The 8th edition of Les Voiles de St Barth took place from the 8th of April until the 15th of April. Distributed among 70 crews competing in 9 different classes, the seafarers all set sail under middling conditions, with a wind oscillating between 12 and 15 knots. These weather conditions delighted tacticians, who had a fight on their hands for the long and technical itinerary imposed by the race route. After two days of exhausting races under weak or unstable wind conditions, the crews came ashore for a well- earned day of rest.
An opportunity to relax for some, while others pursued recreational activities, this day also witnessed the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first Richard Mille Watches Wiki Replica Boutique in St Barts. Guests at the inauguration enjoyed an opportunity to view some of the most beautiful pieces in the collection, especially the RM 60-01 Flyback Chronograph Regatta, one of which was conferred on the overall winners of the Maxi Yacht class.
This automatic timepiece in grade 5 titanium supports high-seas navigation thanks to a specially-designed rotating bezel bearing the four cardinal points and a 360° graduated disk with a 24-hour scale. A partner of Les Voiles from the very first, Richard Mille confirms the significance of the nautical world for the brand: ‘My commitment to a field like sailing is all the more fervent because the domain encourages full expression of the Richard Mille philosophy. It’s an opportunity to combine extreme performance, cutting- edge technology and a strong artistic component, while respecting the hallowed traditions of a discipline. Thousands of hours of R&D are needed to bring a superyacht into being; the same is true of our watches. To say nothing of the race against time!’
The competition became difficult going forward, however, as crews struggled to make the most of ‘gentle breezes’. The conditions were such that the Racing Committee had no choice but to cancel Saturday’s races. As a result, there was no change to the rankings. While this was a very unusual scenario for the Les Voiles, the event closed following what were nonetheless three intensive and beautiful days of regattas.
Peter Harrison, CEO of Richard Mille EMEA, wore his sailor’s cap for the occasion. With his sailboat, Sorcha TP 52 sporting the livery of Richard Mille, he finished 1st in the CSA 0 class, after placing 3rd and 2nd in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Victory in the Maxi Yacht category went to Proteus, belonging to the American George Sakellaris, who also took the top spot in the general rankings, as he did in last year’s regatta.
As of now, skippers and sailing enthusiasts can register for the next edition of Les Voiles, set to take place on 9 – 14 April 2018, as always with the unwavering support of Richard Mille.
Despite its slim case, the RM033 has fantastic quantity to it. The “spline screws” that hold the bezel, case-band and case-back collectively force the case-band to possess protruding tunnels for the screws to go through, while everywhere else on the case’s side, plenty of substance has been removed. This negative distance really adds quantity to the RM033 — with bare eyes, or even looking through a high magnification loupe or rectangular lens in smaller segments of the instance, there is simply so much to look at and appreciate.The five-prong skate screws of this bezel sit in their little valleys, surrounded by exceptionally fine grained, beveled and polished curves — all eight of them. Four only hold the bezel, however, one in every lug seems to repair the lugs to the case-band and case-back. The latter is just one solid piece that includes the curve to go under the lugs, that’s the conventional and highly ergonomic curved case profile that Richard Mille has on all its watches, no matter how thin.The crown is enormous and intricately crafted out of unusual stuff: the black piece is ceramic and the detailing is in a material that matches the case — here it has an 18k white gold spike. The ceramic even has alternating finishing that is something I have not seen done on such a little bit. This crown must be so ridiculously difficult to source and get right that things such as this will hardly ever exist on even mid-five figure watches — it just will not be, because designers at the vast majority of other luxury brands do not even dare think of things like this, and especially not with these regularity.While functionality-wise the crown is so strong as it should be, with dual O-rings and a totally over-engineered clickyness to it, it took me a great time to get used to its looks — it just leaves the entire watch more feminine in my eyes at least, though I’m sure it would not stand out this much if the watch has been about a black strap (more about the strap at a bit).