From Hispania IV to Neptune
As is often the case in adventures, the story is one of successive meetings. Tan Raffray, owner of the 8-meter JI Hispania IV, a former boat of the King of Spain that he has completely restored, has always been passionate about sailing and ocean racing. When he heard about the Ocean Globe Race (OGR) 2023, his desire to participate was immediate. He first contacted the Swan 65 project set up by Dominique Dubois, head of the Multiplast shipyard, but it did not work out. He then contacted Marie Tabarly to see if Pen Duick VI would be available, but he learned that Eric Tabarly's daughter was launching her own crew. He therefore had to find another available boat.
Sailing on Hispania IV with Daniel Gilles, former editor of the magazine Neptune Nautisme, who put him in touch with Bernard Deguy, skipper of the sailboat Neptune during the 1977 Whitbread. The latter established the link with her current owners, the boat now sailing via an association in Guadeloupe. "We had to find an agreement with the 7 owners so that they accept to abandon their boat for 3 years. Our mission was to return the boat after the race" says Daniel Gilles.
"We had been contacted by a Spanish company with whom it had not been successful. We liked the idea of the boat being on the OGR. We will get back a boat that will have been refitted" confides Pierre Danus, one of the co-owners.
A boat that is part of the history of Whitbread and French ocean racing
With Neptune, a part of the history of French ocean racing will once again taste international races. Less known than its big brother Pen Duick VI, the sailboat is also a design by the naval architect André Mauric. It is classified as a Boat of Heritage Interest. "The outline of the boat was designed in the evening after the regattas at the hotel during a week in Antigua with André Mauric. I was then editor of Neptune. I followed the project and the construction of the aluminum boat at the Pouvreau shipyard in Vendée. I then made two stops on board for the 1977/78 Whitbread" recalls Daniel Gilles, once again a member of the team that supports the boat's participation in the OGR. The boat, then skippered by Bernard Deguy, also welcomed on board our late colleague Bernard Rubinstein. He finished 8th out of 16 competitors.
Sold, the sailboat, renamed Jupiter, was chartered for many years and embarked trainees from the Adapted Military Service. She is then operated by an association that participates in local regattas and sails in the West Indies. Apart from a return to The Hague in 2018 to welcome the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race, her life is mainly Caribbean.
Find a race configuration
Neptune left the warm waters of the Caribbean to reach an anchorage in Le Bono in Morbihan in February 2022. It will now be put back in racing configuration. The aluminum hull remained healthy according to the expertise. "The boat will be taken out of the water at the Le Borgne yard. The deck plan will be reviewed, the mast changed and the interior layout too. We are working on it with members of the team, including a naval architect. It's a big project, but Tan has shown that he has the ability to do it with Hispania IV," said Daniel Gilles.
The bases being fixed, it remains for the team to close a budget... for the god of the sea to be present at the start of the OGR 2023!
