Transat J V- Interview with Safran's Guillemot/Caudrelier Benac

by Safran Sailing Team on 9 Oct 2009
With one month to go to the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, which begins on 8th November the Safran duo of Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier Benac talk about their preparation and the distinctive features of this race between Le Havre and Costa Rica and answer a few questions.

Safran: With one month to go to the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, how far have you got in your preparation?
Marc Guillemot: 'I'm currently at a double-handed sailing training course with Charles at the French Training Centre ‘Finistère Course Au Large’ in Port-la-Forêt. Aboard Safran, we're doing battle with some other favourites (Foncia, Brit Air, Akena Vérandas, Artemis, etc, editor) during some short training races, where we just go out for the day. In short, we're taking notes and making some fine adjustments. There will always be some little details to improve upon right up to the last moment, as in any top-class sport like this, you have to aim for perfection. But we're ready: the new sails have been tested and the autopilots adjusted. The boat will be in double-handed transatlantic mode by the end of the week with all the equipment on board. In other words, everything is going smoothly. We shall be attempting to get in as much sailing as possible with Charles before the start, and spend a few nights at sea as well as working on the weather…'

Charles Caudrelier Benac: 'When you have an exceptional boat like Safran, you can really get the speed up, feel very relaxed and focus on the details. In the last Transat Jacques Vabre, in 2007, we had only sailed for a month and there were a lot of things left to do: my job list was full every evening… Today, Safran has two years of sailing behind her. We have the boat required to do a good job, so it is down to us to focus on what we're doing.'

Safran: What do you think about this new course to Puerto Limon in Costa Rica?
Marc Guillemot: 'It is a bit longer. Around 400 miles more. And it's going to be very interesting, when you see that the first mark on the course is the Dominican Republic, which we have to leave to starboard. So it's right across the other side of the Atlantic. That means that there are countless options. The number of strategic choices is huge and the final part of the race between the Antilles and Costa Rica looks like being tricky and certainly makes up for no longer having the difficulty of the Doldrums, in my opinion.'

Charles Caudrelier Benac: 'For me, this is the perfect Atlantic crossing from east to west, a bit like the transatlantic race from Plymouth. It is very different from the other races, where you first need to dive south and where you very often encounter the same thing once you have passed Madeira. This time, we can look forward to meeting up with weather systems moving from west to east at this time of year, before tackling as best we can, the influence of two high-pressure areas, one over the Azores and one over Bermuda. Personally, the race is going to be much more based on strategy and that is what makes this course interesting.'

Safran: Another new feature this year is that routing is not allowed. How do you
feel about that?
Marc Guillemot: 'I think that's great! This will force the crews to really think things through, without waiting for anything to be sent to them from ashore. This is a different way of sailing, analysing things for yourself. To be honest, that makes the competition that much more interesting. I like the fact that you can be helped by routers before the start, but for me, when you're at sea, it's really important to be able to analyse all the data you can get by yourself, interpret the information and determine your own route based on that.'

Charles Caudrelier Benac: 'I completely agree with Marco. When you have sailed around the world single-handed without assistance, you should be able to get by when sailing double-handed across the Atlantic. Our boats are safe: you turn on the autopilot and you have time to think things through. I wouldn't say the same is true of multihulls, where routing is an important safety consideration. I like acting as a router for other boats, when I'm ashore. It's a very interesting job, but at sea, I think it is just as nice to be without assistance. A well-rounded sailor must know how to find his way by himself.'

Safran: Before the start, you'll be working on the weather with Sylvain Mondon from Météo France?
Marc Guillemot: 'Yes, he'll be spending a couple of days with us and we'll have another day with Jean-Yves Bernot at the Training Centre. It's always great to talk things through and prepare ourselves for what we are likely to face. The routers offer us precious help in this preparation, particularly when gathering data before the start.'

Charles Caudrelier Benac: 'In particular, Sylvain will be going through the final quarter of the course with us, the section between the Antilles and Costa Rica. While we all have a lot of experience of transatlantic sailing under our belts and we know the way and the weather patterns to the Antilles, very few of us know what the final miles are going to be like. And this is going to be important. It may all be decided in that stretch, that final quarter of the course, which represents a huge distance. There are massive differences in the temperature, the influence of the land and even of the Pacific… in short, it may be fairly complicated and we shall certainly be spending more time working on that with Sylvain than on the start of the Atlantic crossing.'

Mark and Charles, accomplices and crew are ready for the Transat Jacques Vabre. By the start, there are some minor details still to be refined, but the key is already there to achieve their goal: 'to do better than second' said Marc Guillemot.