On target with a Spanish podium
W Hotels, Transat Jacques Vabre
© W Hotels / FNOB
Following an incredibly tough race, the two FNOB sailing team entries made it across the finishing line in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. This Spanish success was consolidated by Bubi Sansó’s third place finish in the competition. This is a milestone in Spanish ocean sailing, a sport that continues to gain ground in an international arena.
The 8th of November 2009 will remain in the memories of all Spain’s ocean sailing fans as a milestone. At midday, with the cold and damp of an Autumnal morning in Normandy’s Le Havre, Spanish ocean sailing took a step towards sailing history and became part of a legendary regatta: The Transat Jacques Vabre.
The boarding of the entries in Normandy, with two FNOB sailing team yachts and four Spanish skippers is an achievement that was almost unthinkable just a few months ago. Also unthinkable was the fact that all of Spain’s skippers would actually reach the finish in Puerto Limon, and furthermore that Javier “Bubi” Sansó would reach the third step on the podium. The sailor from the Spanish island of Mallorca who came fourth in 2001 and was forced to retire from the race in 2003 gained the best ever result for Spain in the nine year history of the transatlantic race.
A race at the highest level
A glance at the list of 14 crews taking on the 4,730 miles separating Le Havre from Puerto Limon revealed the crème de la crème of IMOCA sailing. Almost no one was missing from this all-star cast; Michel Desjoyeaux - Jérémie Beyou with Foncia; Vincent Riou - Arnaud Broissères, on Akena Verandas; Samantha Davies - Sidney Gavigent, on Artemis; Roland Jourdain - Jean Luc Nélias, on Veolia Environnement; Sébastien Josse - Jean François Cuzon, on BT; Marc Thiercelin - Christopher Pratt, on DCNS; Kito de Pavant - François Gabart, en el Groupe Bel; Alex Thomson - Ross Daniel, en el Hugo Boss; Marc Guillemot - Charles Caudrelier Benac, on Safran; Dee Caffari - Brian Thomson, on Aviva and Armel Le Cléac'h - Nicolas Troussel on Brit Air. A total of 14 IMOCA Open 60s guaranteeing a thrilling and highly technical race.
At the race start the pattern for the first half of the race was also set. After a couple of hours of smooth sailing, the bad weather that was to accompany the fleet for the first ten days of the competition set in. Headwinds of 30 to 40 knots and waves of four to six metres added to the ever complicated nature of a Channel crossing. The brunt of the bad weather was felt by Yves Le Blévec and Jean Le Cam’s Trimaran ‘Actual’, which capsized and was forced to abandon the race, just five hours from the start.
On the morning of November 9th, with a forecast that indicated a considerable deterioration in weather conditions, the Monohull fleet dived off into three groups. Some few yachts chose to stay as far north as possible, intending to head into the Atlantic at the best wind angle possible. The bulk of the fleet chose to stay close to the Great Circle line (the shortest route) and to avoid tactical plays so early on. A smaller third group chose to go south, a somewhat risky choice, but a calmer one. W Hotels went for the middle and 1876 stayed north. This very same day Brit Air headed for port and on Tuesday 10th November her crew officially announced their withdrawal.
Two tactical options
By the fourth day positions were emerging. A tough storm to the north of the Azores forced the skippers into the first big tactical call of the race. At the eye of this low pressure area the breeze reached 50 knots, which meant the yachts had to stay on the edge of the area. This significant meteorological circumstance occurred right on the Great Circle line (the ideal course) and the boats had to decide whether to negotiate the area from the north or the south. Eight of the entries, including an ‘invisible’ 1876, went north and five south.
The northern option was chosen by BT, Veolia Environnement, Safran, Mike Golding Yacht Racing, Aviva, Hugo Boss, Groupe Bel and 1876, the entries dominating the scoreboard during the first week of competition. To the south W Hotels, Akena Verandas, Artemis, DCNS and Foncia, the first entry to have set course south to avoid storms and to take advantage of the trades.
The worst of times
Following a relatively calm day’s run with 1876 setting a record for the run on Thursday 12th, things took a turn for the worst. Winds of 45 to 50 knots with gusts of up to 60 complicated the difficult task of the skippers, who became more concerned with their own safety and that of the boat than their positions in the competition. Only three entries: Veolia Environnement, Hugo Boss and Spain’s 1876 with Pachi Rivero and Yves Parlier had a smooth night. The tough conditions that battered the fleet forced the withdrawals of DCNS and BT from the competition.
The most favoured yachts were those who chose the route through the middle; Safran, Mike Golding Yacht Racing and Groupe Bel, in fact, the three podium entries. Initially, these boats had less breeze than those who headed west; Hugo Boss, who abandoned the race on Monday 16th, following a crash with an object on Sunday afternoon and 1876, but the these entries had more of a chance of escaping the anticyclone, coming at them from the west. Those to the far eastern side of the course had steadier breeze, but not strong enough to counter balance the distance separating them from the ideal course. The group included Foncia, Akena Verandas, Artemis and W Hotels.
Radical choice from 1876
Following the storm, by Wednesday 18th calm descended. The entrance into the trades turned the regatta into a highway, where speed ruled. Here the fastest boat, making the fewest errors would rule. It was at this point that Safran, Groupe Bel and the Mike Golding-Bubi Sansó duo began to move away from the rest of the fleet.
Only Foncia seemed to threaten the supremacy of the top three. Desjoyeaux and Beyou had the old racing adage in mind: “to finish first, first one must finish”, and the pair escaped the squalls in the area. They sailed with the boat intact, and some early and strong trades to push them forward. Had the pair received more breeze just a couple of days earlier, we’d now be writing of another lesson from the ‘Professeur’, as Desjoyeaux is known in France. Since the miraculous easterly breeze did not materialise another old saying came true: “He who makes fewer mistakes wins”.
This can also be said for Pachi Rivero and Yves Parlier who tacked west looking for fair winds in a small squall to the far north of the fleet. This radical manoeuvre meant the pair dropped four places in the rankings. They fell from fifth place to ninth until the breeze came back and pushed them back into fifth again. However, the situation left the entry somewhat misplaced at the north of the fleet, which would come back to the skippers in the final days of the race as they headed towards the Mona Passage. A windless pocket halted their progress for over a day and that it when the sailors dropped back to ninth place, that they held right up until the finish.
The Caribbean gateway
The entrance into the Caribbean Sea was the final tactical crossroads in the race. Nine boats were racing between latitudes 18N and 20N. Of these, the three leading entries: Safran, Groupe Bel and Mike Golding Yacht Racing, sailing between 400 and 600 miles to the west had more options open to them, due to the proximity of the first Antilles.
The other six in the group: Foncia, Veolia Environnement, Aviva, W Hotels with Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes, Akena Verandas and Artemis still had to gain west to avoid entering the Caribbean too far south, which would have lengthened the course by tens or even hundreds of miles, towards the course laid out for the Multihulls. The tenth placed entry 1876 with Rivero and Parlier was sailing at 32º 40’ N, some 720 miles to the north of the rest of the fleet, in an almost forced course following their exit from the fateful anticyclone that pushed them back four places.
W Hotels climbs back
In the Caribbean the boats were served 20 and 30 knots of breeze from the stern. There was no margin for error with any gybe. Each gybe, with the clock ticking, was crucial to the final standings for these IMOCA entries. Safran and Groupe Bel starred in a match race duel until the end, but no change in the final standings. Mike Golding Yacht Racing held off Foncia, some 150 miles behind.
But the real thrills were even further behind. The battle for fifth place will go down in the history of the race. First, W Hotels made an epic comeback, climbing up from ninth to fifth place. Later there was a mass dive undercover to top off the action with surprise. An unwelcome surprise came for W Hotels during the final night when the boat was caught under a cloud and rival Veolia Environnement overtook. To add to the drama a menacing Aviva and Akena Verandas were approaching.
But in the final two hours W Hotels pulled a heart-stopping move out of the bag and climbed back to fifth, passing the French entry to cross the finish line four minutes and 17 seconds ahead. This was a true climax in the 4,700 mile ocean challenge, that will remain in the memories of Spaniards for many reasons, for many years to come.
Leo Corral
Final Overall Rankings
1. SAFRAN, Marc Guillemot - Charles Caudrelier Benac. Finished 24/11/2009 at 09:52:10, in 15 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 10 seconds, average theoretical speed 12.46 knots.
2. GROUPE BEL, Kito De Pavant - François Gabart. Finished 24/11/2009 at 18:32:30, in 16 days, 04 hours, 02 minutes and 30 seconds, average theoretical speed 12.18 knots.
3. MIKE GOLDING YACHT RACING, Mike Golding - Javier Sanso. Finished 25/11/2009 at 15:59:38, in 17 days, 01 hours, 29 minutes and 38 seconds
average theoretical speed 11.54 knots.
4. FONCIA, Michel Desjoyeaux - Jérémie Beyou. Finished 25/11/2009 at 23:14:34, in 17 days, 08 hours, 44 minutes and 34 seconds, average theoretical speed 11.34 knots.
5. W HOTELSAlex Pella - Pepe Ribes. Finished 27/11/2009 at 12:41:44, in 18 days, 22 hours, 11 minutes and 44 seconds, average theoretical speed 10.41 knots.
6. VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT, Roland Jourdain - Jean Luc Nélias. Finished 27/11/2009 at 12:46:00, in 18 days, 22 hours, 16 minutes and 00 seconds, average theoretical speed 10.41 knots.
7. AKENA VERANDAS, Arnaud Boissières - Vincent Riou. Finished 27/11/2009 at 15:50:12, in 19 days, 01 hours, 20 minutes and 12 seconds, average theoretical speed 10.34 knots.
8. AVIVA, Dee Caffari - Brian Thompson. Finished 27/11/2009 at 16:17:12, in 19 days, 01 hours, 47 minutes and 12 seconds, average theoretical speed 10.33 knots.
9. 1876, Pachi Rivero- Yves Parlier. Finished 27/11/2009 at 19:07:45, in 19 days, 04 hours, 37 minutes and 45 seconds, average theoretical speed 10.26 knots.
10. ARTEMIS, Samantha Davies - Sidney Gavignet. Finished 28/11/2009 at 06:50:10, in 19 days, 16 hours, 20 minutes and 10 seconds, average theoretical speed 10.01 knots.
Withdrawals :
BRIT AIR, Armel Le Cleac'h - Nicolas Troussel.
BT, Sébastien Josse - Jean François Cuzon.
DCNS, Marc Thiercelin - Christopher Pratt.
HUGO BOSS, Alex Thomson - Ross Daniel.
