Transat Québec Saint-Malo - Taking the slow road into Saint Pierre

by Dominique Jobin on 14 Jul 2016 After rounding the mark at Percé—the final buoy of the St. Lawrence River leg of the route—the leading Multi500 boats in the Transat Québec Saint-Malo presented in collaboration with the City of Lévis have now turned their backs on the first 371 nautical miles of this intense and deliciously gruelling race of many contrasts.

With six of the key players on the Class40 fleet snapping at their keels not far behind, the multihulls turned the page overnight to a more ocean-like chapter of the race as they embarked on their crossing of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, making their way toward the Saint Pierre and Miquelon archipelago. This is a time for the crews to hit the pause button for a while between the traps in the river and the North Atlantic leg they hope will be a windy one. Desperate for a little rest, the sailors are now carrying the stress of the river leg of the race into this next phase.

Three Multi50s and six Class40 boats are now essentially battling it out side by side within each other’s sights as they make their way toward Saint Pierre, the group of French islands they’re expected to reach by tomorrow night. Racers in both classes are constantly playing musical chairs when it comes to their positions, as the two great Ultimate Class yachts—Musandam Oman Sail and Spindrift 2—prepare to cross the starting line and tear their way down the St. Lawrence at 4:00 p.m. today.

Fatigue and beef bourguignon

As the majority of the monuhull fleet—Class40s and the 50-foot mono Guadeloupe Dynamique put the river leg of the race behind them tonight, the atmosphere on board among the front-runners and the experience at the heart of the pack couldn’t be more different. The stress of sailing right alongside a rival whose crew's reputation and boat’s performance precede them is ever-present aboard the six boats that entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the lead.

From Gonzalo Botin—whose boat Tales II is capable of such great speed he’s really giving his closest rivals a run for their money—to Armel Tripon (Black Pepper Les P’tits Doudous by Moulin Roty), currently in sixth place in the leading group, it’s hard to shake the cumulative fatigue the crews are suffering after the first two days of the race that were exceptionally intense. Sailing on flat seas in an easing wind means the crews are constantly having to shift gears with stiff competition everywhere they look around. With more stable conditions forecast to move in below Newfoundland, crews will find it easier to decipher the weather reports and be able to switch to a more regular system of shifts on board.

For now, it’s all about speed, fine-tuning, and skill at the helm, not to mention positioning ahead of the conditions that are coming. While Gonzalo Botin has opted to sail the shortest route as the crow flies, Isabelle Joschke and her all-star crew of Alain Gautier and Pierre Brasseur, are keeping pace seven miles further south. Once they pass Saint Pierre, it will be time to deploy the race strategy onboard navigators have been poring over for hours.

With barely six miles separating the six leading boats after more than 400 nautical miles of racing, this Transat Québec Saint-Malo is keeping its promises for an up-close and personal race. The scenario that’s playing out among the front-runners is not unique, as it’s a similar story with the boats that are jostling for positon between seventh and twelfth place, and again from Esprit Scout (Marc Dubos) in 13th position to Stéphane Bry (Sirius) in 18th.

Multi50s clustered around Cape Breton

Pierre Antoine is pensively weighing up the situation aboard his 50-foot trimaran Olmix. He’s too far behind the trio of newer and higher-performance multihulls leading his class more than 100 miles ahead, but sailing so close to the fornt-runners in the Class40 fleet until the sailing instructions forced them to go their separate ways has been a powerful source of motivation. “The Class40s are little rockets and we’re pretty happy to be playing around with them aboard our venerable 20-year-old Olmix.” Meanwhile, just off Cape Breton at the northeast tip of Nova Scotia, fewer than 170 miles from Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Gilles Lamiré (France Tech Rennes St-Malo) and Lalou Roucayrol (Arkema) are still barely floats apart. Thierry Bouchard (Ciela Village) is sneaking up 2.3 miles downwind of them, waiting for the right opportunity to steamroller his two rivals with the slightest north-north-easterly gust.

Here’s what the competitors had to say:

Isabelle Joschke, Generali Horizon Mixité

“Things are going pretty well for us, it’s a real sparring match with our buddies. We came out of the St. Lawrence in a strong position, but fatigue is the price we had to pay. There were plenty of surprises and twists and turns, just as we were expecting. The sailing has been great, with lots of sequencing manoeuvres, but also some complex weather to deal with. We’re coming out of Percé in the lead, but we still have eye-ball on three other boats. The wind is dropping in the Gulf, but we’re still going to be able to breathe a little. We’re taking turns in the bunk and we’re aiming to stay in the lead. I’ll remember this trip down the St. Lawrence fondly. We had some great times, and let’s not talk about the other ones!”

Pierre Antoine, Olmix

“We’ve been sailing alongside the Class40s since the start. Sometimes they’ll pull ahead, and other times we’ll overtake them again. For our venerable wooden boat that’s more than 20 years old, that’s quite the compliment. These new-generation Class40s are little rockets. We’re pretty happy at this point as we put the St. Lawrence behind us. We played the currents well and didn’t really get stuck at all. The scenery was breathtaking, especially the sunrises. Now we’re making the most of this opportunity to rest up and get ready for the stronger wind after Saint Pierre.”

Phil Sharp, Imerys

“The St. Lawrence lived up to her reputation and was totally unpredictable. The Grib files aren’t reliable there. You really have to be an opportunist to exploit every little vein and work the current. That demands all hands on deck for manoeuvres and changing sails, you name it. We’ve really been thrashing the boat as well to try and stay ahead. We’re really tired, but we’re all getting on famously here on board. We’re expecting there to be less wind today.”

François Lassort, Montres Michel Herbelin

“We’re happy with how we’re sailing. The St. Lawrence didn’t give us too much hassle, and all told we only had to drop anchor for an hour or so the first night to avoid drifting backwards. We’re rubbing shoulders in the race with boats that are newer than ours, and that’s pretty exciting. We’re hoping to score some wind in the Atlantic to do the Saint Pierre to Saint-Malo leg in eight or nine days. The atmosphere on board is great and the food is fantastic; we’re feasting on beef bourguignon and chicken, just to give you an idea.”

Karine Fauconnier, Arkema

“We saw the moon rising orange on one side, and the Northern Lights over the Gaspé Peniinsula to the other. Now the river is opening up into the Gulf and we can breathe a little. We know the route has plenty in store for us, taking us to visit some magical, legendary places—the bay of Gaspé, Percé Rock, and the Magdalen Islands—but above all some windless times ahead. Our lead is melting away with every one of these close marks we have to round while the winds flirts with us just offshore, and we have to start all over again. It’s like an accordion effect.

The bay of Gaspé will stay in our minds for a long time, with whales and seals swimming all around us as we beated our way in. They were blowing less than thirty feet away from the boat. Fortunately, we weren’t sailing too fast. The Percé Rock reminds me of the cliffs at Etretat. It’s very picturesque, so long as you don’t stick around. We got stuck there and our rivals ended up catching us, then we all set off again together. Now we’re all sailing in sight of one another. French Tech Rennes St-Malo barreled on through and Ciela Village is really comfortable in lighter airs like these. The crew isn’t missing a beat, and energy and tenacity are the name of the game here. Every little bit of fine-tuning counts as we hope to pull back into the lead. In any case, it’s a hotly contested race, so much the better.”

All programming information and details on registered crews can be found online at website.