No subject

http://www.courseaularge.com/index.php?T=3Dinfos&I=3D5143

Rebirth of a legend

OSTAR/Monday August 21, 2006

CHEERS, the mythical proa of Tom Follet complete his restoration
and will be launched Saturday September 16th in the Port-Saint-
Louis-du-Rh=C3=B4ne.

Transat 1968: surprise at Millbay Docks

"We noted the efforts made to recover your boat in the event of an
accident, but we are interested by the solutions than you will
implement to avoid this situation; to sail with 20 knots between 2 capsizes=
 does not seem to us a suitable manner to race across the
Atlantic!" Such was in substance the contents of a letter from the
OSTAR race committee addressed to Tom Follet, the skipper of CHEERS
before the departure! The single-handed voyage, St Cross Vierges)-
Plymouth Islands reduced British concerns somewhat and an
independent expert erased the final doubts.

CHEERS in improbable third

After 27 days and 13 minutes, and only 28 hours after Sir Thomas
Lipton (Geoffrey Williams, 17.10m), Tom Follet recorded the 1,300kg
of CHEERS in the legend of the North Atlantic, covering 225 miles
on one day, by dodging the weather traps and the depressions that
caught many competitors.

The 3 musketeers

Richard Newick designed and built CHEERS, Jim Morris financed the
project, and Tom Follet controlled the improbable machine. This
"dream team" failed to achieve a victory for the 12m proa. Twelve
years later "the wizard of Maine", at the head of another trio
(Newick-Greene-Weld) will manage it with MOXIE.

Glory and obscurity

The splendid n=C3=A9o-Polynesian sculpture then faced the ravages of
time during twenty-five years in Exeter museum before being
transferred to conservationists in Bordeaux in a semi-wrecked
condition. Daniel Charles convinced Dick Newick to donate the
proa to Vincent Besin on condition that she's restored. The
"French doctor" succeeded in conducting an inventory of CHEERS
as though s historic building, and undertook several thousand
hours of sympathetic "surgery" during five long years. Today
CHEERS is a new boat in which approximately 50% of the original
structure survives, and it is ready for a second oceanic life.

September 16, 2006, 17h00 launching with the old

CHEERS will be relaunched in a Polynesian ritual which will
recall its launch on the beach of St Cross: 50 "carriers" will
deposit her in the water at the naval base of Port-Saint-Louis-
du-Rh=C3=B4ne then the yellow rocket will make her first sail. Richard
Newick, Nick Clifton (proa MERTIN-AZULAO), Tootie Morris, Daniel
Charles, Nigel Irens, Christian Aug=C3=A9 (builder of the 54' Newick
proas LESSIVE ST MARC and FUMEE NOIRE), Denis Kergomard, and tens
of aficionados will be present for the baptism of the boat which
revolutionized the Western design of the multihulls. Dick Newick
will be in the Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rh=C3=B4ne from the 11th to 20th
September and we hope that all will make this event
unforgettable!

Source P.Echelle