Friday, August 1st
Next boat expected, a multihull: tomorrow
- The trimaran Imagine 370 miles from the finish
- Port de Québec retires(Georges Leblanc)
- Dismasting of Groupe Sefico (Philippe Vallée)
- Pogo Structures (Halvard Mabire) takes the lead. They are sailing 433 miles from the finish
Franck-Yves Escoffier and his crew had a great finish, on Thursday evening, which they fully deserved after their fabulous race. Crêpes Whaou! is now moored in the Vauban Basin and waiting for the other 24 teams taking part in the three categories (the 50-foot Open, Class 40 and FICO) in the seventh Transat Quebec-Saint Malo. The next boat due in, Pierre Antoine's Imagine is expected on Saturday. On the twelfth day of sailing, the race has been marked by the retiral of Port de Québec (Georges Leblanc) and by the dismasting of the Pogo 40, Groupe Sefico sailed by Philippe Vallée. The crew are doing well and heading for Les Sables d'Olonne under jury rig. As for the 40-foot boats, the race is becoming increasingly exciting with a breathtaking final sprint between the leaders hurtling towards Saint Malo at full speed, Pogo Structures (Halvard Mabire) and Mistral Loisirs (Oliver Krauss). Less than 450 miles from the Breton city, both crews could finish sometime on Saturday night.
«Trimaran chase»
They are expected to grab second place on the podium. Today, Friday, all the lights were green for the 50-foot trimaran, Imagine. They now have a lead of 76 miles over their nearest rival. For Pierre Antoine and his crew, the south westerly wind propelling them towards the finish feels good: In fact, it feels like home already. " We're starting to think about the finish line that we hope to cross tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow evening. We're making good headway, the pace is fast and we're not too badly positioned. For the moment, we're a little off in terms of latitude in comparison to Prince de Bretagne, who have been piling on the pressure for a few days now. Currently, we are dealing with them in terms of speed. We have between 15 and 20 knots from the south west, which is allowing us more or less to be on the direct route, but we hope the wind will back southerly this evening or early tonight. In any case, we should be downwind all the way to the finish and so be quick " That is the atmosphere at the moment. Time now for some surfing to finish in style this rather quick ocean crossing. The duel only adds a touch of spice on the eve of the finish.
40-foot: what class!
This duel between multihulls could be upset or disturbed by the battle going on between the two Class 40 boats, Pogo Structures and Mistral Loisirs. Over the past 24 hours, Halvard Mabire and his two friends have grabbed the lead from the Oliver Krauss Quartet and have been increasing their lead as they draw closer to Saint-Malo. In the 13h GMT rankings, Pogo Structures had a lead of almost 18 miles and was speeding averaging 14 knots. Recorded doing peaks of up to 18 knots, the crew is getting the most out of their Pogo 40. In both cockpits, everyone reindexs determined. At this pace, these two boats are likely to steal the limelight from the third 50-foot trimaran and the first FICO monohull, An Ocean of Smiles (Christophe Bullens). A lead over the other categories, which promises an exciting finish on Sunday night or early on Monday morning. It just goes to show that the Class 40 boats are dynamic and full of surprises and have not finished creating waves. and will reindex the
subject on everyone's lips.
For those coming along behind, the race continues, according to the whims of the wind holes, which becalmed those, who opted for the north, like Appart City (Yvan Noblet) and Beluga Shipping (Boris Hermann), who are zooming along at the incredible speed of less than one knot! Every cloud has its silver lining and you can be sure that Prévoir Vie (Benoît Parnaudeau) will make the most of the situation. He is within a few miles of taking fifth place, in the wake of the four frontrunners - Pogo Structures, Mistral Loisirs, Télécom Italia (Giovanni Soldini) and Novedia Group (Tanguy Delamotte) - who are continually changing over. Sunday looks like being an exciting day with the 40-foot boats finishing on the crest of a wave.
Groupe Sefico has dismasted
It is particularly tough for Philippe Vallée and his crew. Sailing on a southerly route and having made it back from 17th to 9th place, the Pogo 40 Groupe Sefico dismasted on Friday morning.
On board the disappointment can be felt after all the efforts made to get back with the pack. Philippe Vallée, Eric Caiveau, Gildas Abgrall and Thomas Duhamel, none of whom were injured, are currently setting up a jury rig with parts of the broken mast (in particular the boom). " We have dismasted and the race is over for us. We were sailing downwind at 140° to the wind, on a bearing of 80°, in an 18-knot wind. We were sailing at 10-12 knots, when the starboard shroud snapped," explained Philippe Vallée. " We are heading for Les Sables d'Olonne, the boat's homeport ". It should take them ten days to complete the voyage.
What they said
Yvan Noblet, Appart City : "Morale is good, but we're a bit stuck. We're in a wind hole moving down with us at 1.5 knots. We are indeed heading south to try to pick up the steady south-westerly flow that the rest of the fleet is benefiting from We thought we would make the getaway last night, but we didn't make it, so here we are stuck in a wind hole. On top of that, there are some big waves. The result is that not only are we being shaken around all over the place, but also we're not making any headway at all. To crown it all, it's very dull! Rubbish weather! (laughs) We haven't won yet. We may even be stuck here for twenty hours or so. Nevertheless, we are focussing on getting the boat moving."
Georges Leblanc, Port de Québec : « We hit a UFO, which caused an ingress of water about four metres from the bow. For the safety of the crew, I have therefore decided to head back rather than continue to Europe. The situation is under control. No one is in danger. Water is entering the boat, but thanks to the pumps we have put in place, we're managing to limit the problem to allow us to reach Newfoundland in good conditions. We're around 600 miles south east of the eastern coast of Newfoundland. So we have a way to go, but for the moment, the weather is favourable. Being forced to retire is of course a big disappointment, but there's nothing we can do about it. »
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