Bubb update

British Class 40 skipper sets sail for St Malo and Route du Rhum start

Last week Nick Bubb sailed into Plymouth after completing his 1000NM Route du Rhum qualifier in a little over six days. This was literally the first sail for Stephen Card’s new LC40, Cariberia (named Kenmore Homes for the Route du Rhum). It was a testament to the build team’s skill and dedication that the qualifier was completed safely and in such good time.

Kenmore Homes left La Trinite last Thursday, passing north of Ile de Groix, and then headed southwest into 30 knots of wind to reach a waypoint off Cape Finisterre, set by the race committee.Once Bubb reached the waypoint he turned north and blasted across Biscay to the Fastnet rock. The southwesterly wind held and Bubb surfed Kenmore Homes all the way from the Fastnet to Lands End.

During the qualifier Bubb was able to test all the systems and, without pushing the new boat too hard, put her through her paces. The shore team have all turned up in Plymouth to meet him and help sort out a few small problems that were highlighted during the qualifier.

Bubb then attended the Shetland Round Britain and Ireland prizing giving at the Royal Western Yacht Club and entertained Bill Thomson, chairman of Kenmore Homes, and his family. They enjoyed some fabulous sailing the next day and revved Kenmore Homes up to over 20 knots of boat speed in the Plymouth sound.

After some more sponsor entertaining aboard on Monday, the team prepared the boat for the delivery trip to St.Malo, where the Route du Rhum starts from on the 29 th October. The boat’s designer, Francois Lucas, and the build manager, Arnold Giocosa, joined Nick and Charlie Dalin for the trip. Despite setting off in the pouring rain both Arnold and Francois were very excited about sailing their creation.

With 12 days to the start of the race there are still a lot of preparations to be done. The temporary tillers need to be replaced, a second auto pilot is being fitted, the food must brought and divided up into daily rations and most importantly the boat needs to be measured for the Class 40 rule, so there will be no rest for the Kenmore Homes team over the next few days.

Many thanks to the major sponsors: Kenmore Homes, Kenmore Property Group, Aggmore Property and Gill