31.07.2008
NEWSFLASH: ESCOFFIER EXPECTED TO FINISH AS THE WINNER IN SAINT-MALO AT AROUND 18H GMT
At lunchtime this Thursday, there were just 120 miles to go. Victory in this seventh Transat Quebec-Saint-Malo is drawing ever nearer for the fifty-foot trimaran, Crêpes Whaou ! Currently sailing off Ushant, Franck-Yves Escoffier’s crew is advancing at between 17 and 23 knots, depending on the violent squalls and strong gusts, which are followed by the disappearance of the wind. The southerly should veer south-south-westerly in the English Channel to allow the skipper from Saint-Malo to finish at 18h GMT…
Franck-Yves Escoffier, contacted at 10h GMT
«We’re making headway in about 20 knots of wind and there’s a lot to be done. We’re to the north west of Ushant in the second shipping lane. A little while ago, we had 30 knots of wind as the front passed over, and we had a lot of manoeuvres to do: easing out to avoid digging in. We have to reindex very vigilant. Crêpes Whaou! is a little toy that takes as soon as you wind her up once and these very unstable conditions require caution. At the moment and based on the wind we currently have, there are about nine hours sailing to go to reach Saint-Malo. However, as you know, we can accelerate, or the speed could drop off like yesterday evening, when we went through a calm zone. We’re trying to get the best out of her all the time, so have been manoeuvring a lot since yesterday evening, because we really want to finish at six…»
The crew of Crêpes Whaou!
Franck-Yves Escoffier’s crew is made up of two professional yachtsmen with some great successes already under their belt, aided and abetted by two skilful amateurs.
Franck-Yves Escoffier, fisherman, boat-owner, 50
Yves Le Blévec, skipper, 42
Bertrand Chambert-Loir, head of development at Whaou!
Christophe Aillet, managing director of Pain Concept
Crêpes Whaou!
Class’50 Open
50-foot trimaran
Launch: April 2005
Based in Saint-Malo
Length: 15.24 m2
Beam: 14.55 m
Clearance: 23.80 m
Number of sails: 7
indexsail surface: 105 m2
Gennaker surface: 140 m2
Laden weight: 4.2 tonnes
Designer: Van Peteghem – Lauriot Prévost
Constructor: CDK
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