News Around the World
Win, lose or draw the one thing you can be certain of in the Vendée Globe is that you will get a decent welcome when you return to Les Sables – even if like Bernard Stamm a few years ago you have been forced to retire due to (uninvited) outside assistance but still complete the course. Every Vendée Globe delivers an unlikely hero and this time it was Conrad Colman
FRANCE Two is a good number With more than 200 boats at the start of this year’s edition, the annual Uship ArMen Race has established itself as one of the premier regattas in only its seventh year. This year we also saw two other notable ingredients: three Ultimes were competing for the first time and no fewer than 64 teams entered the double-handed IRC division. After Spi Ouest-France in April hosted more than 400 boats and the Mini en Mai was oversubscribed with Mini 6.50s, host Société Nautique de la Trinité-sur-mer (SNT) has consolidated its reputation as France’s ‘first’ club of offshore racing. The Uship ArMen Race takes in a 270nm course down to Sein,
more precisely two virtual marks located at the south of the Occidental de Sein buoy, then a long leg towards the South Guar- antee and Western Bunche buoys (roughly at the mouth of the River Loire) before heading back towards La Trinité leaving the Plateau du Four to port. The forecast was peaceful, with east winds to begin then light
westerlies after crossing a ridge somewhere around the middle of the course. Strong currents also made the race tricky especially when the wind departed. Some crews were forced to anchor, several close to the finishing line to avoid being pushed inside the Golfe du Morbihan! The head of the fleet was busy with a ‘mano-a-mano’ between
the two Ultimes Macif and Sodebo, until the pin end of Brittany when François Gabart and his crew started to show better speed sailing back upwind. François crossed the finish line after 18h 21m. Sodebo followed 1h15m later. Back in La Trinité, François declared: ‘The start was a little
complicated sailing through the strait of La Teignouse outside Quiberon, very busy with lots of smaller boats. And we were going quite fast in our 100-footer.
14 SEAHORSE
‘Then we were neck and neck with Sodebo until Sein. On that
leg we gybed 18 times! The ArMen was excellent preparation for The Bridge for us – everything was perfect.’ The upwind superiority of Macif is rather encouraging before a transatlantic race against the prevalent winds. MOB‘At the approach to the first Uship1 virtual mark I am inside my berth wearing my lifejacket when Benoît calls for help on a gybe.’ Vincent de Kerviler is a member of the board of the SNT and well-known as a tough offshore racer. He is sailing two-handed with Benoît Rousselin, owner of the JPK 10.10 Delnic. Vincent continues: ‘I am up on deck in three seconds and run
to the bow – the nylon spi has made two turns around the forestay. I go immediately to pull the sheet firmly and suddenly I fall in the water, lifted off the deck by the spinnaker but also unbalanced by the boat lurching in the choppy sea. It is 5.19am. The night is still black, the wind is blowing 15kt. I slip alongside the hull trying to seize a rope in vain. I watch the boat moving away.’ With so much offshore experience, Vincent always has an AIS
beacon on his lifejacket (activated automatically and confirmed by a coloured light). So as Delnic moves away he is certain she will return back up her wake as soon as the spinnaker is down. It is a question of time and he has to be patient in the cold water, also thinking about where the current may carry him. Then suddenly he hears a female voice behind him shouting: ‘I
see him, he is there, just in front of the bow.’ Vincent turns and sees the masthead light of a vessel getting close to him. It is the JPK 10.10 Anavel belonging to Bernard Fleiter racing in the ArMen Race with a full crew. Vincent is recovered without difficulty but Benoît Rousselin has also dropped the spinnaker and motored back at maximum speed to the MOB position. ‘It is then 5.40am,’ reports Vincent. It took just 20 minutes for the skipper of Delnicto come back to his crew –very nice sea manship.’
OLIVIER BLANCHET/DPPI
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