Racing News
La Defonce Presented with C. Gaither Scott Trophy for Corinthian Spirit
Bill Wagner
Laurent Givry was thinking out of the box when he
bought a Beneteau Figaro 3 to compete in point-to-point races on the Chesapeake
Bay as well as offshore distance races such as Annapolis-to-Newport.
Touted as the first production foiling one-design monohull
ever designed, the Figaro 3 is more closely associated with short-handed
sailing out of France and other locales in Europe.
Givry is a relative newcomer to competitive sailing,
having jumped in with two feet by purchasing a brand new Farr 400 high-performance
racer. The 52-year-old surrounded himself with a strong team of professionals
and promptly captured the Virginia Cruising Cup as overall winner of the 68th
Down the Bay Race.
The Fairfax Station, Virginia, resident took a similar
approach after acquiring the Figaro 3, going to great lengths to find someone
with the expertise to teach him how to properly handle a foiling sailboat.
Givry managed to connect with one of the world’s most
renowned sailors, convincing French former professional Sidney Gavignet to come
to Annapolis for a pair of week-long training sessions.
Gavignet, a four-time veteran of the Volvo Ocean Race,
even agreed to join Givry aboard La Defonce for the Annapolis-to-Newport Race.
They entered the Double-handed Division and wound up making history by
finishing first of the 23 boats in the Friday start of the race.
This was the 37th edition of the biennial
event that connects two of the East Coast's greatest seaports, and never before
had a double-handed team taken line honors. Givry, an amateur sailor, and Gavignet
did not receive the newly-commissioned Chip Thayer Perpetual Trophy for lowest
elapsed time among Friday starters because foiling boats are not eligible.
However, the two Frenchmen did earn an even more prestigious award.
La Defonce was presented with the C. Gaither Scott
Trophy for Corinthian Spirit during the Annapolis-to-Newport Race prize-giving
ceremony, held Wednesday night At the Deck of Waites Wharf.
The C. Gaither Scott Trophy for Corinthian Spirit is
presented at the discretion of the Annapolis-to-Newport race committee. This
special award, which is not handed out during every edition of
Annapolis-to-Newport, was named in honor of the Annapolis Yacht Club’s longtime
race committee chairman and was introduced following his death in March, 2000.
“I am totally overwhelmed to get this
trophy. I was not expecting this at all. I’m very touched. It’s an amazing
honor,” an emotional Givry said immediately after the ceremony. “I just called
Sidney to tell him about this. He’s very happy as well. We are very grateful to
the Annapolis Yacht Club to consider us worthy of this wonderful trophy.”
Gavignet, whose swan song as a professional sailor was
capturing overall victory in the Route du Rhum solo transatlantic race aboard
the 50-foot Café Joyeaux, painstakingly taught Givry how to understand weather
models and utilize that information to perform advanced navigational routing.
Together, they developed a wise game-plan then
executed it to perfection – rounding the Chesapeake Light upon entering the
Atlantic Ocean then sailing in a northeasterly direction 60 miles offshore.
La Defonce entered the Gulf Stream just as a low
pressure system was developing and the duo was delighted when the wind clocked
around from 50 to 120 degrees. Gavignet and Givry tacked immediately on the
shift and sailed all the way to Newport.
It was a bold and brilliant move to go all the way out
to the Gulf Stream, but worked as a charm because La Defonce went all the way
to the finish line off Castle Hill Light on one tack.
“It makes me smile because I don’t understand why no
one else did it. It really is pretty straight-forward. By going outside we had
more right shift and more pressure,” Gavignet explained afterward. “We picked
up a big right-hand shift in the stream and went straight into Newport. We
wound up sailing a lot less distance than any of the other boats.”
Not only were A2N race committee officials impressed
by the strategy, they also lauded Givry and Gavignet for handling the 32-foot
boat in sustained 25-30 knot winds while pounding into 12-foot waves. They
sailed for more than 20 hours with two reefs in the main and a J3 headsail
while employing a watch system of two hours on and two hours, helping each
other only during maneuvers and sail changes.
“I put everything I had into this race, both
preparation-wise and out on the water. I give 110 percent effort to this
Annapolis-to-Newport program,” Givry said. “It was a very tough race and we had
to fight very hard for the win, there is no doubt about that.”
Givry acknowledges he took a beating along the way, at
one point getting tossed around the cabin while taking off his foul weather
gear and suffering a severe gash to the head that spilled blood everywhere. Reportedly,
Givry also broke his hand at some point along the way.
“To be the first boat to finish while racing
double-handed, that alone is a stellar display of seamanship. Factor in that
Laurent did this race with a broken hand and that makes it more impressive,”
Annapolis-to-Newport Race chairman James Praley said. “The race committee felt
Laurent and Sidney sailed the boat incredibly well and were very deserving of
this special recognition.”
Some traditionalists may take issue with a foiling
sailboat competing in such an iconic and venerable offshore race as
Annapolis-Newport. However, Praley noted that foiling sailboats are here to
stay and said you can’t fight progress.
“That Laurent would take new technology like that and
bring it to a race of this type is noteworthy,” Praley said. “Give Laurent
credit as someone who was willing to challenge the race with whatever
technology is out there.”
Givry spent a lot of time on various boats while
growing up in the south of France and served in the French Navy. He moved to
the United States in 1991 and is the owner of Elite Wines, an importer and
distributor of fine wine.
“Despite this great accomplishment, I have to stay
very humble because I’m just a regular guy trying to learn about sailing. I still
have so much to learn,” said Givry, who was already thinking about where to
display the very large C. Gaither Scott Trophy at his home. “I’m going to have
to push some stuff aside in my office and make a special place for it.”
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