TJV Reports from Josh Hall

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Oh Yeah?

We've been running exclusive on board commentary from Merfyn Olson aboard the 50' Artforms. Here, Josh Hall, co-skipper Gryphon Solo, the leader in their class, begs to differ!

Dear Sir, it was with great interest and some amusement that I read Merf Owen's report from the TJV on Friday. Having reflected on it I feel compelled to respond and clarify a few things

Joe Harris ( owner of Gryphon Solo) and Kip Stone enjoy a friendly but very real rivalry with their Open 50's and have raced against one another numerous times off the east coast of the USA this summer. Artforms is a beautiful new boat which has proved a great all-rounder with easy speed and excellent upwind ability. Gryphon Solo is an 8 year old Finot designed 50 which is half way through an optimization program before the two boats go head to head in next year's 5-Oceans Race.

After the strong upwind conditions of the first 48hrs of the TJV we were pleased to have held Artforms and were just 15 miles away from them as the front swept through and a downwind drag race began its early stages. We are very confident in this boat's downwind capabilities and we were as disappointed as Kip and Merf when they had to pull back into port with a damaged mainsail depriving them and us of what was going to be a great boat to boat race.
We had our own issues onboard which were a handicap but in the ensuing 5 days of hard running in 30-35kts and large seas we managed to break nothing nor lose any sails ( and the sails onboard have all already done 10,000 miles) but keep the boat at 100% hitting speeds of up to 26 kts and hovering at the 18-20 kt mark most of the time.

Being held up south of the Canaries by an unpredicted high pressure cell that had us and our routers bamboozled, allowed Artforms to halve our lead on them in the space of 3 days as they screamed down on the trades aware of our plight and staying west to avoid the same fate. Since extracting ourselves from the calm area we have been pretty much in the same wind field as Artforms and have been showing 4-6 mile gains every 2 hour sched which has been pleasing ( for us anyway!) and right now we are entering the ITCZ and expect a concertina effect on our lead before shooting out into the SE trades.

I regard Merf as a good mate so as to his comment that they will run out of race track before they can overhaul us -I will give him the benefit of the doubt and guess that the sun has gotten to him a little….. Equally , at the rate that Artforms is burning through sails I imagine that if the race track was much longer they would only be left with a storm jib. Merf, if you want some lessons in heavy downwind driving , you have my number !!!
With 1500 miles to go there is still a lot of race left to do and anything can happen, but whatever the outcome I know that Joe will come away from this race very happy that his much older boat has a great set of legs downhill, is vastly improved upwind and that there is still substantial untapped speed to be unlocked in further mods that will be made this winter.

Others may leave the race remembering the old adage that not all young, great looking women are good in bed………..

Josh Hall, co-skipper Gryphon Solo.

Throw Down!

A counter attack on Merfyn Owen aboard Artforms sailing in the Transat Jacques Vabre from Joe Harris , co-skipper of Gryphon Solo. Hey this thing is getting good!

Dear Sailing Anarchy:

Josh and I have just finished retching over the side after reading Merf’s latest editorial in Sailing Anarchy from Artforms.

Well, well, the big bear was just joking around with his bombastic, hubristic account of daring do as the lads thrashed down the Atlantic, wildly wiping out and sinking spinnakers. And Merf thought he would get us to do the same? Does he think we just fell off the turnip truck? The truth is that after Merf and Kip repaired or replaced their mainsail in Lorient, they did come roaring back on to the race course with very favorable wind conditions as they ran down the western edge of the course leaving Madeira, the Canaries and the Cape Verdes well to port. Meanwhile, Vedette and ourselves struggled in a windless zone slightly to the east and watched with horror as our lead over Artforms shrank from 360 miles to 120 miles. At that point, I am quite sure that the daring Anglo-American duo were not thinking about second place. Nor were they thinking about hugging a tree or whatever other emotional drivel Merf has been drinking. I think he has been watching too many Disney DVD’s and is now quoting directly from Shrek . Now that we are through the Doldrums and making good time in the SE trades towards Salvador, while Merf and Kip chose to enter the Doldrums further West and meander still further West chasing clouds rather than punching through the windless zone in a North-South manner, they now face a deficit of nearly 250 miles.

It’s never over till its over, particularly in sailboat racing where any variety of gear failure or wind hole can bring you to a screeching halt. However, the Artforms boys have certainly changed their tune to a more humble melody today as the reality of a good whuppin’ settles in. Mer - I really look forward to a big hug with you in Salvadore- but please, only after you have bathed. And Kip, by my math Merf needs to sell at least 3,000 T-shirts to pay for the two spinnakers he dunked on you. Maybe we can take a page out of the Bruce Schwab fundraising handbook and play guitar and sing minstrel songs in the city square in Salvadore with out hats out?? Maybe it hasn’t got quite that bad.

Joe Harris aboard Gryphon Solo

11/24/05