Au surf… Le vent qui est monté en puissance durant la nuit de samedi à dimanche ne devrait plus lâcher les solitaires de la Transat B to B avant l’arrivée à Lorient. Au fur et à mesure que les marins réduisent la toile, les vitesses enregistrées affolent les compteurs. Ce n’est pas la solitude glacée des mers du sud, mais les conditions de navigation ont pourtant un petit air de cousinage.
– Le vent monte en puissance
– La flotte accélère à l’avant d’un front actif
– Les conditions devraient encore se dégrader
26 nœuds, record battu. A bord de MACIF, François Gabart, toujours solide leader entre Saint-Barth et Lorient, continue de s’émerveiller du potentiel de son nouveau monocoque. Malgré son statut de premier de la classe, le jeune navigateur veille toutefois à ne pas s’enflammer. L’objectif reste le même : arriver sans encombre, passer la ligne et gagner sa qualification pour le prochain Vendée Globe. Tous le répètent à l’envi : après une Transat Jacques Vabre particulièrement sollicitante pour les bateaux, l’objectif de la Transat B to B est de retrouver ses marques en solitaires, de valider certaines des modifications effectuées à bord, d’établir la liste des travaux qui alimenteront le prochain chantier hivernal.
Sous pilote à plus de vingt noeuds
Pour autant, les poursuivants de François Gabart n’ont pas abdiqué. Les quelques milles grappillés par Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire) comme Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3) sur le leader en témoignent. Joint à la vacation de ce midi, Jean-Pierre annonçait tout à trac, à l’issue de quelque dix minutes de conversation, que durant tout le temps de la causerie, son monocoque avait avalé plus de trois milles et demi, soit une vitesse moyenne de vingt nœuds. L’expérience est aussi un viatique pour le gros temps. A bord de PRB, Vincent Riou a pu ainsi tester une drôle de tente, dressée au dessus du cockpit, qui lui permet de manœuvrer au sec. Le navigateur bigouden goûtait ainsi le plaisir de pouvoir rester en veille sur le pont sans subir un nuage d’embruns, régler ses voiles sans être obligé d’enfiler la panoplie complète du parfait navigateur du large. Confort et sécurité sont toujours les axes de réflexion privilégiés des navigateurs.
Baston à l’horizon
Seul bémol dans ce tableau idyllique, l’incertitude dont faisaient montre certains solitaires quant à la toile du temps. Gennaker ou génois, grand-voile haute ou arisée ? C’est finalement Vincent Riou qui résumait bien le sentiment général : les conditions météorologiques actuelles imposent de faire des choix qui ne sont pas nécessaires quand le vent est, soit plus faible, soit plus fort. Au vu des prévisions pour les jours à venir, ce genre dilemme ne devrait plus être d’actualité. Plus de quarante-cinq nœuds pour la journée de mardi, une mer qui forcira progressivement pour atteindre sept à huit mètres de creux. Pire encore, l’atterrage sur le golfe de Gascogne, dans la journée de jeudi, pourrait se faire par plus de cinquante nœuds de vent. Dès lors, il s’agira avant tout de faire face…
Ils ont dit :
Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3)
« Dans l’ensemble je suis content des modifications effectuées sur mon bateau, même si on va essayer d’améliorer encore quelques points dans la perspective du prochain Vendée Globe. On a retrouvé cette nuit des belles conditions de navigation au portant. C’était assez impressionnant de voir le bateau partir dans des surfs à plus de vint nœuds. Comme on a de la lune, on arrive à voir les vagues malgré la couverture nuageuse. Ça ressemble aux mers du sud, la pression de la grande solitude qu’on connaît dans ces coins sauvages en moins. Il ne nous manque plus que quelques albatros pour s’y croire tout à fait.»
Vincent Riou (PRB)
« Tout va bien à bord. Je suis vraiment content de mon nouvel aménagement de cockpit, avec la tente que je peux monter au dessus. Auparavant, malgré la casquette, on était dans une espèce de brouillard permanent dès que le vent montait et que les vagues passaient par dessus. Là, je peux manœuvrer au sec. Pour les manœuvres de gros temps, on a tous nos petits trucs, nos petites astuces. On n’en parle pas trop, pour ne pas dévoiler nos manières de faire à la concurrence.»
François Gabart (MACIF)
«Ça va bien. J’ai battu mon record personnel à bord, 26 nœuds… Jusque là, c’était dans la Transat Jacques Vabre avec Sébastien Col où nous avions atteint plus de 25 nœuds. Maintenant pour atteindre les records de Michel (Desjoyeaux – ndr 34 nœuds), il va me falloir attendre les mers du sud. J’essaye de me reposer tant que je peux : je sais que je manque encore de l’expérience nécessaire pour me mettre dans le rouge et risquer de faire de grosses erreurs à l’occasion d’une manœuvre ou d’une autre.»
This Sunday evening the Transat B to B fleet are surfing a wave of strong breeze which is set to remain with the solo sailors till the finish in Lorient on France’s Atlantic coast. As the south-westerly and soon north-westerly breeze increases, the more the skippers are reducing their sail area and the more speed they are racking up. Conditions are reminiscent of the deep South, without quite the same degree of isolation.
– The wind really punching at the Transat B to B fleet now
– The Imoca 60 fleet accelerating at the head of an active front
– Conditions set to deteriorate still further in the sprint East
– Northerly group closing on the southerly group
– Louis Burton now 350 miles stray of leader François Gabart
Still leading the merry group on the eastbound express across the North Atlantic, François Gabart (Macif) has so far notched up a top speed of 26 knots on his brand new monohull. The smile was there again during the radio sessions live from the Paris Boat Show, but so too was evidence of the depth of maturity of this young, talented sailor. “I’m in good shape and I know how important it is to remain like that. I can’t afford to go into the red because I don’t have the experience to deal with things in that state. As such I’m focusing on getting more sleep so I can manage any crises, such as broken gear etc. and remain operational. That will be my philosophy all the way to Lorient. All the conditions we’ll have along the way will set us up nicely for those we experience in the Vendee Globe and I can’t wait to be at that point. In the Barcelona World Race I obviously learnt a great deal about boat handling alongside Michel (Desjoyeaux) as well as the overall game plan for getting a boat to make headway. As such I’m a lot more confident about my ability to apprehend all the different points of sail. However, we didn’t have a lot of downwind sailing in that race and obviously we didn’t rely on the autopilot so much. There is more wind here too and, to be quite honest, I’ve never experienced such winds before, let alone in solo configuration. I’m taking it all in though, discovering new sensations and understanding how Macif reacts. I don’t really close my eyes when I sleep as I’m listening to the boat, all the new sounds she makes, how she moves…”
This same awareness of the harshness of the conditions awaiting them on the sprint to Lorient was mirrored across the fleet, though some skippers were, or at least gave the impression that they were, simply taking it all on the chin.
Astern of the leader, the battle for supremacy is very much on and the original members of the northerly group have taken great chunks out of their deficits in relation to Macif over the past 24 hours. Indeed during the ten minute radio chat with Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3) he admitted to having covered three and a half miles during the conversation, which equates to an average speed of twenty knots!
With some rather unstable conditions right now making it difficult to decide on the right sail plan, it was Vincent Riou (PRB) who captured the mood amongst the Transat B to B fleet: “the weather conditions at the moment are calling for us to make choices which aren’t necessary when the wind is either lighter or stronger.” This dilemma is likely to be short-lived however as over forty-five knots are forecast for Tuesday, with seas building progressively to dish out waves of seven to eight metres. Worse still is the fact that Thursday’s conditions in the Bay of Biscay are potentially showing over fifty knots of breeze at which point it really will be a case of ‘fronting up to the front!”
Quotes from the Boats
Mike Golding (Gamesa): “It is pretty comfortable. It is difficult conditions, though. It is difficult to know what sail plan to run as at times we are on a gennaker and at other time we are on the white sails [genoa, solent or staysail], you are always teetering on the balance of knowing what to run as the gust range is so high. We have had gusts of near 40 knots and the boat several times has ended up stalled out and laid on its side until we eased the gennaker and got back on our feet again. As quickly as it comes it disappears again and you are back to the softer conditions. To be honest, (though PRB is close), I am sailing my own race and keeping the boat going fast. I doubt either of us is doing anything different. I haven’t seen him, but I know he is close. We probably criss cross ourselves as we try different sail programmes. Yes, it would be nice if it were steadier but it should be fairly fast now. The other thing to decide is whether to stay away from the front or go towards it. Right now we are going well, but the faster we go, the more we head towards it. I’m not liking the look of the finishing weather though, it looks pretty serious. The coachroof is good in these conditions – it’s my little house! It definitely is perfect for these kinds of conditions, you have reasonable visibility, no need to get wet and going downwind is fine. On deck it is quite pleasant when you are going downwind, and the coach roof has worked well. It is very noisy at high speed, when reaching and water is entering, but apart from that it works really well. I am sleeping ok. The last two times I’ve slept, I have woken up with the boat on its side. It is fraught with danger going to sleep and that is a bit nerve racking. That is one of the stressful parts of solo sailing. The boat is going nicely, going steady, but the moment you put your head down you either break something or lose miles. The autopilot seems to be doing alright, it would have been easy to put it down to pilot errors but in fact when you look at the data it is clear that we have had a big gust of wind.”
François Gabart (Macif): “The wind has kicked back in and it will continue to do so as this is the early sign of the gales which will stay with us till the finish. Right now I have 20/28 knots so it’s fairly unstable. We’re going quite fast making 17/26 knots of boat speed so I have a good average speed of 22/23 knots which is better than doing bursts of 33 knots. One day I’ll be doing just that in the Deep South though. There’s still a long way to go yet though and I have plenty of friends behind me who will be after this position. The weather conditions are pretty tough so the primary focus is on getting home quickly whilst keeping ourselves and our boats in good condition. Macif has yet to qualify for the Vendee Globe too and it’s far from easy. To win you have to finish so it’s step by step right now. I’m trying to find a good rhythm and the right sensations and my position isn’t that important ultimately. I think I’ll be happy with how I’ve done regardless.
Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec): “The wind is really packing a punch now with peaks of 35 knots. Last night I had 37, 38, 40 knots at times which was impressive. We’re absolutely hammering along and it’s stressful-going all alone on the boat. The old reflex actions are coming back to me and conditions are reminiscent of the deep South. Everyone’s going pretty fast and there’s no downtime. Last night there was a good luminosity though the moon was dancing behind the clouds at times. It was magical with surfs at 25 knots which was fun. The work on the cockpit means it’s much better protected. You’re not completely sheltered but it’s important to still be able to have a feeling of what’s going on outside so you’ve got to get the balance right with it. I’m hoping the year ahead will be a good one but there are some very good sailors around me like Armel and François. It’ll certainly be a battle. Last night really was full-on. However, in the North Atlantic you’re obviously less isolated than in the Deep South and the emergency services aren’t so far away so it’s not the same liquid desert. As I’ve been speaking to you we’ve been making a 20 knot average so all we need is some albatrosses now!”
Vincent Riou (PRB): “I thought the wind would be stronger than it is right now. It’s struggling to pick up with 25/30 knots last night making 20/25 knots of boat speed. We’re slowly picking up speed and things will accelerate with the front. It’s pretty tricky at the moment because conditions aren’t quite perfect for one particular sail plan so it’s difficult choosing which sail to carry. You just have to make do and it’s the same problem for everyone. However, it’s considerably less risky when conditions are stable. When we’re having to put in a gybe in 40/45 knots it’s going to be pretty special. Everyone has their own technique shall we say but it’s not easy. It’s the kind of manoeuvre where you’re most likely to break stuff. It’s up to you to decide between doing it safely and hence not so quickly, or quickly and hence not so safely! The boat’s going well for now. We’re slipping along at 20/ 22 knots so we’ll be home more quickly hopefully. It’s really great to be making good headway and seeing the boat move through the water. The Transat B to B is a great test in real conditions for the Vendee Globe so it’s very important. Thanks to my cuddy I’m completely dry too so above all it helps with sail trimming and keeping watch while the autopilot takes care of the steering.”