Sunday, 29th October 2006
The start of the eighth Route du Rhum
went exactly as planned with the fabulous sight of a fleet of 74 lone yachtsmen aboard six different classes of yacht in light airs and seas stirred up by the bows of hundreds of different pleasure craft. There was no surprise either in the order at the compulsory mark off Cape Fréhel, 18 miles to the west. The more recent 60’ trimarans picked up some fresher winds and took advantage of flat calm seas, which allowed them to extend their lead, even if it is rather insignificant, considering the fact that they have 3500 miles of racing ahead. Just as he had prepared himself to do, Stève Ravussin managed to get into the middle of the line with his Orange trimaran and was among the first boats away. This type of weather is a handicap for his huge yacht and the seas churned up by the wake of a thousand boats did not make his task any easier.
Sunday drivers weather...
It was thus in tenth place in the 60-foot multihull fleet that the Orange trimaran passed the mark off Cape Fréhel a little after 15h30 local time (14h30 GMT), a few minutes after Franck Cammas, Michel Desjoyeaux, Lionel Lemonchois , Thomas Coville, Pascal Bidégorry, Antoine Koch, Yvan Bourgnon, Alain Gautier and Thierry Duprey in their multihulls. The expected advantage for the more recent, lighter boats was thus respected. The very light westerly wind blowing at between 5 and 7 knots will have pleased their skippers, as they were capable of reindexing upwind of the huge fleet of pleasure craft and therefore set the pace, while their trimarans advanced very smoothly. The many changes in wind direction and speed did the rest. The Route du Rhum, which has acquired a reputation of being hellish, due to the havoc wreaked back in 2002 on the multihull fleet, will have lost that this year because of the highly unusual pace and the conditions that would suit a Sunday driver.
This situation is unlikely to evolve much in the coming 24 hours. The high-pressure area is well established over the tip of Brittany, so the solo yachtsmen will have to head out west to feel the effects of the low-pressure areas blocked off the American coast. Stève took advantage of his final hours ashore in the company of his router Roger Nilson to study all the various weather patterns that could develop according to how the high moves. Once past Fréhel and out into the middle of the English Channel, it will be time to decide which options to choose to allow him to cross the Bay of Biscay and looking further ahead, get by the Azores. It is no secret for anyone that salvation lies way out west.
Photo library : www.orangesailingphotos.com
Official Photographer : Gilles Martin-Raget : +33 6 07 55 45 85 - gmr@martin-raget.com
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