Europa Warm'Up - Sailors prepare for Leg 2 start

by Marion Cardon on 26 May 2012 The second leg of the Europa Warm’Up will get underway tomorrow and anticipation is running high as sailors complete preparations.

The first fully-crewed leg, from Barcelona to Cascais was closed by Javier Sanso’s 100% Acciona, EcoPowered, very early this Friday morning finishing seventh into Cascais, at 01:36hrs UTC. For Sanso, the leg proved a very useful lesson as skipper Bubi Sanso prepares for the Vendée Globe with this the Owen-Clarke designed IMOCA Open 60’s first major race.

'This had to happen, it’s a stage. On this leg, we broke a lot of little bits and pieces which are mainly because the boats is new and it was our first race. We had problems with the jib furling and quite a few technical glitches that cost us. As it was too for Groupe Bel and Cheminées Poujoulat, we paid a price during the passage of Gibraltar. Otherwise I am very happy with how the battery charging system worked. We've had no problem there. Looking to the Vendee Globe, we need to improve the reliability of the boat and work on the sails. For the upcoming second leg, we have a pretty big job list.' Bubi Sanso declared shortly after his arrival this morning.

During Thursday three boats crossed the line in succession: Banque Populaire, skippered by Armel Le Cléac'h took fourth – after losing more than 70 miles on the leaders at Gibraltar - and then further behind in fifth Swiss Bernard Stamm’s new Cheminée Poujoulat and Groupe Bel, skippered by the hugely experienced Kito de Pavant. The first leg, 800 miles from the Mediterranean, through the Gilbratar Strait and up along the Portuguese coast was raced with a mix of conditions, almost all upwind, and lasted less than five and a half days. The fleet was divided by light winds and strong currents in the Strait.

Today, just off the Cascais harbour, before the start of the Europa Warm'Up second stage, six crews competed in the Chrono Cascais a series of three runs on a two-mile long sprint course. (100% ACCIONA EcoPowered didn’t take part due to the very short time left for preparing the boat) The best time was set by Banque Populaire.

Bidding their Leg 1 race crew and their shore support ‘adieu’, or possibly even ‘adeus’ , the seven IMOCA Open 60s skippers sail the longer second leg in Vendee Globe mode. They leave from Cascais tomorrow for an Atlantic triangle, considered by all as the final representative test before November’s start to the pinnacle solo race around the world.

At 1600 local time the seven skipper will leave out to face a 2,300 miles long single-handed course that will take them from Cascais to La Rochelle. The course – as long as a normal Transat but with three challenging legs passes first to Santa Maria in the Azores, the Fastnet rock and Belle Ile en Mer as marks of the course will surely represent a valuable trial run for men, boats and equipment on all point of sails.

Due to the late arrival of some of the fleet, the Race direction has opted to postpone the leg start by some hours, in order to give the teams more time to prepare, be able to complete the work on the boats and to get the latest weather files. The starting time has then been set for 1600 local time. The forecast indicates that the fleet will have to deal with a high pressure system up to the Azores, followed by stronger winds heading to the Fastnet rock and to the finish in La Rochelle.

Race director Jacques Caraës sets the scene : 'For two main reasons this stage is a good warm up, First, it's solo and the Vendée Globe is solo and second we set a course a course that is similar to the reality of deep ocean racing. In total that is pretty much the equivalent of a 2300 miles transatlantic race on a course very carefully selected, because there will be important weather transitions to play, between the Azores and the varying, unsettled wind regimes that can prevail in the Irish Sea. So the sailors must be good boat to boat tacticians, good weather analysts and make their boats go fast all the time. I think the race will be exciting. '

The fleet is expected to reach La Rochelle between June 5 and 6.

Leg 1 results:

 

Chrono Cascais times:

1 – Banque Populaire : 6mn 26s
2 – Cheminées Poujoulat : 6mn 28s
3 – PRB : 6mn 42s
4 – Virbac-Paprec 3 : 6mn 47s
5 – Groupe Bel : 6mn 49s
6 – Macif : 7mn Europa WarmUp website