;;49er;;ABN AMRO 2;;Abu Dhabi Yacht Show;;Accastillage Diffusion;;AEZ RC 44 Sailing Team;;Alain Gautier;;Alberto Barovier;;ALEPH;;Aleph;;Alex Pella;;Alex Thomson;;Alinghi;;Alliaura;;Alphena Yachts;;Amel;;America's Cup;;America’s Cup;;Andrew Meiklejohn;;Anna Corbella;;Antonio Piris;;ARC;;Archambault;;Armand Coursodon;;Armel Le Cléac’h;;Artemis Racing;;B&G;;Banque Populaire;;Barcelona World Race;;Bayliner;;Ben Wright;;Bénéteau;;Benjamin Chandelier;;Bernard Stamm;;Bertrand Pacé;;BMW ORACLE;;BMW ORACLE Racing;;Bol d'Or;;Bol d’Or;;Bombard;;Boot Düsseldorf;;Bordeaux 60;;Boris Herrmann;;Boston Whaler;;Brad Marsh;;Bruno Cathelinais;;Bruno Garcia;;Bruno Troublé;;Cali Sanmartí;;Cameron Appleton;;Ceeref;;Central Lechera Asturiana;;CER;;Challenge Julius Baer;;Championnat de France de Course au large en solitaire;;Charles Caudrelier;;Chris Bake;;Christian Binder;;Classe 40;;Corum;;Coupe de l'America;;D35;;Damian Foxall;;Daniel Calero;;David Murphy;;Dean Barker;;Décision 35;;Dee Caffari;;Des Top News;;Django;;Dominique Wavre;;Ellen MacArthur;;Emirates Team New Zealand;;Energy Team;;Eric Tabarly;;Ericsson 3;;Ericsson 4;;Ernesto Bertarelli;;Erwan Israël;;Estrella Damm;;Estrella Damm Sailing Team;;Evgeniy Neugodnikov;;Extreme 40;;Extreme Sailing Series;;Facnor;;Farr 40;;Fédération des Industries Nautiques;;Fédération Française de Voile;;FFV;;Figaro Bénéteau;;Finot/Conq;;Foncia;;Fòrum Marítim Català;;Fountaine-Pajot;;FourWinns;;Fran Palacio;;Francesco Bruni;;Franck Cammas;;François Gabart;;French Match Racing Team;;French Olympic Sailing Team;;French Sailing Federation;;GAES Centros Auditivos;;Generali Solo;;Gérard d'Aboville;;Gerard Marín;;Gitana;;Golden Gate Yacht Club;;Grand Surprise;;Green Dragon;;Groupama 3;;Groupama 4;;Groupama 70;;Groupama Sailing Team;;Groupe Bel;;Groupe Edmond de Rothschild;;Guennadi Timtchenko;;Guy Cotten;;Hallberg Rassy;;Harken;;Harm Müller-Spreer;;Henry Lloyd;;Hervé Le Quilliec;;Hugo Boss;;Ian Williams;;Igor Lah;;Iker Martínez;;iker-xabi.com;;Ikone;;Imoca;;Inaki Castaner;;International Superyacht Coatings Conference;;Ironbound;;ISAF;;Islas Canarias Puerto Calero;;IWC Schaffhausen;;J Boats;;Jacques Caraës;;James Spithill;;Jaume Mumbrú;;Jean Le Cam;;Jean-François Fountaine;;Jean-Luc Nélias;;Jean-Pierre Champion;;Jean-Pierre Dick;;Jeanneau;;Jérémie Beyou;;John Bassadone;;Jose Maria Ponce;;Juan Merediz;;Juan Vila;;Justine Mettraux;;Katusha;;Kito de Pavant;;Kris Owczarek;;Lagoon;;Larry Ellison;;Laurent Pagès;;Loïc Dorez;;Loïck Peyron;;Louis Vuitton;;Louis Vuitton Trophy;;Luc Gellusseau;;Ludovic Aglaor;;Luna Ross;;Luna Rossa;;Macif Centre de Voile;;Maffioli;;Mapfre;;Marc Guillemot;;Marcel Van Triest;;Marinepool;;Mark Turner;;Markus Wieser;;Martin Krite;;Martin Strömberg;;Mascalzone;;Mascalzone Latino;;Max Sirena;;Maxi Banque Populaire V;;Maxim Logutenko;;MedCup;;Michel Desjoyaux;;Michel Desjoyeaux;;Michèle Paret;;Mini Fastnet;;Mirabaud;;Mirabaud LX;;MOD 70;;MOD70;;Monaco Yacht Show;;Multi One Attitude;;Multi One Design;;Muscat;;Nautic;;Nautitech;;Navicom;;Neutrogena;;Nils Frei;;NKE;;No Way Back;;North Sails;;OC ThirdPole;;Okalys-Corum;;Olivier Mainguy;;Oman Air;;Oman Air Masirah;;OMEGA;;ORC;;ORMA;;Pachi Rivero;;Pascal Bidégorry;;Paul Campbell-James;;Paul Cayard;;Peninsula Petroleum;;Pepe Ribes;;Phil Harmer;;Philippe Poupon;;Pierre Barbleu;;Pierre Rolland;;Pierre Tissier;;Pieter Heerema;;PlanetSolar;;Prince de Bretagne;;Prix Bateau bleu;;Ray Davies;;RC 44;;Red Bull Extreme Sailing;;Rémi Duchemin;;Renault;;René Mangold;;Rod Davis;;Roland Jourdain;;Roland Jourdin;;Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race;;Roman Hagara;;Route du Rhum;;Russell Coutts;;Ryan Breymaier;;Salon Nautique de Paris;;Salon Nautique International de Paris;;Samantha Davies;;Sea Ray;;Sébastien Audigane;;Sébastien Josse;;Sébastien Marsset;;Seldén;;Sidney Gavignet;;Singapore Yacht Show;;SNG;;Société Nautique de Genève;;Société Pen Duick;;Sodebo;;Solitaire du Figaro;;Solo Figaro Massif Marine;;Stéphane Guilbaud;;Stève Ravussin;;SuisseNautic;;Swiss Sailing;;SwissTech;;Synergy Russian Sailing Team;;Syz & Co;;Tanguy Cariou;;Team Aqua;;Team Australia;;Team Extreme;;Team GAC Pindar;;Team New Zealand;;Team Nice;;Team Sea Dubai;;TeamWork;;Terry Hutchinson;;The Artemis Challenge;;The Transat;;The Wave;;The Wave, Muscat;;Thomas Coville;;Thomas Ruyant;;Torbjorn Tornqvist;;Torvar Mirsky;;Tour de Belle-Ile;;Tour de France;;Transat AG2R;;Transat Cornouaille-Martinique;;Transat Jacques Vabre;;Trophée Jules Verne;;Vendée Globe;;Veolia Environnement;;Vincent Lauriot-Prevost;;Vincenzo Onorato;;Virbac Paprec;;Virbac-Paprec;;Voiles de Saint Barth;;Volvo Ocean Race;;VPLP;;Vulcain Trophy;;Watt and Sea;;We Are Water;;Whitbread;;William Douglass;;World Match Racing Tour;;World Yacht Racing Forum;;X-Yachts;;Xabi Fernández;;Yacht 17;;Yacht Club de Genève;;Yacht Racing Design and Technology Symposium;;Yann Eliès;;Yann Guichard;;Yann Riou;;Yannick Bestaven;;Yves Detrey;;Yves Parlier;;Zodiac

On this subject

Armel Le Cléac’h, Bernard Stamm, François Gabart, Jean-Pierre Dick, Kito de Pavant

Europa Warm’Up

Back to zero ?

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Francois Gabart took a slender lead on Leg 2 of the Europa Warm’Up race this Monday afternoon on Macif as leader Jean Pierre Dick, the winner of the first stage slipped some miles against the new leading trio.

Early this morning Dick was up ahead by 13 miles or so but he has been swallowed back into the pack, 3 miles behind Macif.

JP would be forgiven for thinking he had done the hard bit, escaping first from the high pressure ridge first between Sunday and today, but in solo ocean racing skippers never have far to look for problems or setbacks.

Indeed if the seven solo skippers had thought Leg 1 had been the nerve shredder and Leg 2 might promise some more straightforward strategic choices, then this passage from Cascais to La Rochelle, taking in the Azores and the Fastnet promises to test patience and stamina as much as guile and drive.

It seems from the afternoon and evening position polls that the two leaders might have eased off the accelerator a little.

Small technical issues have already contributed to slow periods for other skippers, as well as the light winds of the ridge. But no matter who is saying what – or holding their counsel – it is obvious there has been something of a restart with five of the seven boats back within 5 miles of each other after 24 hours or so of racing since leaving Cascais, Sunday afternoon.

And with the five all closed together then monitoring just who is sailing to potential, to their expected polars, will reveal more to each other about which skippers might already be harbouring damage or problems of any kind. Vincent Riou (PRB), Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire) as well as Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) might hope their opportunities now come to attack the leaders. Even Kito de Pavant on Groupe Bel might will likely consider that his 20 miles deficit can be reduced.

Of course the mental mind games of solo ocean racing are part of the contest. Hiding or disguising any little handicap, a small technical issue is to appear strong to the opponents. Who can forget the collection of little problems that Michel Desjoyeaux hid until he finished his extraordinary come from behind victory in the last Vendée Globe?

This early in a race which is essentially of Transatlantic distance and duration, cards are played extremely tightly to the chest..

Meanwhile, the fleet continues to move towards the Azores islands’ Santa Maria. It is of course well known to the soloists and Transat Jacques Vabre racers not just for being a milestone en route, but it the island chain can offer some nasty wind shadows, not least the effect of Mount Pico which at 590 metres is Portugal’s highest mountain rising sharply from the dark lava of the volcanic island.

They said:

Vincent Riou (PRB): “I have just changed the genoa to the solent. If there is a maneuver which is knackering it’s this one. The wind has just gone up to 17-18 knots and it’s pretty wet on deck. We are close to Armel (Le Cléac’h) and it’s always nice to have someone to guage yourself against. I don’t really feel like I have had to adapt to the rhythm of solo sailing. But now we have had almost three weeks at sea, so I am into this pace easily.”

Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire): “All is well, it’s fine. I sail alongside Vincent… with a few clouds were looming on the horizon that should see the wind backing to the west. Every time I passed the Azores, it was at night. One day I’ll go there for a cruise. Apparently it is beautiful, but whenever I have been there it’s been dark!”