13/11/2006
Mission accomplished for Dominique Wavre and TEMENOS!
It was under a hot, beating sun that Dominique crossed the finish line on
Saturday 11th November at 2222 hours French time, finishing 5th in the Imoca
class after 13 days, 9 hours and 20 minutes of racing. The monohull safely
completed its first transatlantic at an average of 11.02 knots.
Of course, “ranking 5th leaves a little bit to be desired” after making the
podium on several occasions it would be hard to feel otherwise, but the skipper
who is already talking about “getting his revenge” is opting to gather his
thoughts on the lessons learnt from this transatlantic. Learning from and
making the boat reliable were always the key elements of this 8th edition of
the Route du Rhum – La Banque Postale, so Dominique’s objectives were fully
satisfied. The race was all about measuring up, learning and controlling, with
the principal aim of making the start of the next Vendée Globe in two years’
time with all the odds stacked on your side.
The incredible end to the race will have really put the sailors’ nerves to the
test. Roland Jourdain will have had that first place on his mind right to the
last, finally able to conserve it in extremis by just 27 minutes. Dominique
meantime had to watch powerless as Virbac-Paprec and Brit-Air came back into
the frame. "Physically I’m fine, but the nerves have taken a knock over the
last two days, which ended with some very testing light conditions. The boat
stopped in a windless zone, whilst the others were making headway in steady
winds. I was overtaken, unable to retaliate, while boats which had opted for
another weather strategy sailed on by. That’s clearly frustrating at the
time...”
Nevertheless, the disappointment of this race finish will very quickly be
forgotten by the skipper, who is keen to hold onto the fantastic sensations of
speed and power left in the wake of the Owen Clarke Design. This feeling was
already very much in evidence from the skipper during the race. "From the first
night heading across the Irish Sea, TEMENOS demonstrated its aptitude for
close-hauled sailing. When reaching, what can you say, it’s really very fast.”
When he looks back at his race the incident with the daggerboard, which made him
lose contact with the leaders, seemed to be decisive. "The daggerboard had come
out of its casing and was in danger of breaking. This eventuality would have
lead to a large amount of water ingress. I had to bring the boat to a complete
halt for 4 hours. It was the worst possible moment, since the other boats were
flat out reaching. I lost 40 miles that I was never able to make up later.”
For the first time, Dominique called upon the services of a professional router,
a whole new experience for the skipper who was able to dedicate almost 100 % of
his time to the smooth running of his boat.
"It’s quite amazing. The router is very aware of what the weather situation is
like where you’re sailing. Virtually hour by hour, he indicates the situation
you’re going to encounter, the strategy to adopt, the course to follow. You
depend on him completely and you busy yourself with getting the boat to the
waypoints he has communicated to you. His information is sufficiently precise
that all you have to do is follow the timetable. It’s a new way of racing. In a
way, you confide the intellectual side of racing to a third party. We become the
people that carry out the manoeuvres and the trimming. That provides a lot of
comfort but at the same time it removes a great deal of the inventiveness, the
creativity, the spirit of analysis…we leave the weather to one side. We no
longer watch the clouds in the sky, and that’s something I love doing.”
We understand from the skipper that though usually he feels he has more to gain
from non-routed races, the fact that he is freed from doing the weather
strategy will have allowed him more time to learn and discover the boat. "I’ve
been able to devote my time exclusively to getting the boat making headway, and
that’s exactly what I was looking for in this first major sail. In 13 days of
Route du Rhum, we have learnt as much as when doing 6 months of classical
preparation.”
On several occasions the skipper has been feeling his way around, comparing his
progress to those of the other boats having already proven their worth. "Racing
drives pressure, which means that you’re constantly pushing the limits of your
boat. The fact that every 4 hours you’re able to see if you’ve lost or gained 5
miles on your opponent enables you to validate your trimming. The slightest drop
in speed gets the brain ticking and we try to find a new trim, a new sail
combination…”
To listen to the radio chat sessions with Dominique during the race, the alchemy
was operating to full effect between the skipper and his boat. Onshore, the
skipper confirms this: "I am very happy about the boat; TEMENOS perfectly
responded to my expectations. She is fabulous with real potential. Its average
speed is achieved with ease. And sometimes you find THE trim, the one which
causes the boat to exceed even the architect’s polars. You find yourself at
150%! These are the moments of grace during which the boat exceeds your hopes.”
A boat full of promise, which the skipper is going to continue to discover in
the hope of finding all the keys. "I need to continue to work on the trimming,
the stay and luff tensions, the geometry of the sails and above all get a lot
of time on the water.”
This is a principal the skipper is likely to apply very soon. Within the next
week, and double-handed this time, Dominique should head back out to sea,
accompanied by his wife, sailor Michèle Paret with whom he will take the start
of the Barcelona World Race. "The aim will be to convey what I have learnt
during the Route du Rhum to her and continue to discover and tame the boat."
Kate Jennings
Expression.
P.O. Box 26,
Dartmouth,
DEVON.
TQ6 0YG
United Kingdom
+44 (0)7795 116699
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