Transat ECOVER-BtoB - Day 18

Eight in port

The young British skipper Samantha Davies crossed the finish line off Port la Forêt, Brittany this Monday morning at 07 hours 38 minutes 46 seconds UTC, after 17 days 17 hours 38 minutes 46 seconds of racing. Roxy thus takes seventh place in the Transat Ecover-BtoB and was followed in by Yannick Bestaven (Cervin EnR) seven hours later, shortly before 1500 UTC.

Samantha Davies waited for daybreak to complete her first solo transatlantic race on a 60 foot Imoca and makes the most of it to validate her qualification for the next Vendée Globe. The young British sailor is one of the only competitors not to have experienced any technical problems aboard the boat, which has twice won the single-handed round the world race without stopovers! However, though this return transatlantic is a prime example of how to manage both material and trajectory, it is of note that the monohull built in 2000 doesn't have the potential of the latest generation of prototypes, particularly those upwind. In addition, after the Doldrums, the chasing pack weren't able to benefit from the same climatic situation and the end of the course was considerably harder and longer. Roxy was thus forced to beat from the tip of Brittany to the Beg Meil signal station against light headwinds, which took Sam nearly a day to complete not surprisingly... Sam also opted to round to the South of the Glénan islands in order to finish at first light, making over 12 knots across the line!

And then there were eight!

Yannick Bestaven also not only qualifies for the next Vendée Globe, but also rounds off a very fine first South-North transatlantic race aboard his Imoca monohull. The ex-Aquitaine Innovations (Yves Parlier) was in a yard for a long, long time and Yannick Bestaven and his friends decided to refit it just a few months prior to the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, without the time to optimise or modify it... Thirteenth into Salvador de Bahia in the company of Ronan Guérin, the Arcachon sailor has completed a great return race in solo configuration in this Transat Ecover-BtoB by crossing the finish line three days 15 hours 44 minutes and 23 seconds after the winner Loïck Peyron. Handicapped by headsail issues, Cervin EnR had very different weather conditions from the Canaries, with light winds prior to the Azores and an E’ly headwind from the tip of Spain.

120 miles from Port la Forêt, Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) is the next solo sailor expected off the Beg Meil signal station tomorrow. Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Maisonneuve) should follow suit around ten hours later. As for Canadian Derek Hatfield (Spirit of Canada), he'll have to wait until Wednesday evening or Thursday before he can see his family again who have come all the way from Canada to see him in. British sailor Dee Caffari (Aviva) will have her Christmas on land after all, the first in seven years, and finally American, Rich Wilson (Great American III) will bring this Transat Ecover BtoB to a close, a day and a half after the Canadian, at the tail end of this week.

Arrivals in Port la Forêt:

1-Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) in 14d 09h 13' 25''
2-Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) in 14d 12h 22' 49'', 3 hours 09 minutes 24 seconds behind the winner
3-Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in 14d 13h 43' 24", 4 hours 29 minutes 59 seconds behind the winner
4-Yann Eliès (Generali) in 14d 19h 22' 02'', 10 hours 07 minutes 37 seconds behind the winner
5-Marc Guillemot (Safran) in 15d 08h 25' 44'', 23 hours 12 minutes 19 seconds behind the winner
6-Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) in 15d 16h 24'34'', 1 day 07 hours 09 minutes 09 seconds behind the winner
7-Samantha Davies (Roxy) in 17d 17h 38' 46'', 3 days 08 hours 25 minutes 21 seconds behind the winner
8-Yannick Bestaven (Cervin EnR) in 18d 00h 57' 48'', 3 days 15 hours 44 minutes 23 seconds behind the winner

Quotes from the boats:

Samantha Davies (Roxy) "It was a fine race and I was surprised during the manoeuvres as I really got into it and it was fairly easy on deck: taking out a reef before was quite a long process, but now it’s fairly smooth and I am even able to go faster. My training sessions have born fruit! As a result I am now qualified for the Vendée Globe... The last three days were hard and fortunately Yannick Bestaven was a long way back this morning: I looked at the positions and saw that I had a bit of leeway. I decided to stop tacking all the time and to go in close to the shore to take as much of a short cut as I could. I passed to the South of the Glénan islands and that way I didn’t have to tack. I simply finished off on a single tack at 12 knots... I was already tired and would have had to have shifted all the sails over to the other side of the boat again, which was just unthinkable. I’m going to go and rest and recuperate from my accumulated fatigue now. The end of the Vendée Globe will be worse, but right now, I am exhausted!

Roxy is a boat which suits me down to the ground: I am at ease and confident. I wasn’t frightened and really belted along at times. I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the Doldrums however as there was a big streak of lightning that landed just beside the boat... I had already done the qualifier for the Vendée Globe with a double crossing of the Atlantic as far as the banks of Newfoundland! I did it to get the feel for sailing in the Deep South, with snow on deck and icebergs. It was a good way to find out about the boat: the condensation, the locking system on the door that doesn’t work when you put the sheets within arms reach down below. I never took any risks and having Yannick so close, put pressure on me and forced me to give it my all.

I didn’t break anything as the boat was well prepared, but also because (and this is a girl thing!) I was careful. I am very rigorous and meticulous. Each time I’ve sailed with boys they’ve broken something... I have to be very attentive since I don’t have the physical capacity that men have. I take my time! There was never a point where I didn’t want to be on my boat…. After two transatlantic races, that’s encouraging! I’ve read two books, but I didn’t have enough for the end of the course, when I didn’t have a lot to do. The flying fish is well! I couldn’t bear to throw him overboard because he had a nice look about him… I only spoke to him once!"

Derek Hatfield (Spirit of Canada): “More downwind sailing with full mainsail and Code O. There is between 12 and 15 knots of wind and we are almost making a direct course for the finish line. My prediction is for my finish sometime late Wednesday. I’m a little tired and de-motivated today from all the hand steering effort over the last few days but the hard work has paid off as I have gained some miles on Dee and Rich.”

Dee Caffari (Aviva): “This morning I was barely moving, with the mainsail slatting from side to side and trying to inch my way past the southern most island of the Azores. Since that time there have been five sail changes and I am now surfing my way in 20 to 30 knots of wind in a big swell and every mile is heading home. The sky is clear and the half moon is lighting my way. Very different from when I last saw this amount of breeze and there was no sky to make a visual on at all. In fact, if I hadn’t of been so tired today, I think I would have appreciated what an awesome day it was to be sailing. So as not to miss out I even sat watches with my autopilot. He was never late for his watch but I must admit to being late a few times with my watch, but he never complained! To make today even better I have finally broken through the 1000 mile barrier so now I feel much better and Christmas is looking like an option again! Start warming up those mince pies...I'm on my way home!”

Rich Wilson (Great American III): “Finally out of the Azores doldrums, we have been rocketing across toward the coast with a position report average speed of 13.75 knots for the last time segment, and periodic sprints to 19 knots. Went through the inventory from reacher and full main to solent to 1st reef to staysail to 2nd reef, nearly into 3rd reef in order to gain options on heading higher as the low comes across. So, a lot of wind to come and time to slow down and ease the loads as much as possible on the equipment. Although I'll miss being home for the holidays, what could be better than Christmas and New Year's in France?”