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04.09.2012
Sailing without wind
After this morning’s retirement by the Class 40 Lupi and Mare yesterday, there are now just thirteen boats competing in the Normandy Channel Race. At the latest position report, Campagne de France, skippered by Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron, is leading in this Calvados event with a lead of 0.2 miles over the British team on Concise 2, 5.4 miles over Talanta and 6.2 miles over Eole Génération GDF – Suez. The latter has made up good ground on the leaders together with Solo. The NCR fleet will be tackling the Celtic Sea from tomorrow morning and already the fleet is bunching together in what are still very light conditions.
A general re-bunching perhaps?
Even though it didn’t really last, the information at the end of last night and part of the early morning for those competing in the Normandy Channel Race, was that the fleet were finally enjoying more pressure in their sails. It has to be said that since the start of the Norman event on Sunday, the Class 40s and their pilots have been dealing with virtually no wind. It appeared undecided in terms of both strength and direction yesterday morning for the crossing of the English Channel. Following that it barely put in an appearance during the rounding of the Isle of Wight and the passage across the waters of the Solent until the start of the evening. However, it did finally deign to make its presence felt early this morning, serving up a good NW’ly air flow, which enabled the 2012 line-up for the NCR to power along at over eight knots in a reaching wind towards Lizard Point. Unfortunately though, the zone of high pressure across their path, continued to increase and early this afternoon off Start Point, the calm had already settled back into position again!
In the provisional overall standing, four boats and their onboard duos got the upper hand over the rest of the fleet yesterday thanks to a great performance offshore of Cowes, England’s sailing Mecca. With a favourable current, Yannick Bestaven and Julien Pulvé on Phoenix Europe Express, Talanta skippered by Eric Péron and Jean Galfione, Olympic pole vault champion in 1996, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron on Campagne de France, who this year won the Transat Quebec-Saint Malo, and Concise 2 skippered by the talented British youngsters Sam Goodchild, 22, and Ned Collier Wakefield, 24, managed to do a bunk, lengthening their stride and getting over 15 miles ahead of fifth place.
However, little by little over the course of the afternoon a winning inshore option paid dividends and Eole Génération – GDF Suez, made up of the formidable duo of Rogues-Vittet, Norwegians Aasberg-Lovgren on Solo and Les Conquérants Caen La Mer skippered by Marc Lepesqueux and Eric Defert, really came back into contention, with the former duo up into fourth place.
A general re-bunching of the fleet is underway then. On the programme this Tuesday evening and tonight is Lizard Point, with the start of the Celtic Sea in the morning and above all a chance to latch onto a NNE’ly breeze of over 15 knots over Wednesday…
The English Channel is a winner
The English Channel will enjoy some intense sporting activity over the coming hours. The 13 Class 40 monohulls battling it out along England’s South coast will soon be joined by 5 large 70-foot trimarans who are part of the MOD 70 class. These sizeable multihulls have been competing in the offshore leg of the European Tour since Sunday in Kiel and are making for Dublin. These light, extremely powerful sailboats are able to deal much better with the light airs and it’s highly likely that their large sails will mingle with those of the Class 40 midway through the week, offshore of Wolf Rock or in the Celtic Sea.
Thomas Ruyant, winner of the Normandy Channel Race 2010 with Tanguy Leglatin, casts an eye over the competition: “The competitors will have a nice day on Wednesday and will finally latch onto some breeze. They will be sailing upwind in 15 to 20 knots of NE’ly. The next important moment will be the transition between this NE’ly breeze and the SW’ly, with a zone of high pressure which is increasing in size to the NW. This transition will be important for the rest of the race and then the descent towards Caen.”
Quotes from the boats at the 1000 UTC radio session:
Halvard Mabire, skipper of the Class 40 Campagne de France: “We’re enjoying a superb battle at the front of the fleet. It’s a four-way struggle. Right now we’re neck and neck with Concise 2 and we’re enjoying a puff of breeze, which is certain not to last as the wind is very light. Every time I round Start Point, there’s no wind. I’d like to suggest we rename this area Stop Point. People often think that we lounge about when there’s no wind, but on the contrary, there’s a lot of work. I’ve just tried to flick my indexsail battens back out after a tack. The Normandy Channel Race has the special feature that it has a number of tricky stages, so you’re constantly on your toes. We could see the rest of the fleet come back on us at any time.”
Sébastien Rogues, skipper of the Class 40 Eole Génération GDF – Suez: “We’re nose to tail with ‘Solo’. In fact we can talk to each other across the water. Yesterday we tacked at a depth of three metres in the Solent. Unfortunately we were a bit late getting into the Solent and the leaders left before we got there. I’m happy to discover this renowned racing zone and Dominic (Vittet) is certainly well-versed in weather strategy.
Sam Goodchild, co-skipper of the Class 40 Concise 2: “We don’t have any wind and there’s a lot of mist around us. The race has been hard-going since the start. We’re tired as we haven’t had a lot of sleep. We’re continually focused on getting the boat making headway.”
Yannick Bestaven, skipper of the Class 40 Phoenix Europe Express: “What a fine battle! We’re fighting for every metre of headway as we’re becalmed. We haven’t done too badly since the start of the race! We lost some ground on exiting the Solent but we then managed to catch up with the leading group. The wind is coming from every which way. We’re making headway at 0.9 knots! Together with Julien, we’re regularly getting in some rest and we’re fighting fit.”
Simen Lovgren, co-skipper of the Class 40 Solo: “We’ve just had a fairly confused night in terms of the wind. It’s always changing strength and direction. You constantly have to adapt to it. We’re happy to learn that we’re making up ground on the top four.”
Louis Duc, skipper of the Class 40 Avis Immobilier: “We kedged below the Isle of Wight. It was the wrong decision as those who just let themselves drift with the current came off better. The separation increases and decreases. Samantha, who’s British, really handled the current well in the Solent and she’d brought along some documentation on it. Added to that we’re enjoying some good meals.”
Stéphane Le Diraison, skipper of the Class 40 Masai: “Since the start, conditions have been screwy. The race is far from over. We still have numerous opportunities to catch up with the leaders. Our strategy will be influenced by the today’s decision by Race Management.”
Gérard Quenot, co-skipper of the Class 40 Obportus: “The start of the race was very complicated for us. It’s hard to contend with so much current and we even had to kedge in the Solent.”
Jean Galfione and Eric Péron aboard Talanta last night: “All’s well aboard Talanta. I’m no longer counting the number of sail changes, but it’s non-stop. We’re enjoying the battle though. The English coastline in the sunshine is very beautiful.”
Scott Cavanough and Thibault Reinhart aboard Jasmine Flyer this morning: “Whilst our playmates took to their heels, we were on a merry-go-round around the Isle of Wight… We got there at just the wrong time, punching tide with only 4kts of boat speed. Perfect!!! We reckon the merry-go-round off Cowes is the best! They give you lots of free rides! It’s been a rich and thrilling experience so far. We’ve managed to make up a bit of ground on Masai, Solo and Eole. We’re on the attack!!! We’re really happy to be competing in this race.”
Miranda Merron aboard Campagne de France last night: “It’s been action-packed since the start. We’ve had little wind over the bulk of the course, but it’s been a fabulous summer’s day on the South coast of England, and hence a great sail across the Solent. And the important thing was that the current was favourable and strong. I resisted the temptation to dive in and swim to the Hamble. We fought like cat and dog throughout the day with Talanta, Aquarelle and Concise. We have no certainty about what the night ahead will bring but it’s sure to involve little wind and a strong counter current over the next few hours. Getting past Portland will be a challenge and a half. We’ve hardly had the chance to rest since the start. However, it would seem that the same is true for everyone. There are a lot of sail changes, manoeuvres and stacking on one tack or the other according to the strength and direction of the wind and that’s set to continue…”
One day, one crew
Stéphane Le Diraison is a well-sorted kind of guy. A marine surveyor by trade, he has been very passionate about the sea for a number of years. It was on the Mini 6.50 circuit that this sailor from Boulogne made a name for himself. Second in the Transat 6.50 in the series category in 2007, fourth in the prototype category in 2009, winner of the Mini Fastnet 2009, Le Diraison is often to be found topping the bill. The owner of a Pogo S2, he last year won Les Sables – Horta. Dutch sailor Ben Korner is his co-skipper in the Normandy Channel Race. A naval architect, Ben is participating in his first double-handed competition and had never set foot on a Class 40 before the race start in Ouistreham.
Points to recall about the Normandy Channel Race:
>> 15 Class 40s, two sailors per boat, such as the duos Rogues – Vittet, Mabire – Merron, Riechers – Boidevezi…
>> Start and finish in Caen
>> 1,000 miles via the Saint-Marcouf Islands, the Isle of Wight, Tuskar Rock and Fastnet, Guernsey
>> 10 nationalities
>> Thomas Ruyant and Tanguy Leglatin, Tanguy de Lamotte and Sébastien Audigane won the last editions
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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