Sea, Sail & Surf newsSolitaire du Figaro
38 solo skippers in search of the wind…
mardi 13 août 2002 –
That has to be an aggressive round, « the run to Droug’ ». Casting off from the Irish pontoons the soloists were thrown into deep end from the very start by elements of a very nasty humour. But it reduced the stakes in this second route and its coastal navigation was complicated by the bad turns of Aeolus, suddenly declaring war on some absent subscribers.
The expected bubble of high pressure was extremely punctual and the soloists have not escaped from there yet, held hostage right in the middle of the Chaussée de Sein. And so it continued. A night of status-quo with zero wind on what turned out to be a glassy sea. The skippers anchored up, dropped the sails to stop themselves going backwards and enable them a good start in the early morning greyness in the bay of Audierne. The thermals really wanted to put in a bit of effort. So it was there then that the specialist in strong wind made a quick exit, keeping a low profile. Fearsome in the breeze Eric Drouglazet stole south to show a brilliant 6 mile advance on his closest pursuers. « He got away before everyone else as he made the most of the delay in the arrival of the bubble of high pressure towards Brittany, thus generating a little more wind in the south, explains Dominique Conin, specialist in charts and weather patterns from the training centre in Port-La Forêt. He came to find it. But everyone will get going again. The fleet saw the worst of it last night and now they can count on a little flow from the east-south east sector. All that remains is the tricky part of the leg, it’s really a leg where anything can happen, and usually does ! In the Sables d’Olonne, we’ll be able to add up the points. » Some hours later, the runaway was still playing the virtual leaders of the pack. He was 17 miles to the west of the direct route whilst the majority of the fleet hugged the coast. But his lead melted like snow in the sun. He was once again hotly persued by Yann Eliès (Groupe Générali Assurances), Sébastien Josse (Créaline) and Christophe de Pavant (Malice) who were weaving their way along on the land breeze, in the seas off the point of Penmarc’h. Still further out at sea, Nicolas Troussel (Galinette) tumbled down the rankings, dropping from eighth to twentieth position in the Argos positions.
Near land the soloists found the westerly sea breeze in their sails and maintained speeds in the order of 3 knots with a head on current. At sea, Aeolus doesn’t have the same vigour with the support vessels. Between those that don’t have wind and those that do, anything is possible as the fleet slowly progresses towards the Vendée coastline. The passage to Belle-Île is certainly going to be crucial. The last ETA reckoned on the first arrivals hitting the Sables d’Olonne on Wednesday afternoon, 127 miles from the bow of Eric Drouglazet.
The bets are placed with the group on the direct course, « the brothers of the coast » and the conquering people of the east…
Vincent Riou (on PRB, (boat coating agent) : « We’re keeping a check on each other : Beyou and Koch have just passed below me. I was ahead of them quarter of an hour ago and it’s a bit annoying, it’s all a question of positionning. The transition periods in these waters are extremely difficult to deal with. Something can happen in seconds. We observe the wind, the sea, the other competitors, these are the three essential parameters. For the moment, it’s difficult to say if the group at sea, the ones near shore or the ones in the middle will be the first to get out of this. At the end of the day’s thermals we’ll know more… »
Dans la même rubrique
Solitaire du Figaro : Here’s to hardship… to « Droug’ » !
Photo : Ch.Guigueno
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