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Zieleinlauf Whaou
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St.Petersburg -docks
Press release n°15
St-Petersburg, 24th May 2010
Vendée - St-Petersburg
By just a few seconds
75 seconds, or in other words around 400 metres. It is even less time than it takes to change tack on these boats. When you are beaten, ending up so close to the winner, you obviously think back at a particular moment in the race, when you could have gained those extra 400 metres that changed everything for you at the finish. But when you win by such a margin, you cannot help feeling that it was ever so close…
So this Whit Monday has become the day of reckoning. Victory has been decided between the two and goes to Franck-Yves Escoffier's crew. At his side, the sailor from Saint Malo chose two strong lads. Firstly, Loïc, his son who is built like a rugby player, and can withstand anything after working as a fisherman around the Minquiers, the Déroute Channel between Jersey and Sark and around the coast of Cape Fréhel. Loïc is a sort of gentle giant, who always finds something witty to say, just what you need to restore calm on board even when the going gets tough. As for Antoine Koch, a discreet young man, he brought along all his skill and talent as a navigator, after training as an engineer and shows a tactical intelligence that is rare. Combined with Franck-Yves Escoffier's experience, these two backgrounds surely had their part to play too in the final decision in favour of Crêpes Whaou ! 3.
Giving it their all
Behind them, the crew of Actual fought right up to the end to try to change their fate. They even went as far as to hoist the code zero (a sort of extra large genoa) to try to bring about a change, while the wind invited them to be rather more cautious. Right up until the finishing line, they thought they could close that narrow gap, which takes nothing away from their final position in the rankings, but does have significant psychological consequences. And we must remember too that Yves Le Blévec also had a top class team at his side. Firstly, Eric Loizeau, who was hired for the outward leg. Right back at the start of ocean racing, he managed to gather a team around him, which became a war machine smashing through the English defence, at a time when Britannia ruled the waves. Then, there is Ronan Deshayes, a talented racer and meticulous assistant, who works hard to ensure that sailors get the most out of their boats. After a few hours spent ashore, we can be certain that those precious seconds will be put to one side as they look back at this first leg… Sailors have that exceptional ability to forget the bad times and remember only the highlights of their races.
Baltic Express
Further back, the gap is continuing to narrow. Pushed along by a strong westerly air stream, the chasing boats are clocking up the miles at more than fifteen knots. The Baltic has changed its appearance and the smooth waters resembling a lake have now been transformed into choppy seas, with spray hitting the faces and with temperatures rarely above eight degrees. We have perhaps tended to forget that we are looking at a latitude of more than 55°N, or, in other words, the same latitude as the Shetlands… and it was not so long ago that the rivers feeding the Baltic were frozen. While Crêpes Whaou ! 2 does not to worry unduly about getting third place, further back the battle is raging between Anne Caseneuve (Croisières Anne Caseneuve), Lalou Roucayrol (Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc), back in fifth place, Pierre Hingant (La mer révèle nos sens) and Erwan Le Roux (FenêtréA Cardinal). Between these four crews, the slightest mistake will cost them dearly and the slightest strategic hesitation could cost them precious miles. Crêpes Whaou ! 2 is expected to finish some time tonight. The rest of the fleet is due to reach St-Petersburg between Wednesday and Thursday.
From the boats:
Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou ! 3)
"I was lucky to be sailing with a very talented crew. We had a little problem on the first night: seven hours into the race, we broke our indexsail clew. We had to sail for the first night with a reef in the index. Then, we carried out some repairs, but the edge of our sail didn't really look right. Seventy-five seconds after 1900 miles is minuscule, nothing at all. When we remember that there was not a single day when we weren't sailing in sight of each other, it gives you an idea of the pace we had to keep up. Now we need to get some rest and get out of here… "
Hervé Cléris (CLM)
"We're struggling in a calm under a cloud. The wind has just gone from seven to zero knots. This was not at all forecast, but it should freshen again. We passed through the straits between Copenhagen and Sweden, which was a magical moment. You have to think of a Sunday with all the yachts out, a huge amount of shipping with ferries, cargo vessels, lanes that have to be kept to if you don't want to end up on the sand banks and our trimaran zooming along in the middle of all this at twenty knots, which was incredible. As soon as you pass the Europe Bridge, you tell yourself, that you're in the Baltic. We were thinking about this with Christophe (Dietsch), and it's quite similar in many ways to the mouth of the Saint Lawrence. In these cold seas, where the difference in temperature means you don't necessarily have the same winds down on the floats, as you have at the top of the mast."
Philippe Laperche (La mer révèle nos sens)
"Hunting "Flopsy" has come to an early end. Anne made her getaway underneath the coast and is too far away for us to have a go at. But we are strong believers and we'll be back. On the other hand we're really impressed by the way Lalou has come back. We were more than 120 miles ahead of him and now they're overtaking us. At the moment, the conditions are very odd: we're in a thunderstorm, and the wind is rotating in every direction. It's going from zero to fifteen knots and back again with sudden changes. We really need to be ready to manoeuvre at all times."
Rankings at 1400 hrs
- 1 Crêpes Whaou ! 3 (FY Escoffier) finished at 05h 31mn 49s GMT on 24th May
- 2 Actual (Y Le Blévec) finished at 05h 33mn 04s GMT on 24th May
- 3 Crêpes Whaou ! 2 (L Féquet) 118 miles from the finish
- 4 Naviguez Anne Caseneuve (A Caseneuve) 247.2 miles from the boat still racing (Crêpes Whaou ! 2)
- 5 Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc (L Roucayrol) 267 miles from the current leader
- 6 FenêtréA-Cardinal (E Le Roux) 278.9 miles from the current leader
- 7 La mer révèle nos sens (P Hingant) 281.4 miles from the current leader
- 8 CLM (H Cléris) 301.7 miles from the current leader
- 9 p R2 (E Hochédé) 378.1 miles from the current leader
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