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Regatta Europa 2011
Regatta Europa 2011
10.06.2011
A duel between Safran / PRB around Britain and Ireland
Marc Guillemot et Vincent Riou have come up with a very original idea. While
carrying out a duel, they will be attempting to smash the Round Britain and
Ireland record. Their stand-by begins on Saturday 11th June*.
IMOCA racers always want to get the most out of their training for major
races, like this year’s Transat Jacques Vabre. Marc Guillemot on Safran and
Vincent Riou on PRB, are rivals on the water, but good friends back ashore.
They have decided to tackle together the Round Britain and Ireland record by
fighting a duel.
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The principle is simple: all they have to do is sail around the British
Isles (including Ireland and the Shetlands), in either direction and finish
back at the starting point, which will probably be the Lizard, Ventnor (Isle
of Wight) or Ramsgate. This comes to a theoretical total of 1850 miles,
which they will need to sail in less than 6 days 11 hours 30 minutes and 53
seconds, which was what the all-women crew on Dee Caffari’s IMOCA Aviva
managed to do in June 2009.
For this record, Marc Guillemot will be sailing with a crew, while Vincent
Riou has decided to sail double-handed with Hugues Destremau, his fellow
crewman for the Transat Jacques Vabre.
Four questions for Marc Guillemot
Why this duel with PRB?
When the decision was announced by the organisers to postpone the Europa
Race, I started to think about a double-handed transatlantic crossing with a
crew aboard for the return leg... Then, after talking things over with
Vincent when we were training, we thought about this record adding in the
idea of a duel even if we don’t have the same size crew aboard.
Why did you choose this record?
It’s easier to organise than a transatlantic crossing and we have never
attempted it until now. On top of that, it’s a very interesting course. At
this time of year, up there at 60 degrees north, the nights hardly exist,
and that makes it rather magical. During the ArMen race, we were neck and
neck with PRB, so it’s going to be an interesting contest…
Who will be in the crew aboard Safran?
There will be five of us including me: Yann Eliès, my co-skipper for the
Transat Jacques Vabre, Loïc Lingois, Didier Le Vourch, César Dohy. They are
all experienced sailors with whom I have already sailed.
What are your goals?
To beat the record of course. And if possible finish ahead of PRB! After
that, we have the same goals as ever: each race is useful for the next and
means we can make progress, fine tune the details and check out the choices
that were made during the winter refit. In a word, to get the best
performance we can…
Four questions for Vincent Riou
Why a duel with Safran?
Sailing this course alone isn’t that interesting. To make progress, we need
to do battle to see how we measure up against a rival. In that context, we
all learn a lot more from our experiences and can work on our tactical
reflexes. We’ve come up against Safran a lot this season. We both want to be
out there sailing, clocking up the miles. We competed against each other in
a few small races at the start of the season and trained together. So it was
quite natural to continue by racing against each other on this course…
Why did you choose this record?
We came up with this idea, because the IMOCA programme changed completely
with the postponement of the Europa Race. I was looking for a long course to
sail early in the season and we talked it over with Marc. He had the idea of
attempting the Atlantic crossing record while I was looking at Round Britain
and Ireland. I like this course, as there are two interesting aspects: an
offshore duel and then the record attempt. All of that creates a lot of
motivation. On top of that, this record can be achieved in either direction,
which meant that it was more likely we would find a favourable weather
opportunity.
Who will be in the crew on PRB?
Initially I thought about a crew like Marc. But this morning looking at the
charts we decided to set off before the initial stand by period we had
planned. There is a weather opportunity on Saturday night and we want to
grab this chance to get going. Not all of the crewmen we were counting on
could leave Port-La-Forêt this evening, so I have decided to attempt this
record sailing double-handed by taking on just Hugues Destremau, who will be
my co-skipper in the Transat Jacques Vabre. We are looking at this Round
Britain and Ireland attempt more as a training opportunity with the
transatlantic race coming up.
What are your goals?
Our goal is of course to smash the record and to finish ahead of Safran!
Naturally, that is not going to be easy facing a crew aboard Safran, but
with Hugues, it’s a challenge we are looking forward to!
* The stand-by runs from 11th June to 8th July 2011
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