07.06.2010
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Whaou Finish
Vendée - St-Petersburg
Crêpes Whaou ! 2 in line for third place
The crew of Crêpes Whaou ! 2 is going to be able to savour their good fortune. Pushed along by a moderate westerly air stream, Loïc Féquet, Victorien Erussard and Mathieu Souben will be able to enjoy speeding along without worrying unduly about any pressure from behind. Their closest rival is now more than 160 miles behind them, meaning they can truly enjoy their final hours of sailing.
They have already shown that they certainly have the ability to bring their trimaran home safely. The crew of Crêpes Whaou ! 2 made up for its relative lack of experience on this boat by showing their ability to adapt. Getting to grips with the potential of their machine, they managed to push that little bit harder each day to get the most out of their multihull. In the end, you could even come away thinking that such a boat with a few minor changes could rival the two leaders in the series. Pleased to be finishing, proud of the work they have done, they will certainly feel rather nostalgic, when they step off their machine onto the pontoon in Saint-Gilles Croix-de-Vie.
Strong conditions
Meanwhile, the pack is having to reindex patient. For them, the final miles look likely being rather more complicated: rough seas, strong sou'westerlies. They are going to have to finish sailing in the English Channel tacking upwind, a point of sail that the multihulls detest. Their daily life is going to be set to the rhythm of jumping up and down over the waves, and having to find that compromise between moving in the right direction and keeping the speed up. Then, we must stress too how this makes life on board so unpleasant, as the boat slams into each wave, and sleep is much more difficult. They will feel increasingly impatient about opening up the sails and easing out the sheets. These conditions are likely to favour Lalou Roucayrol's crew once again as this multihull is particularly at ease in upwind conditions. For the others, things will be rather tougher: Hervé Cléris and his crew are already some way behind, as they were unable to get any weather charts for several days. Adopting traditional navigational methods, they were unable to make the most of the wind variations in the North Sea. After one thing, it was another...They now no longer have any gas and have to try to use the cooling circuit on the engine to heat up any water. When talking about upwind sailing it is often said this means twice the distance and three times the work. How much worse can it be if on top of that if you can only eat cold food?
From the boats
Loïc Féquet (message sent by e-mail): "This is really a great course and is tactically very interesting. We have seen some magnificent sights. We were rather worried by the cargo vessels and wind turbines, but in the end, it wasn't that complicated. We were pleased to have been able to take part and now to be bringing the boat home. We didn't know her at all before the start and learnt more and more during the two legs. Our only regret is the mistake we made on the first night due to our lack of experience of the boat. We didn't have enough sail up and the others got away from us. I hadn't realised that these boats could carry so much sail. Our crew has less experience than the two leaders, but we're quite happy about our race. This boat has a huge amount of potential. With a few little adjustments, I really believe she can cling on to Crêpes Whaou ! 3 and Actual"
Positions in the 1400 hrs rankings
- 1 Actual (Y Le Blévec) finished on 6th June at 13hrs 29mn 25s GMT
- 2 Crêpes Whaou ! 3 (FY Escoffier) finished on 6th June at 17hrs 13mn 27s
- 3 Crêpes Whaou ! 2 (L Féquet) 53.4 miles from the finish
- 4 Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc (L Roucayrol) 161.7 miles from the leader still sailing
- 5 Naviguez Anne Caseneuve (A Caseneuve) 181.3 miles from the leader
- 6 FenêtréA-Cardinal (E Le Roux) 279.8 miles from the leader
- 7 La mer révèle nos sens (P Hingant) 301.5 miles from the leader
- 8 CLM (H Cléris) 386.5 miles from the leader
- 9 p R2 (E Hochédé) retired
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