La Transat Paprec

[KevinS]

Saturday update from the race website:

SUNDAY LUNCH AT THE CANARIES MARK?​

The eleven duos competing on the 16th edition of the Transat Paprec were finally able to build more speed last night. Under spinnakers and reaching since the beginning of the night, this morning the leading pack were rumbling along at 14 knots. Nearly twice the speeds of yesterday. After being lined up yesterday there is now a little more lateral separation, not least between the leading pair Skipper MACIF and Région Bretagne – CMB Océane. And according to Yann Chateau, the fleet may well now be under spinnaker all the way to Saint-Barthélemy
The mixed doubles duos are sailing in 15-18 knots of northwesterly wind with a fairly long westerly swell which will drop away a little as Day 6 progresses. "The wind will continue to shift to the right lifting them," says Yann Chateau. "After Madeira it may be small spis in the brisker breeze but it will be VMG downwind to the turning mark at La Palma island and so there will be a few key gybes, looking to stay with the best angle and wind pressure They should arrive tomorrow in the early afternoon, or even tomorrow noon according to the routings." says Chateau

 

[KevinS]

The positions as of 12:03 SBH time

 

[KevinS]

Two updates from the Transst Paprec website today:

MADEIRA TODAY, THE CANARIES TURN SUNDAY.​

The leaders of the Transat Paprec are set to tick off two key landmarks this weekend, passing Madeira today Saturday and due to round the Canary Islands turning mark northwest of the tiny island of La Palma on Sunday.
Loïs Berrehar and Charlotte Yven (Skipper MACIF) are still leading the fleet and the first six are now strung out over 12 miles. But there are variations in speeds noted and the gaps do grow and shrink, not least as atigue is really starting to set in after six days of racing.
Nothing is ever easy on board the Figaro BENETEAU 3s especially on a transatlantic race and particularly on these wet and uncomfortable boats. The bonus for the mixed doubles duos is that they have been making faster progress since yesterday afternoon when they could set spinnakers. And under spinnaker a spell on agood period of gusty tradewinds breeze can easily translate to small gains. Chain together a series of gains and that might amount to half a mile or so in a day.
The fleet left Concarneau last Sunday lunchtime and while they have not had any big blows, nor long calms, the rhythm of is relentless and exhausting.

“We are very tired this morning”, reported Chloé Le Bars who is 9th with Hugo Dhalenne aboard Région Bretagne – CMB Océane, some 33.5 miles behind the leaders Berrehar and Yven who are less than a mile up on second placed Corentin Horeau and Pauline Courtois (Mutuelle Bleu). "We had trouble deciding the right time to set the spinnaker, we launched it three times before it really was the right time".
“We are already nearly up to the first week at sea and that is significant”, underlines Francis Le Goff, the race director. "It's hard to comprehend how exhausting it is. The skippers are really feeling the constant, repeated efforts, even just deciding when to and setting the kite is tiring and then trimming it adds a new physical dimension to the work load. And in effect the leading duos are those that have the greatest capacity to maintain the same speed for the longest time”.
Now all eyes are on La Palma and how to manage the passage of this essential 'waypoint' this Sunday before heading west. "We are starting to prepare our strategy", explained Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne CMB - Performance).

BIG MOVES WITH LA PALMA ON THE HORIZON​

At just a few hours less than one week after leaving Concarneau the Transat Paprec fleet is less than 80 miles from the La Palma waypoint, which they should get to early afternoon this Sunday. The leading peloton has compacted over recent hours and this morning there is less than 7 miles between the top 6 – and the big moves have begun. And there seems to be the potential for a change of leader. Région Normandie (Guillaume Pirouelle-Sophie Faguet) appeared to be narrowly ahead.
"Before last night it was the same route, the same course, same regime for everyone," says Francis Le Goff, the Race Director. “Now they are setting up for the waypoint at La Palma and that requires constant trimming and monitoring of the angles and speeds of the rivals to stay with the group.”
Guillaume Pirouelle and Sophie Faguet (Région Normandie) were 0.7 miles ahead of Loïs Berrehar and Charlotte Yven (Skipper Macif) and 1.7 miles ahead of Corentin Horeau and Pauline Courtois (Mutuelle Bleue) and as many Gaston Morvan and Anne-Claire Le Berre (Region Brittany – CMB Performance
The gybing matches are expected to go on until the mark at least "Mentally, it's good for the skippers," assures Le Goff. “Before this on the long starboard tack there was nothing more to do than keep fast. Now every gust of wind can be an opportunity to gain time on their opponents”.
And there will be an increasing advantage to the lead duos, “They know that the wind strengthens quite strongly at the islands. It's going to be gusty and shifty but there can be a lot of wind. They might see gusts of over 30kts.” Highlights the Race Director

 

[KevinS]

Standings as of 07:00 SBH time:

 

[amyb]

yes, moving up once again. Long long way to go yet.

Aside..TWO PHIL’S did not win the KENTUCKY DERBY yesterday. How could I not pick that horse?

 

[KevinS]

Two updates from the Transat Paprec website:

FAST, FRENETIC NIGHT FOR LEADERS IN GUSTY BREEZE KEEP THE PRESSURE ON​

After a prudent passage of the La Palma waypoint at the Canary Islands Sunday the leading duos on the Transat Paprec have gybed for stronger winds and a more profitable, faster angle. And in the process leaders Skipper MACIF (Loïs Berrehar/Charlotte Yven) have extended slightly to be 2.9 miles ahead of Région Normandie (Guillaume Pirouelle/Sophie Faguet) and some 7, 3 miles up on third placed Mutuelle Bleue (Corentin Horeau/Pauline Courtois) in the 08:00 ranking.
And after the excitement of the waypoint passage at almost exactly one week into the race from Concarneau to Saint Barth’s the peloton were kept very busy overnight as the strong winds came in as forecast. With winds gusting up to 40kts, speeds rocketed and there was a little damage. Groupe Hélios – Du Léman à l’Océan have been forced to pitstop in the Canaries after sustaining sail damage.
"The leading group showed good control by continuing to press hard, racing at the highest level in this very strong wind, especially when you see the number of gybes they made during the day to get down to the waypoint.” observes Race Director Francis Le Goff.
Behind the pacemakers the fleet has stretched a little and Édouard Golbery and Alicia de Pfyffer, ex Superyacht crew who have embarked on mixed duo racing, are now 150 miles behind the leaders. The top group have winds of 22-25kts this morning and were averaging 12kts.

RELIEF AFTER TOUGHEST 24 HOURS​

The last 24 hours have been the toughest yet for the mixed doubles pairs on the Transat Paprec. After passing the Canary Islands waypoint Sunday lunchtime, the breeze freshened and the leaders experienced a fast, furious night in winds over 30 kts, surfing at up to 20kts at times on the Figaro BENETEAU 3s, averaging 14 to 15 kts for a sustained period.

Teams which had problems include Ageas - Ballay-Cerfrance - Baie de Saint-Brieuc (Mael Garnier/Julie Courtois) who lost their spinnaker tackline, while the duo from Groupe Hélios – Du Léman à l'Océan (Arnaud Machado/Lucie Quéruel) have had to make a sustained stopover in La Palma due to extensive sail damage. Meanwhile leaders Lois Berrehar and Charlotte Yven on Skipper MACIF have strengthened their margin to just over 4 nautical miles as they leaders head nearly due west pointing at the Caribbean.

Whilst at home in France and other parts of Europe it has been a Bank Holiday, there has been no possibility of downtime for the Transat Paprec fleet. But today as the winds eased there has been time recuperate a little and regroup after a boisterous Sunday evening and night.

“We had 24 very lively hours,” admits Anne-Claire Le Berre (Region Bretagne – CMB Performance).
The controlled, steady regime of the first week since leaving Concarneau - trim, steer, eat, trim, steer, sleep, eat – was suddenly shattered Sunday afternoon and night into Monday with gusty winds and fast downwind rides. On top of that the lack of sleep meant layer upon layer of gnawing fatigue. Some had prepared for the sudden onslaught of wind and did better, but all the skippers spoken to Monday reported extreme tiredness and were taking every opportunity to catch up on rest.

But at the same time there is a renewed fight among the leaders, as the close rounding times at La Palma highlighted how tight the contest is, just 12 minutes between the top four after a week of racing, one hour and 14 minutes spanning the top eight.

"It was nice to see all the boats," today chuckled Le Berre who was previously Sam Davies’ technical manager on the British skipper’s IMOCA, “It felt like a fresh start. But then with the big swell and speeds you do start to worry about breaking things.”

On Ageas - Ballay - Cerfrance - Baie de Saint-Brieuc the spinnaker tackline broke and Mael Garnier and Julie Courtois were forced to slow and work on the bow and the sprit end in the big waves to recover the situation but not before they tore their kite.

They admitted today to feeling lucky to be still racing. Meanwhile there is positive news of Lucie Queruel and Arnaud Machado who pulled into La Palma with sail damage. It is understood the duo from Groupe Hélios – Du Léman à l’Océan were leaving this afternoon after having done their best to repair the damaged sails with the help of two women from the remote island where there are, of course, no sailmakers.

Queruel summarised, “It is hard for morale. We broke all our sails but no matter what we will finish and we will enjoy it until the very end!”

Top five at 1700hrs BST
1 Skipper MACIF (Loïs Berrehar/Charlotte Yven) 2204.9 nms to finish
2 Région Normandie (Guillaume Pirouelle/Sophie Faguet) +4.6nms
3 Mutuellle Bleue (Corentin Horeau/Pauline Courtois) +5 nms
4 Edenred (Basile Bourgnon/Violette Dorange) +13.5 nms
5 Région Bretagne CMB Performance (Gaston Morvan/Anne Claire le Berre) +13.9 nms

 

[KevinS]

Positions as of 13:03 SBH time:

 

[KevinS]

Photos from the Transat Paprec FB page:

 

[KevinS]

An update from the Transat Paprec webpage:

NEW LEADER MAKING GAINS​

Région Bretagne CMB – Performance (Gaston Morvan/Anne-Claire Le Berre) took the lead of the Transat Paprec yesterday evening and have built themselves a margin of over ten miles already over second placed Mutuelle Bleue (Corentin Horeau/Pauline Courtois). And Arnaud Machado and Lucie Quéruel (Groupe Hélios – De Léman a l’ocean) have returned to the race course after making sail repairs in La Palma. Machado and Quérel were making 11kts this morning and their sail repairs are reported to be holding up but they are over 380 miles behind the lead group.

Morvan and Le Berre were the first to gybe south yesterday seeking the stronger trade winds and they profited visibly in the 18-20kts breeze and 2 metre following swell.

“There is more wind in the south and so Gaston and Anne Claire have put themselves in a very nice position. They are in the same piece of ocean and the same weather but they can now also cover if any of their rivals chose to dig south again, they can control the fleet for the meantime.” Highlighted Francis Le Goff, Race Director.

 

[KevinS]

Positions as of 07:03 SBH time. The lead boats are now roughly halfway from Concarneau to Gustavia:

 

[JEK]

Thanks Kevin! The North South spilt has happened!

 

[amyb]

Bretagne has played it well. Good moves.

 

[KevinS]

A few photos from the Transst Paprec IG page:

 

[KevinS]

Positions as of Noon SBH time, with 1700nm to go:

 

[KevinS]

The bigger picture:

 

[amyb]

What wonderful photos and reporting. Thank you.

 

[cec1]

Does anyone know what the sleep routines are? For example, is someone always awake? Also, I wonder what the temperature is like on the sea . . . in some photos, the sailors are covered in jackets, despite apparent sunny days.

 

[KevinS]

What wonderful photos and reporting. Thank you.

It’s all coming from La Transat Paprec.

Here’s a video update, Le Mag de La Transat. The audio is all in French, but there is some sailing video included. I love the sales on Région Normandie!

 

[KevinS]

Does anyone know what the sleep routines are? For example, is someone always awake? Also, I wonder what the temperature is like on the sea . . . in some photos, the sailors are covered in jackets, despite apparent sunny days.

In general, the sleep routine is to try and grab a few winks when you’re not on watch, but 40 winks is impossible. Someone is always on watch, even if they’re using the autopilot, and sleep can be elusive. It can be cold, wet, and surprisingly noisy out there. It can also be warm, dry, and sunny, but still noisy.

There are more YouTube videos on the Transat Paprec YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=transat+paprec

 

[cec1]

Very cool, Kevin . . . thanks for posting! The Normandie's sails -- and image on its bow -- are great! the Winged Lion of St. Mark, symbolizing, among other things, dominance over the seas.