In great shape and decidedly more hairy than when he set out, Yann made Port la Forêt this Friday at 09 hours 22 minutes 02 seconds. In this way Yann Eliès takes fourth place in this his first single-handed transatlantic and his first time all alone on a 60 foot monohull… Generali completed the 4,120 mile course in 14 days 19 hours 22 minutes 02 seconds, 10 hours 08 minutes 37 seconds behind the winner Loïck Peyron, at an average of 11.6 knots orthodromy and a deficit of 2.9% on the frontrunner).

The next competitor expected into port is none other than Marc Guillemot, Safran set to finish around 2000 hours UTC this Friday. 70 miles behind, Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) should also complete the course tonight.

 

 

 

Brief recap of the main points discussed during this morning's Press Conference with Loick Peyron, Kito de Pavant, Michel Desjoyeaux, who were joined towards the end by Yann Elies.

 

 

 

Loick Peyron: “If you mass together the various damage that has occurred in this fleet and that of the Barcelona World Race it's all fairly logical. It's a mechanical sport and sometimes you're bound to have bad surprises. Even dismastings are bound to happen at time times. Personally all I had was the loss of my mast wand so hat's off to my shore crew."

Kito de Pavant: “The issue with Safran (Marc Guillemot has had to lock his keel along its axis following problems with the canting mechanism) is potentially exactly the same on my boat and there are some things you just can't predict. It'll be good to have the opportunity this winter to look at all the errors we've committed and focus on resolving them.”

Loick Peyron: "Historically I think keel issues were more prevalent than they are now. Today there are a lot of variable systems and all in all the results aren't too bad.

Michel Desjoyeaux: “In my view keel issues are seldom down to the keels themselves but more often the mechanisms holding them in place and enabling them to move.

Loick Peyron: “It’s not easy to know how to dose these boats."

Kito de Pavant: “All these boats are fairly homogenous and you have learn how to resolve the difficulties and manage all the different areas of the boat as well as yourself. There's a great battle in perspective for the Vendee Globe.  We'll really have to push the boats to get ahead and will have a lot of hard work ahead of us. The architects from all around the world have worked hard on this and there may be some boats which have a slight advantage on certain points of sail but we're all pretty much the same speed and that's a good thing."

Michel Desjoyeaux: “Masts today are 2 metres higher than they used to be and so naturally there is more sail area and we're more powerful but I'm not surprised by the various stresses on the gear and it really is okay to handle in solo configuration. The boats remain accessible. I had my first broach the night before the Azores but I came out of it okay."

Loick Peyron: “Life aboard these boats is actually very comfortable. Of course you have to go up on deck from time to time to check for shipping (laughs as do they all!!). You can still teach the ‘Professeur’ (Desjoyeaux) a thing or two from time to time! It is comfortable though as I say and I don't mean comfort per se but comfort in the space you have to move around in and the ability to quickly get from one place on the boat to another. Sure, it heels over quite a lot and it does slam but once we're back in port it's great! (laughs again).

Kito de Pavant: "There wasn't a particularly point in the race which was really decisive. You just have to ensure that you're always up with the leading group so that you're in the right place if something does happen. Of course, Loick did do really well to get through the doldrums as quickly as he did, and Mich didn't do quite so well, but you just have to put your head down and focus on making fast headway. There was a little passage at the end where we all managed to sneak through on a vein of SW'ly but I don't there were any major coups to be had.

Michel Desjoyeaux: “I agree, it was all down to circumstance in the end - being in the right place at the right time."

Kito de Pavant: “It was excellent training for the next stage in our race programme. I’ve got some modifications to make but everything about this race was positive and I think we all learnt an awful lot."

Michel Desjoyeaux: “Had this been just a delivery we probably wouldn't have learnt about the keel weakness aboard Safran or the mast wand on Loick's boat might have been alright and we'd have believed everything was okay and that we had no work to do over the winter. It's a shame for the shore crews because they’re going to have some work ahead of them! Essentially though all this is the fruit of a great sail!

Loick Peyron: “We all said at the start that it was going to be a kind of delivery and that we were just focussing on qualifying for the VG. In reality we set off gently and then 10 minutes later.... zoom....we were in race mode. It's funny, but logical too!! Of course it wasn't that hard in some ways because we all have pretty much the same boats and we've all got the same software so we all ended up following each other."

Michel Desjoyeaux: “Yes, it just takes one person to do the work and all the rest just follow! Sometimes it’s worth gaining a few degrees separation just to try and pull something out of the bag though!”

Kito de Pavant: “The boats’ polars are different nonetheless. We did get to test the boats a bit when we had 25 knots of reaching conditions. It was really impressive making 25 029 knots in that under one reef main and ORC that's for sure!”

Yann Elies: “I have to say I was pretty apprehensive at the start as it was my first solo transat on this boat. It went great though and the conditions were very favourable for the boat. I did my best and managed to bring my boat home safe and sound…unlike some! (laughs). It all augurs really well for the Vendee Globe. It’s not a surprise that I went quick without breaking anything but it is good! I did have issues with my sails though and there was a junction where the genoa just started splitting. Mich got away at that point and then I tried to repair it mid doldrums but I got caught in a squall with code 0 in the air and the genoa on the deck in 15/17 knots! I did manage to keep the code 0 hoisted but it will have put a strain on the boat. That's just too bad though. You have to focus on speed. It's interesting what you learn to live without in these situations.

Kito de Pavant: “It’s certainly a relief to be qualified. This race has been indispensable and now we can work more serenely over the winter. It's taken a big load off our minds.

Michel Desjoyeaux: “We’ll have to take more spares next time though!  Spare masts, spare sails…. (laughs).

 

 

 

No luck for those towards the tail end of the fleet

For Samantha Davies (Roxy) and Yannick Bestaven (Cervin EnR), the end of the race looks fairly light as the wind is set to ease just off Spain and remain at just 12 knots of E'ly in the Bay of Biscay: their arrivals are scheduled for the end of the weekend. For the Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) and Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Maisonneuve) duo, who are set to finish a day later, the weather conditions will still be manageable. However, the trio at the back of the fleet appears to be getting more than their fair share of unfavourable conditions! Still stuck in calms being served up to the South of the Azores, they will then get caught up by a nasty depression which will sweep across the archipelago on Sunday evening... They will have to slip along quickly so as not to get caught in the clutches of this very active low pressure centre, which will settle between the Azores and Spain, generating winds of over 30 knots! The crossing of the Bay of Biscay is not going to be a picnic either since the SE’ly breeze will climb to over thirty-five knots... The end of the Transat Ecover BtoB is not going to be at all restful for Dee Caffari (Aviva), Derek Hatfield (Spirit of Canada) and Rich Wilson (Great American III) but our thoughts are with them…

 Arrivals in Port la Forêt:

1-Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) in 14d 09h 13' 25''

2-Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) in 14d 12h 22' 49'',  3 hours 09 minutes 24 seconds from the first place

3-Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in 14d 13h 43' 24", 4 hours 29 minutes and 59 seconds from the first place

4-Yann Eliès (Generali) in 14d 19h 22' 02'', 10 hours 08 minutes 37 seconds from the first place

 Night Messages:

Dee Caffari (Aviva): “Day Fifteen Report @ 0022hrs UT; Aviva GBR 111; Position 32 59.3N  27 30.6W; COG anywhere SOG nowhere. Just started moving for the first time in 36 hours tonight. Every time I see a puff of four knots of breeze it is followed by returning to two knots again so my excitement is short lived. This may take some time.”

Translation KJ