Normandy Channel Race - Class40s power towards Guernsey

by Kate Jennings translation on 25 May 2011 Normandy Channel Race 2011 started on 22nd May. On the third day of the race the boats are already on the return leg.

After a long reach yesterday between Land’s End and Tuskar Rock, the remaining 12 Class40s are now powering along towards Guernsey… close-hauled! Leading the fleet, the battle continues to rage between Port de Caen Ouistreham and Initiatives Saveurs. Since the start the two boats have been playing at cat and mouse. In the 0700 GMT ranking, this Wednesday morning, less than a mile separated the crew of Fabien Delahaye and Bruno Jourdren and that of Tanguy de Lamotte and Sébastien Audigane. Behind them, the separation is becoming more stable, but there’s still a long way to go before they reach home…

Yesterday’s change of course is providing competitors with a little respite. The current conditions are more manageable and the downwind descent the previous day has enabled the skippers to get some rest. Ahead of them is a beat as far as Land’s End and finally, once they’re around this headland, they’re likely to benefit from downwind conditions which will carry them to the finish.

Message from Tanguy de Lamotte and Sébastien Audigane aboard Initiatives Saveurs, received on Tuesday 24 May at 2255 hours French time: 'Hello, hello! A superb day for Initiatives Saveurs. We’ve were belting along on a reach until we came back to within a hundred metres of Port de Caen Ouistreham. On rounding the lighthouse, the two crews anticipated their manoeuvres well, furling and dumping of the genoa in the locker, putting in a reef in the mainsail, or the Solent for Port de Caen Ouistreham, stacking to starboard and tacking around Tuskar Rock lighthouse, taking care not to run aground on the shelf around it! This site is still just as magical and fabulous. We’d have really liked to have stopped off along the coast to drink a Guinness but we have a race to the finish and no time to hang about as a front’s on its way, which is why we’re heading straight for Caen. It’s going to be a fairly calm night on a single tack until tomorrow morning before we get onto a beat… So that’s where I’ll have to leave you as I have to check the weather forecasts and prepare a good meal! Have a good evening! Aboard Initiatives Saveurs, Séb and Tanguy'.

Message from Phillippa Hutton Squire and Nick Leggatt aboard Phesheya Racing, received on Tuesday 24 May at 2322 hours French time: 'Good evening everyone! This morning we were off the Lizard. The sun rose, lighting up the Channel and put a smile on our faces. We were sailing between Longships lighthouse and Land’s End when we saw a Class40. It was number 107. We filmed them and called them up on the VHF. We spoke to Marc Lepesqueux (Marie Toit – Caen la Mer), who told us he and Michel Kleinjans were returning to Caen. They seemed very disappointed. For our part, we dumped the Solent and switched to the staysail. We were delighted to sail on a good reach as far as Tuskar Rock. Later on we hoisted our gennaker with dolphins right around the boat. I think we’ll have some great photos to show you. The Class40 is really an incredible boat. At sunset we dined and drank a cup of tea. Today was the first birthday of our mascot Pippa Potamus. She’s been very lucky to sail downwind throughout the day…'

Message from Caroline Vieille and Stéphanie Alran aboard Ocean’s Eleven, received on Wednesday 25 May at 0200 hours French time: 'It’s 0130 hours and the day has begun with a slight annoyance: calm weather! Since last night we’ve been trying to get past the English coast but the wind abandoned us off the end of Cornwall. Our thoughts are with the frontrunners who must have passed Tuskar Rock, bravo to them and to Ivan Vautier’s sweets which are boosting our spirits. It’s best to be philosophical about things, though it’s a bitter pill to swallow. We were expecting a tough match but the sense of being out of the action is hard to take; it’s not in our nature. As such we’re making massives of lists of things to be improved on with a view to the upcoming events in our sailing season. In the meantime, we have a nice climb up to Tuskar Rock ahead of us and, hopefully a descent on a single tack. There have to be some compensations for bringing up the rear. Stéphanie is at the helm, tucking into the sweets, and I’m going to get a bit of sleep. The crew of Ocean's Eleven from Land’s End'.

Message from Pierre-Yves Lautrou and Dominic Vittet on Express Sapmer, received on Wednesday 25 May at 0248 hours French time: 'Hello! The days go by but each one is different on the NCR. The days don’t feel long when you’re on a reach between Land's End and Tuskar, which you devour in a day – but the nights do seem long as we are close-hauled again on the opposite tack, a bit relieved that we’re not having to hunt down the Fastnet close-hauled in a storm. Other than that we’re still having a hellish jostle for the top spot with our friends from Leatherman as we rounded the lighthouse just two boat lengths astern of them! As for the rest, all’s well aboard and we’re trying to recover from the profusion of energy we used up in the first few days as we’re certainly going to need some for the finish! See you soon PYL and Mino'.

Message from Jean Galfione and Eric Péron from Talanta, received on Wednesday 25 May at 0334 hours French time: 'All’s well aboard Talanta. It’s a cold and very dark night, the moon still hasn’t appeared. We eased off the pace yesterday to get some good rest so we can be powering on all cylinders tonight and tomorrow. Our aim is to hold onto our third place and to snatch an opportunity to get level with the two frontrunners. Right now Eric is having a nap and I’m going to warm myself up with a little soup, whilst keeping an eye on the boat’s trim and the radar. Until the next time, Eric and Jean the bigoudens from NW France…'

NB: Fourth retirement in the Normandy Channel Race. The crew of the Class40 Spliff contacted race management at 1900 GMT this Tuesday evening to announce they were turning back. Andrew Dawson and Rune Aasberg reckon the sailing conditions are becoming too difficult. They prefer to stop here and conserve the boat. The Press HQ will try to contact them on Wednesday during the radio sessions.

Ranking on Wednesday 25 May at 0700 GMT:

Normandy Channel Race website

			Dist to finish	Separation
1	Port De Caen Ouistreham	Fabien Delahaye/Bruno Jourdren	300,6	0,0
2	Initiatives Saveurs	Tanguy de Lamotte/Sébastien Audigane	300,7	0,0
3	Talanta	Jean Galfione/Eric Péron	305,6	5,0
4	Mare.De2	Jorg Riechers/Etienne David	307,8	7,1
5	L'express - Sapmer	Pierre-Yves Lautrou/Dominic Vittet	307,9	7,3
6	Des Pieds Et Des Mains	Damien seguin/Yohann Richomme	311,6	11,0
7	Defi Gde - Tzu Hang	Axel Strauss/Nicolas Boidevézi	331,4	30,8
8	Red	Matthias Blumencron/Boris Hermann	334,2	33,6
9	Phesheya Racing	Philippa Hutton/Nick Leggatt	343,6	43,0
10	Gryphon Solo 2	Joe Harris/Josh Hall	383,4	82,7
11	40 Degrees	Hannah Jenner/Anna-Maria Renken	397,7	97,1
12	Ocean Eleven	Stéphanie Alran/Caroline Vieille	496,1	195,5
ABD	Livewire	Stuart Dodd/Steve Kennington
ABD	Spliff	Andrew Dawson/Rune Aasberg
ABD	Marie Toît - Caen La Mer	Marc Lepesqueux/Michel Kleinjans
ABD	Partouche	Christophe Coatnoan/Sébastien Figue