21.05.2010
Groupama 70
Transmanche: the Aber Wrac’h.
It’s an hour since the first start of the Transmanche race was given. Since
then there have been three others with the smallest boats being the first to
set off towards the Plymouth breakwater in England. Aboard Groupama 70,
Franck Cammas and his eleven crew were the last to set off after a good
hour’s training off the Libenter Rock.
On Brittany’s fabulous Abers race zone, a real picture postcard of the
finest land and seascapes in Brittany with its white sand beaches, its pine
trees and its rocks that are exposed at low tide, the sun rules supreme. To
make the setting even more perfect, there’s a 15 to 20 knot E’ly, colouring
the water a deep blue with its light breeze.
At the helm of the VOR 70, winner of the last edition of the Volvo Ocean
Race, Franck Cammas places Groupama 70 close to the race committee boat. As
the starting gun fires, the bow cuts through the starting line making twelve
knots of boatspeed. Alongside him is the other big boat of the fleet, Brit
Air, the pair northbound, making for Plymouth, a good hundred miles or so
away.
With this being the first race for Groupama 70, the Transmanche is a kind of
trial run for the Groupama Team, which is preparing for the next edition of
the Volvo Ocean Race, the start of which will be given in 17 months’ time in
Alicante, Spain: “We don’t have a direct rival in this race but it will
enable us to get the Team into race mode with a start time that needs to be
respected, a precise navigation and onshore assistance in place. It’s
important for us”, comments the skipper of Groupama.
Alongside him navigator Jean-Luc Nélias describes the course: “After
rounding the breakwater in Plymouth, we’ll drop down towards the Wolf Rock
lighthouse at the SW tip of England, before returning to Brittany to cross
the finish line in Aber Wrach. The wind is set to ease as we approach the
English coast and then it will build again for our return to Brittany”.
A privileged witness of this introductory race is editor of Voiles &
Voiliers magazine Didier Ravon, who will be the first to share life aboard
the boat: “Though I don’t yet know what slant my report will take, I already
know that I’m privileged to be here. I’m also going to take some photos and
do some filming with a new wide angle video camera. A fervent supporter of
the participation of the first French crew in the Volvo Ocean Race since
that of Eric Tabarly in 1993 aboard La Poste, the editor of Voiles&Voiliers
will experience 24 intense hours of physical endurance and multiple
manœuvres.
Another lucky observer is Yann Riou, a member of the Groupama Team who is
taking on the role of media-man. In charge of the onboard communications, he
isn’t allowed to participate in manœuvres or help Groupama 70 make headway.
When he is neither filming nor writing, his sole occupation will be cooking
or cleaning up. Suffice to say the “homebody” will have a ball, camera
attached to his wrist at all times. It’s a position that a certain Jacques
Caraës, member of the organisation committee for the Transmanche is very
familiar with, as this was his role aboard Groupama 3 during the Jules Verne
Trophy. In contrast though, he had a fair number of manoeuvres to carry out
on the foredeck too.
http://www.cammas-groupama.com/en/
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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