with Magnus Olssen in the Oops Cup and was lining up to take part in the Transat Jacques Vabre. James Boyd spoke to the power behind women's offshore sailing, Andrew Pindar.

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