Tour de France a la Voile - Physical and mental preparation day

by Fabienne Morin on 10 Jul 2014 No racing on today, but a day to prepare physically and mentally for the longest offshore leg of the 2014 Tour de France à la Voile. 177 miles, about 24 hours of racing from Dieppe to Granville, and some rough weather conditions ahead for the nine boats of the fleet. The teams will cross the start line at 5pm.

The first offshore leg between Dunkerque and Dieppe was rough. The next one between Dieppe and Granville will be even worse! 'It will be quite warm for a November day,' said ironically Gérald Véniard, navigator onboard Team Oman Sail.

The weather expected for the next 24 hours is not the typical summery weather that the sailors could dream of. The fleet will be sailing in a cold north-westerly wind ranging from 20 to 30 knots, with rain falls. And they will be sailing against the wind all the way up to Cape La Hague (northern tip of the Cherbourg peninsula), which means about twenty hours upwind, sitting on the rail, wet and cold.

After the start in Dieppe, the M34 will tack a few times before heading west to cross the Bay of Seine, which means 110 miles on one tack, close reach, against the tide. The challenge for the teams will be to find the best angle against the wind while negociating their way through heavy seas. The helmsman and mainsail trimmer will work together to find the best boat speed, and the rest of the crew sitting on the rail will try to forget how cold and wet they are, and the pain caused by the life-lines rubbing on their hips.

At the end of this fourteen hour painful tack, as the fleet passes the Raz Blanchard (The Alderney Race), the crew will finally hoist their spinnaker and storm south downwind for the last 60 miles to Granville.

Christopher Pratt, navigator onboard Bretagne - Crédit Mutuel Elite: 'Dieppe – Granville is a bit like the mountain leg of the cycling Tour de France. Going through the Raz Blanchard is the key moment of this event. We should be there late motning. But before that, we are going to have 20 hours upwind in rough conditions, and rough seas. It will be cold and it’s going to rain. The most experienced crew will have an advantage over the others. The result will relie on little details like how you can avoid breakages, how to eat well and sleep well in such conditions.'

Arthur Le Vaillant, navigator onboard Nantes - Saint Nazaire: 'It will be like ‘rock n roll’, especially during the night. I think we’re gonna have to sing to keep our spirits up. We have to stay with the leaders. If we can’t and if we fall too far behind, it will be hard to keep the motivation. The role of the skipper and navigator is key on this type of leg. And so is the team work. It’s a psychological game. But it’s fantastic and we should not complain. It is a unique opportunity to push our own limits and to get more experienced. We are very lucky to experience this sort of challenges together as a group.'

Gérald Véniard, navigator onboard Team Oman Sail: 'It’s not going to be fun, that’s for sure! Having said that, it will be quite warm for a November day. We will be crossing a weather patterns in between two fronts with some gusts at 30+ knots and the seas… will be… how to bring that… well… ugly ! We will have to find the right sail trimming to jump across the waves more easily. We will wear our dry suits right from the beginning. The helmsman and the mainsail trimmer will try and sleep half an hour every four hours and the crew will get the sea spray in the face for hours and hours. We’re gonna have to hold on for 24 hours!'

Erwan Le Roux, navigator onboard Courrier Dunkerque 3: 'Nous will be wearing warm clothes and we’re gonna sweat in our wet weather gear, so it will keep us warm. Then we will be sailing close reach to Cape La Hague, where we will finally hoist the spinnaker and storm towards Granville.'

Overall ranking :
1 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 240 pts
2 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 237 pts
3 Team OmanSail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet 225 pts
4 Bretagne - Crédit Mutuel Elite, skipper Nicolas Troussel 214pts
5 Ville de Genève - Carrefoux Addictions, Nicolas Groux 209 pts
6 Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 204 pts
7 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 199 pts
8 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 191 pts
9 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 170 pts

Technical ranking :
1 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 165 pts
2 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 165 pts
3 Team Oman Sail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet 156 pts (…)

Amateur ranking :
1 Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 204 pts
2 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 199 pts
3 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 191 pts
4 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 170 Event website