Boat International - June 2018

http://www.boatinternational.com | June 2018

OWNERS’ CLUB

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES; ROLEX/CARLO BORLENGHI

QUICKFIRE

Sir Lindsay

Owen-Jones

SPEED OR STYLE?

Speed

CHEF OR CHAUFFEUR?

Both... but chef

FIRSTTHINGYOUPACK?

All the wretched pills I need to

stay OK at my age

FAVOURITE WATCH?

AsimplesteelRolex.

I bought one for the whole

crew when we won our first

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

FAVOURITE BEACH?

The one beneath my

house in Saint-Tropez –

Plage des Canoubiers

FIRST BOATING MEMORY?

Going to school in Liverpool

on the Mersey ferry

FAVOURITE CAR?

The McLaren that I drove at

Le Mans [the F1 GTR]. It was

a huge beast of a car

trytoimprovetheboatforthenextseason,

andwehavetweakedawholelotoflittle

things this winter.”

Forhim,businesslifewaslikeracingacar

or a yacht. “Absolutely. I think it’s the same

drive, I would accept that completely. I wanted

towin,Iwantedtoearnalotofmoney.”He

stepped down as chairman of L’Oréal in 2011,

after42yearsatthecompany.Duringhis

22yearsaschiefexecutivehedelivereddouble-

digitgrowtheveryyear,takingthecompany

into every major global market and raising

its value from €1.5 billion to €53 billion.

Asaracingcardriver,thatsame

competitiveness took him to a remarkable

fifthplaceatthe24HoursofLeMansracein

1996. “Fifth doesn’t sound great compared to
      aprofessionalbutifyou’reaprivateerfinishing
      fifthislikeclimbingEverest.”Heissimilarly
      proud of winning overall at the 2015
      Giraglia Rolex Cup withMagic
      Carpet^3 .“Wewonittwiceonscratch
      but that’s having the fastest boat.
      Winning it on corrected time, which
      usually favours the small boats, is
      much more diicult and we tried how
      many times, 12 or 13 or something,
      beforewefinallywonitoncorrected
      time.Thatwasagreatmoment.”
      He spends much of his time these days at
      hishomesinLuganoandSaint-Tropez,as
      wellasonthegolfcourse,butthecompetitive
      firesstillburn.“Idon’twanttogetanyless
      competitive,”hesays.“Imakeapointofsailing
      this boat three or four hours running without
      takingoneminute’srestwhilewe’reracingit.
      AslongasIcandothatIfeelthatI’mgoing
      tostayyoungforlonger.Iwanttostaythat
      wayaslongasIpossiblycanandbuildanew
      Magic Carpetbefore I’m too old.”B

“Fih [at Le Mans] doesn’t

sound great compared to a

professional but for a privateer

it’s like climbing Everest”

The victorious crew of Magic
Carpet^3 at the Loro Piana
Superyacht Regatta 2017

Magic Carpet^2 , now Magic

Blue, Sir Lindsay’s 2003

28.5m Wally, racing in 2008

96