Press release • 6 July 2012
A la MOD: The Need will be Speed as the KRYS OCEAN RACE starts Saturday
With less than 24 hours left in New York before Saturday's 11
:00hrs start of the KRYS OCEAN RACE to Brest, France, the fleet
which is composed of many of the world's very fastest ocean
sailors are widely anticipating a rapid Atlantic crossing for
the first deep ocean race for the new one design MOD70 trimaran
class.
If the winds for the start are due to be relatively light, a
benign opening in 7-9kts is expected to give way to a very quick
downwind passage as the favourable breezes build through 15 to
25kts through Sunday where sheer speed will be the deciding
factor rather than weather strategy.
The only hurdle on the horizon for the new MOD70's looks to be
the evolution of the Azores high pressure system in around three
days time when the light winds which it generates might spread
the fleet after some initial compression. At 24 hours before the
start skippers were expected to take less than six days for the
2950 miles crossing.
"The weather forecasts could not really be better for this race.
The general picture is for SW'ly winds until the Azores high.
There are no strategic points until the Azores high after three
days of racing so it will be a speed race rather than a tactical
race." Explains KRYS OCEAN RACE race director Jacques Caraës
Preparations have long since been completed, with the boats in a
'locked down' ready to race mode since they arrived from Newport,
Tuesday. All are in perfect condition in advance of their first
big ocean test.
And just as the boats are fully primed, so too their crews know
that the time to perform is almost upon them. The mood of
expectation and anticipation round New York's North Cove is
heightened by the knowledge that all the pressure is on them.
In this fleet of exactly matched grand prix ocean racing
multihulls, who wins the KRYS OCEAN RACE will be determined by
how they manage themselves and their boat, not any technological
or design advantage….or disadvantage. There is nowhere to hide
and so far there is no form book.
The fleet is predictably rich with multihull and ocean racing
talent. Holders of the outright speed record for crossing the
Atlantic, and for sailing around the world can rightly claim to
be the fastest sailors in the world and they are evenly spread
across the KRYS OCEAN RACE fleet.
Pascal Bidégorry, who skippered the crew to the outright Atlantic
record in 2009, sails with skipper Yann Guichard on Spindrift
racing. The Atlantic record breaking crew are spread through the
fleet. Bidégorry is joined by Jean-Baptise Le Vaillant on
Spindrift. On Stève Ravussin's Race for Water there are brother
Yvann Ravussin and Kevin Escoffier and with Michel Desjoyeaux on
FONCIA, record holders include Manu le Borgne and Xavier Revil,
and Florent Chastel is on Groupe Edmond de Rothschild.
And holders of the recently won Jules Verne record round the
world include Brian Thompson on Mussandam-Oman Sail, as well as
Le Vaillant, Yvann Ravussin and Florent Chastel
Double Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux returns to ocean
multihull racing and takes on the Atlantic which he has raced
more than 20 times. Among his FONCIA crew he has chosen America
's Cup and World Match Race tour ace Sébastien Col to bolster
their inshore skills and intensity on board as well as double
Solitaire du Figaro winner Jérémie Beyou. But there are sailors
with multiple Volvo and Whitbread round the world races, America
's Cup crew, and Figaro soloists all the way through the fleet.
Even Benoit Lequin from Race for Water has sailed the Atlantic
from New York to Lorient on a 20 foot open catamaran.
Performance and results may be directly related to how the teams
manage themselves as a crew of six in a very small,
uncomfortable living space. There are only two bunks on board,
limited headroom and the motion in a seaway means the only
method of moving around the boats is usually crawling. But the
pure, simple goal is high speed.
The race start will be streamed with live audio commentary from
1050hrs local time (TU-4hrs)
Teams:
MOD70 N°01 Race For Water
- Steve Ravussin (SUI)
- Yvan Ravussin (SUI)
- Loic Forestier (SUI)
- François Morvan (FRA)
- Gurvan Bontemps (FRA)
- Benoit Lequin (FRA)
MOD70 N°03 FONCIA
- Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA)
- Xavier Revil (FRA)
- Emmmanuel Le Borgne (FRA)
- Antoine Carraz (FRA)
- Jérémie Beyou (FRA)
- Sébastien Col (FRA)
MOD70 N°04 Groupe Edmond de Rothschild
- Sébastien Josse (FRA)
- Antoine Koch (FRA)
- Christophe Espagnon (FRA)
- David Boileau (FRA)
- Florent Chastel (FRA)
- Thomas Rouxel (FRA)
MOD70 N°05 Spindrift racing
- Yann Guichard (FRA)
- Pascal Bidégorry (FRA)
- Jean Baptiste Levaillant (FRA)
- Jacques Guichard (FRA)
- Léo Lucet (FRA)
- Kevin Escoffier (FRA)
MOD70 N°07 Musandam-Oman sail
- Sidney Gavignet (FRA)
- Ryan Breymaier (USA)
- Fahad Al Hasni (OMA)
- Moshin Al Busaidi (OMA)
- Jean-François Cuzon (FRA)
- Brian Thompson (GBR)
Sébastien Josse, skipper Groupe Edmond de Rothschild: "Right now
it is looking windy from start to finish and even the most
conservative routing has us finished in less than six days. We
have looked at all the options including those in which we fail
to catch the system we are aiming for. With 24 hours before the
start it appears like the great circle route (the shortest) is
not the fastest. So the routings agree that mostly we will go
south at the start and for the first half with a little hitch to
the north near the end."
Sidney Gavignet, skipper Musandam-Oman Sail: "We are racing and
sometimes on our boat things are not always perfect like other
boats and it is very easy to become frustrated. The role for me
as the skipper is to be the keeper of a good atmosphere so we
can learn well together. In the short term that will not be easy
, but if we are to take our diversity as an advantage it is
important we grow well together. In the long term this can prove
to be a strength because we need to be more focused on the
methods and the process because of the mix of levels on board
and the difference of communication on board."
"It will be more or less ideal conditions."
Michel Desjoyeaux, skipper FONCIA: "We feel good, the crew did
not spend too much time here and so they are not tired by
downtown life.
I pushed hard to help the MOD company fulfil the one design
concept, as hard as possible in the boat and around it and so I
appreciate what we have. Of course I like technology and finding
an advantage but these are not the times for that. This is about
delivering something for the non multihull French culture. So we
are looking further afield, hoping that more teams from outside
France will come and race with us and against us. With the One
Design concept everyone has the same boat that we have."
Stève Ravussin, skipper Race for Water: "It will be about going
fast and a short race in just a few days. We will get across in
six days approximately at the best speed all the time. We will
be wet and tired when we get to Brest but we look forwards to
drinking some cider there!"
Yann Guichard, skipper Spindrift racing:
"The most important thing on this race is to be 100% comfortable
with your team, because when you go to sleep you need complete
confidence in the crew. We organise ourselves in three watches.
Normally we will have three on deck and one floating, and a
minimum of five for the manoeuvres. If we have to change sails
or make a gybe then I am woken up.
Decisions are taken between me and Pascal, we share the decisions
, we sail the same way. The weather looks good and simple, no big
opportunities to go alone and leave the fleet. We will go
downwind for four days and the most important thing will be the
rhythm."
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