{"id":156224,"date":"2025-01-02T06:54:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T06:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=156224"},"modified":"2025-01-02T06:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T06:55:07","slug":"les-voiles-de-saint-tropez-a-maritime-history-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/events-2\/les-voiles-de-saint-tropez-a-maritime-history-book-156224","title":{"rendered":"Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez: A maritime history book"},"content":"What particularly strikes you as you step on board Columbia<\/em> is the atmosphere. Judging from the beaming owners and crew, this is clearly a much-loved yacht, and the pride that has gone into her build is obvious. It is rather difficult to believe that she is only a few months old, and not a well-restored classic.\r\n\r\nShe is as close a replica as physically possible of the original Columbia<\/em>, a 141-foot wooden Gloucester fishing schooner built in the historic A. D. Story shipyard in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1923. Even today\u2019s standard navigation stations by the wheel have been hidden away in a foldable locker, so that when at anchor, there are no clues as to her age. Only the steel of her hull is a giveaway. To someone stepping aboard for the first time, it takes a few minutes to take all this in, and this is no accident.\r\n\r\nHer owner, Brian D\u2019Isernia, had a dream as a high school student to one day build a classic American fishing schooner. He narrowed his favourites down to only a few boats, until he finally settled on Columbia<\/em>. \u201cShe was one of five famous American schooners that fished and raced against the Canadians, and the only one to produce serious competition to the famous Bluenose,\u201d he explains. \u201cI chose the Columbia<\/em> because she was the most beautiful and considered to be the fastest of the Americans.\u201d\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nEventually, in 1997, he came across the plans for Columbia<\/em>. \u201cWe went to a lot of time and effort to locate not only the standard drawings for the old Columbia<\/em>, but I even went up in the archives and found the original line drawings signed by W. Starling Burgess and we followed those exactly,\u201d says Brian. And when he says \u2018we\u2019, he doesn\u2019t mean it figuratively. Brian is president of Eastern Shipbuilding Company, based in Panama City, Florida, a large commercial shipyard.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis is our first attempt at a yacht, but we\u2019re delivering a 300-foot oil field vessel every six weeks. We\u2019re pumping them out, and this was kind of a sideline. We\u2019ve got 1,500 people employed at the yard, and this was just a little secret we started working on.\u201d With the help of John W. Gilbert & Associates, her original hand-drawn line plans were redrawn using computer software and building began in 2006. \u201cThis is for me and my family, she\u2019s not for sale,\u201d Brian says emphatically.\r\n\r\n\u201cEveryone said: \u2018We didn\u2019t know there was a yard in the US that could build like this\u2019, but there was no fanfare until we launched her. We do have a sister ship under construction and her hull is built, but we don\u2019t need two of them, so we\u2019ll sell the second one.\u201d\r\n\r\nThroughout the interior, nods to the original Columbia<\/em> are evident everywhere. Although she wouldn\u2019t have had a salon or engine room, the crew quarters have been designed to look identical and are housed in a traditional foc\u2019s\u2019le, a room in the bow forward of the mast, with six bunk beds arranged in a staggered formation along the hull. When asked about the unusual crew quarters, her captain Karl Joyner explains: \u201cThis is a replica vessel. She\u2019s not meant to be anything else. Honestly, we haven\u2019t had any complaints, the crew are young and they have a good time in here! Brian and Mimi are family orientated people, and there\u2019s no feeling of separation on board, everyone just mixes together.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_148831\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"600\"]\"\" The salon is warm and homely, and replaces the traditional fish holds[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThis is evident in the large open-plan galley just forward of the salon, with its comfortable country kitchen atmosphere. Brian proudly points out the woodwork and inlay details, naming the woods as he goes along: tiger maple, mahogany, \u201cand all in-house.\u201d The salon with its calming neutral wood details and well-thought-out pops of colour offers up a range of dining possibilities, with a formal table and seating mirrored on the opposite side by an adjustable table and sofas. The coffee table can be elevated to full cocktail height, a modern addition her predecessor would certainly not have enjoyed.\r\n\r\nThe guest quarters are designed with the prevailing family atmosphere in mind. The original Columbia<\/em> would have contained fish-holds and not guest cabins, so Brian and Mimi were left with a flexibility to design what would suit their needs. Four cabins sleep 12 people, with the two twins carrying fixed bunks and pullmans in the master and VIP. Brian explains: \u201cI have 10 children and 11 grandchildren, so we needed a lot of bunks! But with the second hull we can customise the interior to an owner\u2019s requirements, such as including a larger master cabin. For us it was not a priority, though.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_148833\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"600\"]\"\" Her owner went to great lengths to realise his boyhood dreams of owning a classic fishing schooner[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile a traditional feel might be desired on board, it is not at the expense of modern amenities: the master includes a large Jacuzzi bath. A huge skylight above the salon fills the area with natural light and allows fresh air to flow throughout the yacht. A full-size electric fireplace as well as air-conditioning and heating systems ensure she is well prepared for all cruising climates.\r\n\r\nA bow thruster, underwater lighting, state-of-the-art navigation equipment and multimedia entertainment system also set her apart from her predecessor.\r\n\r\nThe attention to historical detail on her exterior is extraordinary. Brian explains: \u201cThe blocks were built by an 86-year-old third-generation block builder from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, whose father built the blocks for Bluenose II, and whose grandfather built the blocks for Bluenose. So she\u2019s a real little piece of history!\u201d There are also two fish-holds on deck: \u201cBrian specifically wanted them to keep as close to the original yacht as possible. We have chip ice-makers that fill them up,\u201d explains Captain Joyner.\r\n\r\nBrian\u2019s passion for both his new yacht and her predecessor is obvious, but becomes clearer when he explains her history: \u201cTragically, the world never got to see the full potential of the original Columbia<\/em>. She foundered in an August hurricane in 1927, along with four Canadian schooners, off Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Coincidentally, that\u2019s in fact where I fished when I was in the industry: I spent two years off Sable Island long lining for swordfish, so there was an emotional pull for me as well.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_148834\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"600\"]\"\" A life of private cruising and leisurely travelling is a far cry from that of her predecessor[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cBut obviously my circumstances were different: in those days, these boats went out to the Grand Banks and had no radar, GPS or weather reports. All they had was a compass, a barometer and a leadline. When you\u2019re on a lee shore in a hurricane, in a boat with no engines, it\u2019s trouble.\r\n\r\nFive schooners in that one night perished, and Columbia<\/em> was one of them. One hundred and twenty five people died, 25 crew per boat, and they came from small coastal fishing villages. One village lost 25 people \u2013 there wasn\u2019t a single family that wasn\u2019t affected. \u201cBut she was a real fishing vessel, and that\u2019s what she was built for. She raced in the Fishermen\u2019s Cup, and the deal was that you had to fish. You couldn\u2019t just sign up. If you didn\u2019t go out and fish then you couldn\u2019t race. I guess part of the reason we built her was to honour that time and those men. We forget that it was a very tough time. Even after those tragedies, they\u2019d get up and go fishing again. They were survivors,\u201d he says.\r\n\r\nThe new Columbia<\/em> is to enjoy a different life in the hands of Brian and Mimi. \u201cI\u2019m taking her up to my 50th college reunion in May in Washington DC, up the Potomac River,\u201d says Brian. She is set to visit the Mediterranean during the 2015 summer season as well. \u201cMy mother was born in Ireland, and since we\u2019re planning to sail across the Atlantic, we\u2019ve got to go there. We\u2019ll just sail her with the family and have a good time.\u201d\r\n\r\nOriginally published on SuperYachtWorld.com on February 27, 2015<\/em>\r\n\r\n
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The great French sailor, Eric Tabarly, an instrumental figure in the origins of what is now Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, is reputed to have said that strolling along the quays of the riviera town during this regatta was like \u2018flicking through the pages of a maritime history book\u2019. Tabarly\u2019s words deftly distil the essence of this unique event held each year in the small town of Saint-Tropez, perched on a north facing promontory in the gulf to which it gives its name. At first sight it seems inconceivable that this charming but pocket-sized fishing port could possibly accommodate the majority of the 250-boat fleet, representing almost 135 years of yacht design history, that descends on Saint-Tropez each year. But remarkably, for the last 25 years the skilled RIB drivers of the Capitainerie (Saint-Tropez\u2019s busy harbour master\u2019s office) have somehow nudged, towed and coaxed everything from 130ft schooners and modern maxis to small engineless sloops into cheek-by-jowl order along the harbour\u2019s modest walls and pontoons. It\u2019s perhaps that very concentration of yachting history, all in one place, that lends this event its charmed intensity, drawing huge crowds down the town\u2019s narrow laneways to walk the quays or admire the scene from the numerous waterfront eateries. Sir Richard Matthews, founder of Oyster Yachts, has sailed at Les Voiles for many years, returning for the event\u2019s 25th anniversary in 2024 with his 12 Metre Crusader. He remains beguiled by the whole experience. \u201cIt\u2019s a magic place,\u201d he said. \u201cYou walk the docks at Saint-Tropez, it\u2019s yacht porn basically! It\u2019s just unique in my experience with the bands playing in the streets. Everybody loves it and we certainly do, it\u2019s fantastic.\u201d This relaxed end-of-season atmosphere at Les Voiles owes much to the conscious efforts of the host club Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Nautique Saint-Tropez (SNST) to preserve the spontaneous, quirky DNA of the event\u2019s origins. The spur-of-the-moment challenge in 1981 between American Dick Jayson\u2019s Swan 44 Pride and Jean Redele\u2019s 1964 12 Metre America\u2019s Cup boat Ikra is well documented. But the twists and turns that SNST\u2019s Patrice de Colmont took to evolve that mismatched challenge into Les Voiles\u2019 popular precursor, La Nioulargue, is worthy of its own documentary. For all the amicable ambience that pervades the regatta, the competition across the three classes and 19 divisions of Maxis, Moderns and Tradition is real enough, even when the fixed start line location off the town\u2019s sea wall for the latter two classes can often add a random dimension to the results. Upwind or downwind, you take what comes on the day. Short straw With 15 divisions across these two classes sent off from the line at midday, the early divisions can also draw the short straw when the sea breeze makes a late appearance, as it did on several days in 2024; a particular challenge for the favourably rated boats in the Moderns class. But for the likes of Will Ryan, a regular on the TP52 Super Series circuit and strategist aboard King Frederik of Denmark\u2019s chartered …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":447,"featured_media":156247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1540],"tags":[1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156224"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156250,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156224\/revisions\/156250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156224"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=156224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}