07.03.2001
After 64 days and 22 hours racing,
Innovation Explorer completed her round-the-world journey
with the ever-present priority of "bringing
everyone safely home" as Loïck puts it – fully aware that the "everyone"
in question has displayed a clear penchant for sailing "fast and loose".
Two statements that form the basis of a concept known as
"compromise". With this in mind Innovation Explorer tried to sail a
careful race – if you can believe that – in order to ensure that they
completed this incredible adventure. That did not however rule out
pushing the speedometer into the red on one or two occasions!
As weather router Pierre Lasnier put it, "we made do with the equipment that we had,
which did not stop the guys from sailing a really good race". Pierre and Loïck have
known each other for many years, and it is remarkable to hear them unthinkingly
using the same words to describe a particular situation. This is a first but important
indicator of an overall context, the essential background needed to understand the
full story. For it is on intuition, correct interpretations of situations and a common
way of looking at sailing that the best weather router/skipper combinations are built.
Onboard navigator Roger Nilson had not previously worked with Pierre Lasnier, and
the two men had only a few days to compare their points of view before the start -
"In addition," explains Pierre, "we come from different backgrounds, which made the
whole thing all the more rewarding." Like Grant Dalton, Roger is a pure product of the
Whitbread school (in simple terms – "straight on all the way), while the two
Frenchmen tend to adopt a more "weather-based" approach, trying to battle their way
through, to exploit the slightest favourable element in each system. So much for the
cast, now for the film of The Race!
1.00 pm, December 31st, 2000 - Innovation Explorer speeds serenely away from
Barcelona, indexsail reefed. There are more than 26,000 miles to go, so no need to
rush. "Very soon", explains Pierre, "we were battling our way towards Gibraltar sailing
into the wind. We quickly realized our shortcomings at this point of sail and as we
passed through the strait, we were already half a day down". Once past Gibraltar, we
saw Innovation Explorer take a more westerly position than her rivals, after briefly
taking the head of the fleet. On January 9th, approaching the doldrums, the westerly
option continued to pay dividends with the trade winds providing the means of
achieving speeds of 25 to 30 knots.
The western route was confirmed as they began the descent towards the Southern
Ocean, with the South Atlantic high pressure system completely blocking their way,
stretching almost from one continent to the other. Loïck and his crew were sailing
very close to the coast of Brazil. Held back by the large high pressure bubble, they
tried to thread their way between the land and this unhelpful system. Once through
this tricky patch, the pack set off for The Cape of Good Hope, and the duel between
Club Med and Team Adventure turned into Russian roulette.
Contact racing, inflaming
passions and prompting the boats to overreach - Cam Lewis sustained damage and
announced he was putting in to Cape Town for technical reasons. At the same time,
Innovation Explorer hit more light airs and experienced her first reacher (light weather
sail) problems. "It was a crucial point, because a solent was not a lot of help in
extricating ourselves from high pressure systems with the wind astern", said Pierre
Lasnier.
After rounding The Cape of Good Hope nicely, Innovation Explorer dug a long way
south heading for the Antarctic convergence zone. On January 26th, she had clawed
back 100 miles from Club Med who was now only 620 miles in front. Loïck and Skip
went in search of wind – and adventure – to the south of the Kerguelen Islands,
between icebergs and in the shadow of the basalt peaks of "Desolation Island". Then
just before Cape Leeuwin (although they didn’t know it at the time) an encounter with
a UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) damaged the giant catamaran’s starboard
daggerboard. The daggerboard was turned upside down so that its undamaged part
was in the water, a major task because both the weight (880 lbs) and the size of the
board made it extremely difficult to manoeuvre.
In the hours that followed, Innovation Explorer picked up a warm front bringing a
25-30 knot westerly airflow enabling her to skim across a flat sea to break the record
for distance covered in 24 hours, travelling 629.5 miles. "If we had kept the system a
bit longer, we could easily have got over 650 miles", said Pierre. Sailing quietly back
up to New Zealand after this wild ride, the crew decided not to stop in Wellington to
take on a new sail and a replacement daggerboard. Grant Dalton expressed his
annoyance at the way Loïck appeared to enjoy indextaining an air of mystery about
it. Pierre (consulted in the same way as the rest of the crew) was torn - "of course, I
would have liked to have set off again with better equipment, but they want to
complete the trip without stopping – and the atmosphere aboard was so good, despite
the "make do and mend" conditions, that we decided to carry on as we were". A story
that epitomises Innovation Explorer’s attitude to The Race.
The Cook Strait provided an opportunity to finish off some indextenance jobs (in
particular to the daggerboard), as well as to repair the cockpit’s protective casing that
had exploded under the impact of a wave. There followed a "very fine Pacific", in the
words of Pierre - "We tried to find the subtropical air patterns, since we were still
concerned about managing our wardrobe. This is why we headed back up before
turning right towards Cape Horn". This meant that our approach was quite northerly
along the coast of Chile (meaning heading in a northerly direction). "When rounding
the Horn we had more manageable weather than expected, but for all that with 45
knot winds, enabling us to pass close to the headland, over the continental shelf. If
we had had the anticipated storm, that would have been impossible". For the crew,
Cape Horn will always be the high point of an incredible journey.
They opted for a northeasterly route back up the Atlantic, and the St Helena high was
kind to them. There was a certain amount of upwind beating to be done, but the lighter
winds did not overly strain the boat. "We have not had to face three days of strong
headwinds like Club Med. They had a hard time." The word at Race HQ around this
time was that Grant Dalton’s boat was in hazardous seas, potentially damaging to the
boat. Innovation Explorer briefly pushed a little further east, assured by Pierre
Lasnier that the conditions were good "on this part of the course", almost as if he
were describing an Olympic race. Then it was back towards the west to line up a good
course across the equator. By the time the crew reached latitude 11° south, the
choice was clear – they were aiming to cross the line close to longitude 31-32° west.
"We were in an excellent position, though, with many options open to us."
After making good progress back up towards the trades, there was a surprise in store
for the crew. A huge low pressure system had replaced the traditional high over the
Azores, causing something of a stir. "One way or another," commented Pierre
Lasnier, "it enabled us to plot a zig-zag course - north, then east-northeast – carrying
us straight to Gibraltar at around 23 knots."
Unfortunately, in the strait, the big gennaker blew out completely. Loïck Peyron and
his crew made rapid headway along the coast of Spain until they reached a patch of
light air just after Cape de Gata. It was an opportunity to clean up the boat in
preparation for their arrival, and also to enjoy the last hours aboard. They crossed the
finishing line on Tuesday, March 6th, at 11.32 and 38 seconds am GMT.
"Clearly we didn’t have the sails to compete with Club Med, who sailed a superb race.
I think these boats can carry a lot more canvas," concluded Pierre Lasnier, "and sail
quite a bit faster. Now we have four years to get ready for the next one. We will be
able to make quite a few improvements." That’s the view of the ‘thirteenth crew
member’ based on dry land, who seems to be getting ready for another lap already.
Jocelyn Blériot
Translation by LMQV
• Distance travelled: 28,764.2 miles (53,271.3 km) in 64 days 22 hours and 32 minutes
• Average speed: 18.45 knots (34.2 km/h)
• Cape of Good Hope – Cap Horn: 21 days, 7 hours and 5 minutes
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