20.05.2010
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Tagesvideos
Vendée - St-Petersburg
The wind freshening...gradually
Better weak beer than an empty cask. This Danish proverb applies perfectly to the state of mind of the competitors taking part in the Vendée St-Petersburg. Even, if it is far from ideal, the wind has strengthened in the North Sea allowing most of the pack to head straight up towards the tip of Jutland. As for the two frontrunners, they are preparing to enter the Oresund between Copenhagen and Malmo… without knowing whether the breeze will be accompanying them.
Sailing races are a great way to learn how to put things into perspective. It only takes the breeze to strengthen to a gentle ten to twelve knots and the competitors in the Vendée St-Petersburg are particularly content to see their machines finally stirring after spending hours stuck in a millpond. Of course, they are not yet achieving the average speeds worthy of these 50-foot multihulls, but they are moving. The whole group hopes to have put an end to the heavy losses conceded to the two leaders, "Actual" and "Crêpes Whaou ! 3", who are in the channel between Denmark and Sweden continuing their almighty duel. A confrontation, which is pleasing for both teams; Franck-Yves Escoffier, because he has been fighting to see this Multi 50 class develop for years now and finally has a worthy rival with whom he can compete; And secondly Yves Le Blévec, who must be pleased to see that his trimaran is up there equalling the performance of the latest in the long line of red trimarans.
He who dares…
The two leaders benefited from favourable conditions in the North Sea, which led Yves Le Blévec to comment that he had never imagined the distance was so short between the Dover Straits and Jutland. We can be certain that those left behind do not exactly have the same way of looking at this stretch, as for twenty-four hours they have been making slow progress along the coast of Belgium and Holland. Led by Anne Caseneuve's pink trimaran (Croisières Anne Caseneuve), the pack can hardly wait for the breeze that is forecast. Only Pierre Hingant's multihull (La mer révèle nos sens) is showing some sort of independent spirit. After a successful tactical option in the English Channel, the team that is currently fourth in the rankings has opted for a route that takes them some way north as they are heading up towards the Thames Estuary… As the wind is set to freshen from the north west, this positioning, which has cost them a few dozen miles in terms of distance to the finish, could well prove to be a good investment. It is often said that to achieve a great performance in a race, you need a certain amount of luck. But let us not forget what Thomas Jefferson said, "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."
From the boats
Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou ! 3)
'We're having a great battle with Actual. They passed us as we went by the Four Lighthouse (at the tip of Brittany - NDLR). We overtook them again off Cape Gris-Nez (in the Dover Straits) by sailing close to the rocks and they sailed by us again off Belgium. But now it's our turn to be in the lead, although they're not far back. We're keeping a close eye on them… We had a nice North Sea crossing achieving some good speeds in the sunshine on deep blue seas. If the temperature hadn't been so much like winter, we could have well have been in the Caribbean…"
Hervé Cléris (CLM)
"We're working hard to keep up. Last night was very tiring. We had to be very careful in the light winds with all the shipping and currents in the Dover Straits. We didn't get much sleep. Fortunately there was good visibility. The wind is gradually building. Once it has strengthened, we'll be able to get some rest."
Yves Le Blévec (Actual)
"Everything is fine out here… We've got Crêpes Whaou ! 3 four miles ahead of us as our target. Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but we've been a bit busy for a while! As for the crew, it's fantastic: Ronan and I know each other well and sailing with Eric (Loizeau) is a real joy. He's always got a little story to tell us, some clever remark… It's nice being so close in this fight; that's why we entered the race."
Reminder
You can hear the live radio link-up with the boats each day on the race website and ask the crews any questions you may have, which the radio presenter will then put to them during the session.
Daily radio session from 1000hrs to 1040hrs GMT.
Rankings at 1400hrs GMT
- 1 Crêpes Whaou ! 3 (FY Escoffier) 712.8 miles from the finish
- 2 Actual (Y Le Blévec) 12.6 miles from the leader
- 3 Crêpes Whaou ! 2 (L Féquet) 342.8 miles from the leader
- 4 La mer révèle nos sens (P Hingant) 460.6 miles from the leader
- 5 Naviguez Anne Caseneuve (A Caseneuve) 480.8 miles from the leader
- 6 FenêtréA-Cardinal (E Le Roux) 519.6 miles from the leader
- 7 Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc (L Roucayrol) 529.1 miles from the leader
- 8 CLM (H Cléris) 540.6 miles from the leader
- 9 p R2 (E Hochédé) 574.1 miles from the leader
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