OSTAR 1984

– the French return

Ninety-one boats started in a strong south-easterly and the multihulls were quickly away, but within six hours the first was out – June Clarke (Batchelors Sweet Pea) pitchpoled and was rescued by lifeboat. In the early stages of the race it was two catamarans of Patrick Morvan (Jet Services) and Gilles Gahinet (33 Export) that dominated until they were forced to retire through damage to the hull and mast problems, respectively.
The competitors had been warned of large numbers of icebergs drifting further south than usual, but it was whales that caused more problems. Class IV winner Luis Tonizzo sighted several and sailed over one that lifted his boat out of the water “I was very lucky it didn’t touch the rudder otherwise it would have broken off”. Not so lucky was Henk van de Weg whose boat Tjisje sank and David Duncombe who retired after hitting whales.
But it was the capsizing of Philippe Jeantot (Credit Agricole) in the middle of the Atlantic that was the talk of the town posing a problem at the finish. Philippe Poupon (Fleury Michon) was first to finish in Newport in a record 16 days, 11 hours and 55 minutes (which was increased by 30 minutes for his start line penalty), but Yvon Fauconnier (Umupro Jardin) was declared the winner after standing-by Jeantot for 16 hours. His finish time of 16 days, 22 hours and 25 minutes were reduced by 16 hours to 16 days, 6 hours and 25 minutes. Philippe Poupon on hearing the news during the middle of his victory press conference, could not disguise his immense disappointment and broke down in tears. At the prize giving Fauconnier received the overall winner prize and Poupon was awarded a special Line Honours prize.
Two other boats, Alan Wynne Thomas (Jemima Nicholas) and Bertus Buys (Sea-Beryl), received time allowances for assisting other casualties.
The first 11 boats finished within 24 hours of each other and of the 10 only two skippers were not French and only the 10th placed boat was not a multihull. 13 skippers beat the record time of 17 days 23 hours set by Phil Weld in the previous race.
The French were back and the race was fast becoming a transatlantic multihull sprint.

 

OBSERVER / EUROPE 1 SINGLE-HANDED TRANSATLANTIC RACE 1984 — The Seventh OSTAR

Plymouth – Newport   2 June 1984 12:10 BST   Started: 92 Finished: 64

Skipper

Yacht

Type

LOA

Class

H/cap

Elapsed Time

Corrected Time

O/A Place

Class Place

Corr Place

Nat

Fauconnier, Yvon

Umupro Jardin V

T

53

I

16 06 25

1

1

FRA

Poupon, Philippe

Fleury Michon

T

56

I

16 12 25

2

2

FRA

Pajot, Marc

Elf Aquitaine II

C

59

I

16 12 48

3

3

FRA

Tabarly, Eric

Paul Ricard

T

60

I

16 14 21

4

4

FRA

Phillips, Peter

Travacrest Seaway

T

60

I

16 17 23

5

5

GBR

Gilard, Daniel

Nantes

T

60

I

16 17 51

6

6

FRA

Moussy, Olivier

Région Centre

T

45

II

16 19 16

7

1

FRA

Peyron, Bruno

L’Aiglon

C

60

I

16 20 21

8

7

FRA

Boucher, François

Ker Cadelac

T

50

I

16 21 48

9

8

FRA

Luhrs, Warren

Thursday’s Child

M

60

I

16 22 27

10

9

USA

Levy, Vincent

Kermarine

T

50

I

17 04 28

11

10

FRA

Martin, John

Mainstay Voortrekker

M

60

I

17 22 02

12

11

RSA

Gliksman, Denis

Lessive St Marc

T

50

I

17 22 17

13

12

FRA

Petith, Jack

Destination St Croix

T

38

III

18 12 31

14

1

USA

Munduteguy, Didier

Côte Basque

T

45

II

18 13 34

15

2

FRA

le Cornec, Yves

Idenek

T

42

II

18 13 49

16

3

FRA

Fournier, Philippe

Gespac

T

40

III

19 07 50

17

2

SUI

Greene, Walter

Sebago

C

45

II

19 10 38

18

4

USA

Austoni, Edoardo

Chica Boba III

M

60

I

19 10 41

19

13

ITA

Bullimore, Tony

City of Birmingham

T

40

III

19 22 35

20

3

GBR

Tonizzo, Luis

City of Slidel

M

35

IV

20 23 40

21

1

USA

Boye, Jack

Carteret Savings

M

54

I

21 01 50

22

14

USA

Homewood, Bill

British Airways II

T

31

IV

21 05 34

23

2

USA

Carpentier, Patrice

Cenet

M

45

II

21 06 02

24

5

FRA

Petit-Etienne, Alain

Région de Picardie

C

60

I

21 08 47

25

15

FRA

Granholm, Kai

Patricia of Finland

M

40

III

21 13 04

26

4

FIN

Bernardin, Guy

Biscuits Lu

M

44

II

21 18 35

27

6

FRA

Lush, Tony

Survival Tech Group

M

35

IV

22 02 39

28

3

USA

Ugarte, Jose

Orion Iru

M

45

II

22 15 53

29

7

ESP

Radford, Ian

Ntombifuti

M

40

III

22 16 13

30

5

GBR

Bates, Jim

Big Shot

M

35

IV

22 18 09

31

4

USA

Veyron, Alain

Vingt sur Vannes

C

35

IV

23 13 44

32

5

FRA

Dardel, Olivier

Alcatel

M

37.5

III

24 13 10

34

7

FRA

Shaw, John

Ms Patty

C

40

III

24 14 53

33

6

GBR

van der Zee, Wijtze

Royal Leerdam

M

40

III

24 18 05

35

8

NED

Fehrenbach, Bruno

Douche Champion

M

35

IV

25 03 53

36

6

FRA

van Hagen, Simon

Betelgeuze

M

42

II

25 05 50

37

8

NED

Jukkema, Henk

LDS Sailer

M

33

IV

25 09 12

38

7

NED

Laird, Colin

La Baleine

M

44

II

25 15 29

39

9

TTO

Donnelly, Tom

Lone Eagle

M

36

III

26 06 46

40

9

USA

Thomas, Alan Wynne

Jemima Nicholas

M

40

III

26 18 21

41

10

GBR

Freeman, Jerry

Abacus

M

42

II

27 11 11

42

10

GBR

Perkes, Alan

Sherpa Bill

M

36

III

27 11 50

43

11

GBR

White, David

Gladiator

M

55

I

28 04 38

44

16

USA

O’Donoghue, Brian

Gamble Gold

M

33

IV

29 15 55

45

8

GBR

Smith, Mac

Quailo

M

44

II

29 23 10

46

11

USA

van Hest, Hans

Olle P2

M

38.5

III

30 04 10

47

12

NED

Langford, Spencer

Summer Salt

M

38

III

30 12 43

48

13

USA

Butler, Chris

Swansea Bay

M

27

V

30 14 48

49

1

GBR

Petrovsky, Michael

Timpani

M

30

V

30 23 58

50

2

GBR

Ryan, David

Phagawi

M

29

V

31 07 48

51

3

USA

Fournier, Albert

El Torero

M

30

V

31 08 25

52

4

USA

Scott, Robert

Lands End

M

39.5

III

31 23 10

53

14

USA

Buys, Bertus

Sea-Beryl

M

35

IV

32 10 09

54

9

NED

van Donselaar, Jan

Shamrock

M

30

V

32 15 20

55

5

NED

Armstrong, Alan

Mitsubishi Electric

M

29.5

V

32 20 45

56

6

GBR

Howie, John

Free Bird

M

31.5

IV

35 04 33

57

10

USA

Hircock, Lloyd

Moustache

M

29.5

V

35 15 57

58

7

CAN

Huges, Dick

Gladys

M

34

IV

39 06 56

59

11

NED

Kurtev, Vassil

Nord

M

25

V

40 16 38

60

8

BUL

Hubbard, Timothy

Johan Lloyde

M

32

IV

41 04 30

61

12

USA

Coffey, Jack

Meg of Muglins

M

35

IV

41 16 30

62

13

IRL

Terschegget, Goos

de Volharding

M

41

II

41 20 20

63

12

NED

Hunt, John

Crystal Catfish

M

31.5

IV

44 14 22

64

14

USA

Parker, Douglas

Refugee

M

27

V

Retired at start – medically unfit

USA

Clarke, June

Batchelors Sweet Pea

T

40

III

Capsized off Cornwall, rescued by lifeboat

GBR

Peyron, Loïck

Lada Poch

C

54

I

Dismasted, retired to Dartmouth

FRA

Loizeau, Eric

Roger & Gallet

T

45

II

Retired to Plymouth, sail & centreboard problems

FRA

McCoy, Hugh

Fury

C

60

I

Rudder damage, retired to Plymouth

GBR

Brand, Monique

Alliance Kaypro

M

44

II

Dismasted, towed to Scillies

FRA

Veyron, Thomas

Rizla +

T

30

V

Dismasted, retired to Port Navalo

FRA

Smith, Chris

Race Against Poverty

M

30

V

Sprang a leak, returned under power

GBR

Duncombe, David

Go Kart

M

29

V

Hit by whale, returned Plymouth, then ret’d

GBR

Versluys, Gustav

Tyfoon VI

M

44

II

Steering problems, retired Falmouth

BEL

Vuylsteker, Jacques

Jeremi V

M

35

IV

Sail damage, retired Peros-Guirec

FRA

Lengyel, Bob

Prodigal

M

34

IV

Steering problems, restarted then ret’d

USA

de Jong, Andre

La Peligrosa

M

31

IV

Steering problems, restarted then ret’d

NED

Hales, Geoff

Quest for Charity

C

29

V

Hull leaking, retired Penzance

GBR

Jeantot, Philippe

Crédit Agricole

C

60

I

Capsized, Umupro Jardin stood by

FRA

Morvan, Patrick

Jet Services

C

60

I

Holed by tree trunk, picked up

FRA

Arthaud, Florence

Biotherm II

T

60

I

Rigging problems, retired Azores

FRA

Houlgrave, Geoff

Colt Cars GB

T

60

I

Dismasted, hull damaged, rescued by ship

GBR

Wood, Frank

Marsden

T

45

II

Dismasted, retired Portugal

GBR

Horeau, Michel

Marchés de France

T

50

I

Mast trouble, retired France

FRA

Gahinet, Gilles

33 Export

C

60

I

Mast trouble, retired La Trinite

FRA

Mansell, John

Double Brown

C

35

IV

Structural problems, rescued by Jemima Nicholas

NZL

van de Weg, Henk

Tjisje

M

29.5

V

Hit by whale, rescued by helicopter (Argos)

NED

Menzies, Bob

Dancing Dolphin

M

37

III

Boat sinking, rescued by ship (Argos)

AUS

Peterzen, Karl

Karpetz

M

31.5

IV

Hit drifting buoy, sinking, rescued (Argos)

SWE

Wallace, Bill

Novia

M

30

V

Dismasted, ship recovered yacht (Argos)

USA

Hayward, Rachel

Loiwing

M

35

IV

Ran aground Pt Judith in fog near finish

GBR

Richey, Mike

Jester

M

26

V

Sail damage, retired Halifax

GBR

 

TROPHIES

dd hh mm

Winner

Yvon Fauconnier

Umupro Jardin V

16 06 25

Record (after allowance)

Line Honours

Philippe Poupon

Fleury Michon

16 12 25

(Previous Record

Phil Weld

Moxie

17 23 12

1980)