Yachting Monthly - July 2018

(Michael S) #1

Photography: Rick Tomlinson, Martin Gandar, Erik Levilly, Clare McComb, Dauntsey’s School


When racing, either Toby or Adam are on call
at all times, not to run the ship or the watches
because the students can do that, but to keep her
trimmed perfectly and squeeze every inch of speed
out of the conditions. If necessary, everyone sleeps
on deck, on the windward side if it’s heavy going
and to leeward in light airs. People forget that
nine students can weigh about a ton, and moving
them around makes a huge difference.
Talking to Toby, I felt the whole of sail training
is lucky to have him. He is chair of the Tall Ships
Council, which includes all the many-masted
giants as well as the smaller vessels. A lot of admin
and advocacy goes on behind the scenes. People
don’t realise that when regulations governing
commercial boats are laid down internationally,
old-fashioned and heritage craft can fi nd it very
hard to conform as they don’t have the physical
fl exibility to change. Behind this skipper, with his
23 years in charge and his mate of 15 years, Adam
Seager, I can sense their predecessors: hard-core
sailors like George Martin and Bobby Somerset,
not forgetting Bill Parish who rescued her for
Dauntsey’s School. They’re men of determination,
vision and a deep love of the sea. Jolie Brise has
sailed through the decades, leaving her mark
on history. Today she is as fi ne and fast as ever,
and in Toby’s hands, inspiring a new generation
of young people to step up and take the helm.


THE MAKING OF A SAILING ICON
Built by Albert Paumelle, Jolie Brise started life as a Le Havre pilot cutter
and was launched in December 1913, only to be laid up throughout WWI.
Peacetime brought three years as a tunny fisher before the famous
yachtsman E G Martin, winner of the One Ton Cup and twice winner
of the Royal Cruising Club’s Challenge trophy, discovered her languishing
at Concarneau near Brest and brought her back to England. She was
converted into a cruising yacht at Teignmouth by her owner and his new
skipper Sid Briggs,
with some help from
Martin’s friend Frank
Morgan Giles, who
ran his yard from
that town.
In 1923, the
Americans had held
their sixth 635-mile
offshore Newport to
Bermuda Race and
Martin, who was a
yachting journalist
at the time, was
excited by the idea
of such a challenge.
With a small group
of influential sailing
friends, he began to organise a similar race off the south British coast,
ignoring vocal opposition from more conventional yachtsmen who felt
it might be dangerous (or even ungentlemanly) to race for days and nights
at a time. The first Fastnet race was run in 1925, with Jolie Brise victorious.
Since that moment, she has continued to make headlines across the globe.
In 1926, Martin took her over the Atlantic to take part in the Bermuda
Race, for which she gained the Blue Water Medal. Then, under the new
ownership of dashing Bobby Somerset, she returned in 1932 to contest
the race again, only this time she stopped to save the crew of her fellow
competitor Adriana, which had caught fire. A second Blue Water Medal
followed. Somerset also raced Jolie Brise to two more Fastnet victories


  • in 1929 and 1930 – a tally of wins that have never yet been matched.
    Nowadays, Jolie Brise is a legend. She has won the Tall Ships Races
    outright three times and as a modern youth training ship, has few equals.


BELOW: Jolie Brise
has won numerous
Tall Ship Races.
She was overalll
winner in 2000
and 2008


ADVENTURE


N


0 3,000nm


Bermuda Canary Is.


North Atlantic
Ocean

Sines


Las Palmas


Boston


Halifax


Québec Gaspé
City
Le Havre

Greenwich


USA


CANADA
UK

FRANCE
PORTUGAL

AFRICA

Newfoundland


Gulf of St Lawrence

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