Émeraude, First Class I.O.R.Ref. CP120

The Émeraude (emerald in French) is one of the most successful boats under the CIM (Comité International de la Méditerranée) racing rules. It was built in Holland by the Wolter Huisman shipyard, based on plans by Germán Frers. The previous year, the same shipyard had built the famous Pinta and Saudade of the same IOR First Class. Huisman has existed as a shipyard since the second half of the 19th century and in the 1960s and 1970s specialised in steel yachts before and aluminium yachts after. Between the 1970s and 1980s it built a long series of IOR formula yachts, many of them victorious, establishing itself as the world's leading shipyard. In the mid-1980s, Wolter Huisman suddenly changed his industrial policy and started building mega-yachts, for which his shipyard is still at the forefront of the world. The excellent quality of its ships, confirmed by decades of work, led the Queen of the Netherlands to award it the title of Royal on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, which is why the shipyard has been called Royal Huisman since 1984. Germán Frers designed the Émeraude on behalf of the Frenchman Jacques Dewailly, who called all his ships by this name and who would go on to build two other larger ships, still under Frers' design, but built at other shipyards in 1985 and 1990. Dewailly was no ordinary character: an energy industrialist, his boats were skippered by the likes of Marc Pajot and Dennis Conner and won many international regattas. Dewailly was also among the organisers of the French challenge for the America's Cup in 1992 and 1995, with the IACC, the last traditional monohulls to race for that regatta. Dewailly wanted an ocean-racing boat that also had a cosy interior, so he asked that right down to the mast, the interior be much more luxurious than any other boat in her class, which is why Émeraude has a more unique interior than is rare among the IOR First Class and is totally original. With his first Émeraude, the one that concerns us, Dewailly raced with the French Admiral's Cup team, which finished sixth in 1977 (with Spain in eighth place). Another Huisman also raced on that team: Jacques Finot's famous Révolution, which marked the beginning of wide sterns design. Dewailly also took part in the Sardinia Cup, then a very popular and full of participants regatta, and in the “Settimana delle Bocche” (Week of the Mouths" referring to the Bonifacio strait), the Mediterranean alter ego of the Admiral's Cup. In 1979, Émeraude won the Middle Sea Race, the very tough race around Sicily and Malta. In 1985, as we said, Dewailly had a second Émeraude built in Italy and sold the first one to the Italian Sergio Doni, another great sailor of the time, with his boats called Yena. Curiously, Doni bought Huisman's boat when Dewailly had the second Émeraude built at SAI Ambrosini, which had built the previous Yena in 1976! It is possible that it was the same shipyard that put them in touch for the deal. That Yena, a ¾ ton IOR, had participated in the 1979 Admiral's Cup, in the Italian team that finished third, after the tragic Fastnet of that year. Sergio Doni liked the mix of sportiness and comfort that the Émeraude offered, because he was looking for a boat for travelling as well as racing. Doni had the would be famous naval architect Luca Brenta design a complete interior for the area before the Yena's mast, which until then had been completely empty. This resulted in a comfortable cabin with two bunk beds on the starboard side, a large head with shower on the port side, which acts as a passage to the forepeak, which has two V-berths, all of this with a quality that does not detract from Huisman's work. On board the new Yena, even the Aga Khan has sailed on occasion. The current owner of the Émeraude found it by chance in 1997 when he was looking for a smaller boat. But the boat's noble origins, in terms of shipyard (one of the best in the world, if not the best, for aluminium constructions) and design, convinced him of the boat's goodness. Sergio Doni's son, who had been negatively affected by the 1979 Fastnet sailing experience, had dry-docked the boat for several years. Its current owner restored the boat to its original name and began, almost by chance, a sporting career that would lead him to win an endless series of regattas. At first it was cruising the Mediterranean: the Adriatic Sea, where the boat was based, North Africa, Ionian and Aegean Greece, Turkey, Sicily as far as Lampedusa. On these cruises, the Émeraude proved to be a fast cruiser and very easy to handle with a reduced crew of two or three. In the meantime, she participated in club regattas, sometimes winning under the ORC rule. In the open class, the Émeraude won the rather complicated Pésaro-Rovinio race and in 2005 in Trieste she raced among the classic boats for the first time, with considerable success. In 2006, her owner moved her to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where the most important races of the Italian classic circuit are held, and it immediately won the Panerai circuit, with a historic success at the Régates Royales in Cannes that year. In 2007 he repeated his success in Porto Cervo, both in the regatta celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Costa Smeralda Club and in the Veteran Boat Rally of the CIM circuit. Also in Cannes and Antibes, the Émeraude won by a significant margin over her direct rival, the famous (and very fast) Stormvogel. The following year, Stormvogel had his revenge, by a narrow margin. In 2009, the Italian Navy's Chaplin again prevented Émeraude from winning a third victory on the CIM circuit, but the following year, Émeraude took revenge on the same rival and won for the third time on the circuit, thus winning the overall CIM Trophy. In 2011, the Émeraude owner decided to try his luck in the Atlantic and won the Horta-Douarnenez race against the Breton fleet. He then repeated his triumphs in different Atlantic regattas, arriving in the Spanish Mediterranean in 2012, where he has remained until today. In this period he has won the Puig Trophy twice, twice in Palma, once in Antibes and several times in Estartit. As he himself says, the age of the owner and the sails has meant a decrease in the results, but changes in the crew and less assiduous participation have also had a great influence. Today, the Émeraude is ready to continue her sporting or cruising career. All the more so as the IOR formula seems to be coming back into fashion, thanks to the opening up of the CIM regattas. She is certainly in need of repairs, mainly aesthetic and a renewal of the sails, but she is intrinsically in good condition and ready for cruising and racing, thanks to her sturdy construction and luxurious interior.