Wind and Racing

Over 24 hours after the start of the sixth edition of the DRHEAM-CUP/GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE DE COURSE AU LARGE in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the 95 boats still racing (11 have retired to date) all enjoyed strong winds that carried them to the first marks on the course, the Fastnet for the two DC 1000 courses and Wolf Rock for the DC 600. In each category, we have seen remarkable intensity and suspense before the first arrivals expected in Lorient on Monday.

The weather invited itself to the tenth anniversary of the DRHEAM-CUP/GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE DE COURSE AU LARGE, gifting the 106 participants high-level conditions with strong north-easterly winds and for some, waves that have increased in size but are ideal for speed. The fastest in the fleet, the Ocean Fifties, only took fifteen hours to reach the Fastnet, they are expected to pass the DRHEAM-CUP waypoint on Sunday afternoon.

The Race Management team, led by Francis Le Goff with François Seruzier and Pierre Hays, with Christian Dumard at weather analysis, decided to move the Waypoint further North, reducing the course by approximately 200 nautical miles (1016 miles in total). “A stormy low-pressure area is moving north from Spain to Brittany, there was a high risk of the Ocean Fifties sailing into a major cell when they passed the BXA buoy, it wasn’t reasonable to send them there, commented Francis Le Goff.

“I am delighted to have the “Dream quartet” in the Race Management and Weather analysis team. As we have seen previously in the Football World Cup with the storms or right now with the Tour de France and the heatwave, where adaptations have been necessary, this dream team continuously monitors the weather systems that are complicated at the moment and makes the right decisions at the right time to ensure sailors race safely. Considering the difficult conditions on Sunday in the Channel, I can only thank them for moving the start forwards by 24 hours”, underlined the organiser DRHEAM-CUP/GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE DE COURSE AU LARGE, Jacques Civilise.

Eleven retired after over 24 hours of racing without any major damage, the conditions were quite challenging. Sophie Faguet, in Class40 on Défi Solidaire avec Ellye et L’Arche, spoke of Sunday morning “a washing machine”, Irish skipper Pamela Lee (#empowher) “A fairly difficult baptism by fire”, with a stubborn spinnaker, a broken winch and a fall across the boat that has resulted in painful ribs. In a video, the crew on Cléobulle, in the IRC crewed class tells us: “We’re off at full speed again with stronger winds – 30–33 knots – and very choppy seas; we’re going fast but it’s pretty hairy!”

Although the conditions, that have been stable until now, have not given competitors any great strategic options, they have enabled all fleets to remain fairly compact. On the DC 600 course, the first boats are expected to arrive in Lorient on Monday. The fastest in the fleet for the moment is Volvo Open 70 Breeze-Majorica, skippered by Swiss national Alan Roura (first in IRC crewed), followed by the legendary Cigare Rouge (Sidney Gavignet) and the first Multi 2000 Graine de Courage (Florian Guéguen). However, the first to arrive could be the Orma Arkea-Handicap International (ex Fujicolor II) with Damien Seguin (and Gérald Véniard), who voluntarily lengthened their course by heading to the Fastnet to test their boat before the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe: “We watched the sun set at Wolf Rock and the sunrise at the Fastnet, it wasn’t a bad experience!” he commented on Sunday morning, and should gain ground on the leg between the DRHEAM-CUP point, which they crossed at 15:30 and the last mark at Rochebonne.

On the longest course, the Ocean Fifty’s, the five first boats, Edenred (Basile Bourgnon), Wewise (Pierre Quiroga), Viabilis Océans (Baptiste Hulin), Sodebo Fifty (Léonard Legrand) and Elvest (Mattheu Perraut) – are neck and neck (5 nautical miles on Sunday afternoon). Erwan Draoulec (Lazare), who left Cherbourg-en-Cotentin “with a knot in his stomach” eight months after capsizing during the Transat Café L’Or and therefore voluntarily careful told us: “I am trying to not lose too much ground, but the first boats have a different rhythm.” The verdict will be given on Tuesday midday for the fifty-foot catamarans.

A fast rhythm can also be seen on the second DC1000 course for the Class40, with a dual at the front of the fleet between two sailors who have shared victories all year, Guillaume Pirouelle (Seafrigo Sogestran) and Corentin Douguet (SNSM Faites un Don!), Italian skipper Luca Rosetti (Maccaferri Futura) is just behind waiting in ambush. Another dual is ongoing, in the Vintage Multi class between veterans Halvard Mabire (GDD, age 69) and Marc Guillemot (MG5-Econav), who rounded the Fastnet on Sunday at 16:00 within one mile of each other. In the Vintage Mono class, a trio of Open 50s are battling it out ahead and also passed the Irish rock on Sunday afternoon, in the following order: Groupe Cogedis pour Enfants du Mékong (Patrick Isoard), Eurvad (Tanguy Caradec) and Use it Again for Youth, skippered by the youngest sailor of the race Titouan Pilliard.

What is coming next? “The stormy zone that we have been keeping an eye on since the start is continuing to move further north and could stay to the west of Brittany in the following hours, which could lead to small and fairly localised thunderstorms at night, and therefore unstable wind. South of the area, the wind will shift from north-east to north-west”, forecasts Christian Dumard. The entire fleet is expected in Lorient between Monday and Thursday.