Sail-World.com : Transat Quebec Saint Malo crews battle river
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Transat Quebec Saint Malo crews battle river |
Saint Lawrence has lived up to its reputation and has served up a complicated helping of conditions for the original 28 crews in the 7th Transat Quebec Saint Malo. Setting off on Sunday and after 24 hours of racing, the fleet of Class 40s, 50 foot Open multihulls and some Fico monohulls are currently beating their way down the meandering river.
The yachts are progressing in headwinds at the mercy of the tides and strong currents which reign between Quebec and the river estuary, which the frontrunners should reach during the course of the night. The main obstacle though has been the fog, the sandbanks and the numerous rocks, which are dotted about this river course, intensifying the start of this hotly contested ‘contact regatta’ style transatlantic race. The fleet is already lamenting one retirement: that of the Class 40 Entreprises Lorraines, skippered by Patrice Carpentier. The Pogo Class 40 ran aground and has suffered damage to the keel.
Roche Veillon is situated opposite Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, around the shallows of Ile-aux-Coudres. It is here that the 40 footer touched the bottom last night. Patrice Carpentier and his crew had to make the difficult decision to turn round and head back to the port of Quebec; a sad fate which another Class 40, Novedia Group, has also had a taste of. At the start of the afternoon, the then leader of the category ran aground as it approached the west coast of Ile Blanche. Fortunately the incident proved more of a fright than anything else as Tanguy De Lamotte and his crew simply ended up on a sandbank and are currently waiting for the tide to come in so they can get going again.
Pogo Structures, 1st Class 40 – Crêpes Whaou leads the way
With the Rogers Yacht Design yielding the controls as the crew wait to be refloated, Halvard Mabire’s Pogo Structures is now leading the 40 footers. The Norman sailor was tracing his wake in the southern channel as he passed Ile-aux-Lièvres at the midway point en route towards the Rimouski mark on the south bank. The front of the fleet remain very grouped with all the tactical coups up for grabs as they head out into the Saint Lawrence Bay in a NNE’ly air flow, filling from 17 to 20 knots. Leading the way, the top five of the smallest monohulls are still tightly bunched within just 6 miles of each other. Télécom Italia (Giovanni Soldini), Mistral Loisirs (Oliver Krauss), Novedia Group (Tanguy De Lamotte) and Prévoir Vie (Benoît Parneaudeau) are now right on the tail of the overall leader, the notorious Crêpes Whaou! skippered by Franck-Yves Escoffier…
Prudence and vigilance
In the lead as the river broadens on the approach to the estuary, the big race favourite is getting the most from his red trimaran. Positioned 30 miles from the Rimouski mark at 1300 UT, the sailor from Saint Malo and his crew had extended their lead to over 25 miles ahead of his fellow competitors from the 50’ Open class, 27 miles in front of the first Class 40 and above all, nearly 40 miles ahead of the 60 foot monohull Cervin ENR. Yannick Bestaven and his crew, given their deep draft, are having to be extra vigilant in the troubled waters of the Saint Lawrence, where the currents, the sandbanks and the intense maritime shipping provide a highly original start to a transatlantic race. It is the same scenario for the large monohulls from the Fico category (An Ocean of Smiles, Port Québec and Saint Malo Team) which are having to work flat out over these initial 150 miles of this river course. Having rounded the Rimouski point, the whole fleet will be able to make headway in a universe which is much more favourable to large manœuvres. From Rimouski to Percé on the approach to Saint Pierre et Miquelon, there are another 200 miles to go before the fleet reach the wide open ocean…
Prior to the crossing, the regatta…
'I think that the sailors are really enjoying themselves and making the most of the situation, even if they have to stay on their toes,' confided Jean-Claude Maltais, Race Director. 'They are happy to race as you would during a one or two day event, prior to the grand crossing. They know they’re not going to sleep very much over the first few miles. They are performing a lot of manœuvres and I think that the largest crews have an advantage. Whatever happens there are no surprises: the start of the race is proving to be highly tactical.' One thing for sure is that everybody is relishing making headway to the rhythm of the enchanting Quebec landscape…
 | Imagine Photo: Xavier Dachez / VIQ ® - Transat Quebec St Malo - Xavier Dachez_- VIQ © |
Quotes from the boats (messages received from the crews)
François Angoulvant (Fermiers de Loué-Sarthe): the Saint Lawrence conveyor belt
'You must have noticed that the start and the first twelve hours were rather calm! I don’t know what strategy the other boats were using, but we ourselves wanted to follow the north bank of the river… but we ended up to the south, carried along by the Saint Lawrence conveyor belt! Some breeze kicked back in this morning: NE 20 knots. It’s not warm: 13°C air temperature, 8.8°C water temperature. It’s a far cry from yesterday! Since the middle of the night, we have been playing with Groupe Partouche (Christophe Coatnan)…'
François Scheeck (Khat 7): Brrr…
'All’s well aboard in this fine month of July in full foulies, hat, gloves and three fleeces: a great holiday! The panoramas are fabulous when you get to see something. Aboard: one of our crew has a nasty cold but we’re taking care of him…'
Miranda Merron (40 Degrees): Some spectacular landscape
'We had some very varied conditions during the first night: from 0 to 17 knots from various directions. We even wondered at times if we were going to get through with the tide, particular as we rounded Saint Roch… We made it though, despite a thick fog! Right now we have glorious sunshine. We’re savouring the spectacular landscape of the north coast… though admittedly we don’t want to spend too long here!'
 | Crepes_Whaou Photo: Xavier Dachez / VIQ ® - Transat Quebec St Malo - Xavier Dachez_- VIQ © |
www.quebecsaintmalo.com
by Event media
8:40 PM Mon 21 Jul 2008 GMT
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