It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that it has taken the characterful Volvo 70s twenty years to become a true overnight success. For sure, they made quite an impression with their debut for the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race of 2005-2006, but that was in decidedly rarefied competition.
INTERNATIONAL BRAINS TRUST
They were and are boats conceived by an informal and compact international Brains Trust made up mostly of designers and hugely experienced yet fearless sailors. The boats and campaigns were sponsored in turn – in the case of the fortunate ones - by high end international brands with seemingly unlimited budgets, and the resulting flying machines emerged as true exotics.
The Volvo 70s Telefonica 1 & 2 racing in Galway Bay during the 2011-2012 race's stopover in Ireland
So exotic, in fact, that once the era of Volvo world races drew to a close, it was assumed they'd have ratings so stratospheric - relative to standard boats - that they'd be only a very limited proposition for open competition in big-fleet settings.
STILL AHEAD OF THE POSSE
Well, perhaps there is a narrow band of conditions in which Volvo 70s are wellnigh unbeatable. But far from becoming ever narrower as other boats advance in design and technology, that band seems to have widened, as the Volvo 70 carries so many feature and bits of special gear that she's still ahead of the posse.
Yet with top-end experience in racing even bigger boats increasing all the time, the Volvo 70 is now often seen as "a handy little manageable campaigner", whereas with some of the 83ft Maxis and 100ft SuperMaxis, you get the impression that the crews are barely hanging on in the hope that the big bucket is going more or less in the direction they want, and all in the knowledge that any serious sail problems will need shoreside machinery to get sorted out.
Getting among the expensive metalwork – Johnny Mordaunt has long been noted for his skills in boat prep and management, but also skippering success in his CV
TRANSATLANTIC WIN
The latest success is Volvo 70 Tschuss 2 with co-skipper Johnny Mordaunt of Dublin and supportive owner and co-skipper, US-based Christian Zugel, winning the RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote (start January 12th) to Grenada. Although the Zugel-Mordaunt team have notched some notable racing successes – inshore and offshore – in European waters in recent years, this was Zugel's first Transatlantic.
Johnny Mordaunt – who has been in the big-boat game in both the prepping and sailing areas for more than a quarter of a century now - ensured they'd some prodigious talent taken on board for this special one. When you see an individual superstar like Nin O'Leary of Crosshaven listed as one of several top helms, you get some sense of the battalion of brilliance making Tschuss fly.
The Volvo 70 Wizard has some tough sailing at The Rock on her way to the 2019 Fastnet Race overall win
HOBART WIN
Yet it is only a few weeks since another former Volvo 70 was in the lights as the overall winner of the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. It says something about these boats that being pretty much race ready seems to be their default mode.
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Sam Haynes, previous RSHR overall winner with his TP 52 Celestial, found himself boat-less as the big race approached, but a charter was arranged of the Volvo 70 Willow.
KINSALE CREDIT
However, there was so little time to spare for fresh livery that when this latest "Hastening to Hobart" was under way, it depended on the camera angle as to whether you thought you were looking at a boat called Willow, or one called Celestial. But no matter, they both won, another feather in the cap of crewman Frank O'Leary of Kinsale who had also been aboard with Sam Haynes for his TP 52 victory.
Frank O'Leary of Kinsale with the Tattersall Cup for overall victory in the 2024 Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race, won with the Volvo 70 Celestial.
Before all this, the overall winner of the 2011-2012 Volvo Race, known as the Volvo 70 Groupama at the time, had won the 2013 Hobart Race as Giacomo and then won the Newport Bermuda, Transatlantic, Fastnet and Caribbean 600 as Dave & Pete Askew's Wizard, skippered by Charlie Enwright.
CARIBBEAN 600 COMING UP
That said, there were two boats floating around back in 2009, both called Groupama, so who or which is what, or indeed under what name Tschuss 2 first sailed, is not something we're going to plunge into here. For the important thing is that Tschuss 2 is right on station for the RORC Caribbean 600 in three weeks time on Monday 24th February, and the continuing tale of the timeless Volvo 70s will roll merrily along.
January's 2025 B14 Worlds in Sydney brought overall victory for Cork Harbour's Chris Bateman and Louise Loughton
And meanwhile, wasn't January a zinger of a month for sailing in Ireland? We'd deep involvement in the Hobart and Transatlantic Race wins, Chris Bateman and Louise Loughton of Cork won the B14 Worlds in Australia, and now we've the news that Mark O'Connor of the National YC has qualified for the Mini-Transat and Tom Dolan has announced the defence of his 2024 Figaro title. It's looking good.
The first RORC Caribbean 600 in 2009 was won by Adrian Lee's Cookson 50 Lee Overlay Partners (Royal St George YC). In 2007, as Ger O'Rourke's Chieftain of the Royal Western of Ireland YC in Kilrush, she'd been overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race.
