MOD 70 Krys Ocean Race from New York to Brest - Update
by Multi One Design 11 Jul 2012 23:57 BST
7-13 July 2012
Approaching the tip of Britain the three leaders chose to hide. The rules of the KRYS OCEAN RACE offer the teams the chance to disappear from the world for nine hours.
In the middle of this afternoon, the constant transatlantic leader Spindrift racing, with less
than 500 miles to the Scillies and two ‘ghosts’ in pursuit some 60 miles behind, also chose to disappear.
The finish of the race off the Petit Minou light is expected at the end of the afternoon Thursday, with a huge welcome into the heart of the Tonnerres de Brest maritime festival, amidst a winners cavalcade Friday at 1500hrs (local time).
Great minds think alike? In the case of the KRYS OCEAN RACE leaders, as they count down the rapidly dropping miles to the finish in Brest, it is an initiative of the third placed FONCIA early this morning which has been successively followed by second placed Groupe Edmond de Rothschild and then by the transatlantic race leader Spindrift racing.
Race rules for the KRYS OCEAN RACE allow teams to have their position frozen for three successive position reports, effectively disappearing for nine hours. Consider that the boats are averaging 27 knots. Over nine hours that can offer significant scope to make a big escape.
First to play the ‘stealth’ card this morning, to try and put pressure on the second placed team they are hunting down, was Michel Desjoyeaux’s FONCIA crew. To all intents Spindrift racing was pretty much out of reach with a lead of 80 or so miles and pointing directly at the Scillies gate some 500 miles ahead.
The ‘hunted’, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, then went ‘under the radar’ three hours later. Then, finally, this afternoon so did Spindrift racing, leaving the Josse and Desjoyeaux crews to play a game of seaborne ‘pin the tail on the donkey’.
Though the joker cards were all laid, the one remaining variable was the question over how much runway the leaders would have left. Although there was a provision available to lengthen the course, race direction have decided to maintain the original course, so bringing the leaders to a finish now expected at
So on the strength of this dream weather pattern which has driven them across the Atlantic, riding one system all the way from the Labrador coast to Brittany, even flattening off the Azores high, the winning MOD70 should complete the passage in just over five days - or an average of over 25kts - an extraordinary debut for the MOD70 class.
So blessed have the conditions been that even for these 1000 miles of the race, the seas have flattened. They were described as velvet this morning by Michel Desjoyeaux, so allowing the teams to really turn up the heat on each other, intensifying their attack over the final miles. Incredibly they have made the crossing almost exclusively on starboard tack.
For Sidney Gavignet and the crew on Mussandam-Oman Sail, the smoother conditions and more routine breezes have allowed them to maximise helm time for their less experienced Omani crew, one of the fundamental points of their Oman Sail initiative.
As the winds were due to ease for the leader this afternoon Spindrift racing can expect to lose some miles to the chasing duo. Until Yann Guichard and his crew reappear on the 2200hrs (UTC) ranking, no one knows what these gains and losses will be.
Quote from FONCIA
Sebastien Col, tactician, helm, trimmer FONCIA: “It was kind of our last card to play before the Fastnet to try and hide things a bit. The main thing is to try and put some pressure on our direct competitor Groupe Edmond de Rothschild. We have less chance against the lead boat who has a pretty direct route to the Scilly Isles. These next few hours we will regain some ground on the leader but not really enough to worry him. But right now we are setting the bar higher, going a bit faster. Seb tries to control and we look for a chance to get back in contact with him.”
Update from Musandam-Oman Sail
As they tick off the miles in the KRYS OCEAN RACE towards Brest in France, the crew on Musandam-Oman Sail have rumbled across a little known but momentous fact about one of their Omani sailors.
Fahad Al Hasni has proved to be a gifted helmsman who can make their MOD70 go demonstrably faster which has come as a major and happy surprise for the rest of the crew, according to Brian Thompson.
“It has been fantastic to discover we have this talent amongst us,” said Thompson.
“Fahad has only been sailing three years but he has great control and makes the boat go fast as if he had been doing it for 30 years. He has done some helming before but not in a race situation. Fahad is also the principal trimmer on the boat and driving the boat will help his trimming. His concentration is astonishing – he can concentrate for such long periods of time.”
Finding another helmsman was good news, Thompson added since it took the pressure off the other helmsmen, mainly skipper Sidney Gavignet, Thompson and Jeff Cuzon so they could do shorter more concentrated stints on the helm.
Fahad , whose ambition is to be a professional skipper, is loving the opportunity to learn so much about trimming and helming on the MOD70.
“Trimming and helming are quite complicated tasks and it takes a long time to learn and master but I have learned a lot during my experience with the MOD s. I have learned a lot from our skipper Sidney and at most times during sailing he would ask me about certain tactics and I realized my decisions were right at many times and that makes me want to be a skipper one day.”
With just 900 miles to go to the finish, Musandam-Oman Sail is ‘like a Formula 1 car without a front wing’ Thompson said after the foil failure on their second night at sea. It meant they were unable to push the boat 100% but were still making good progress in fourth place.
“It’s been good seeing the guys become more confident in the boat over the past five days. They are improving all the time.”
Mohsin Al Busaidi, who was the first Arab to sail around the world is used to sleep deprivation and the rigours of ocean racing, said hurtling along at more than 25 knots was exhilarating though tiring.
“It is not easy going without sleep for a long time but day after day, we are getting to know the boat better and are becoming more confident. Both Fahad and I have improved a lot since the start - Fahad is a real talent – a very good helm - so we are hoping the children back home will be following our progress.
“We are not cold yet but we are wet most of the time. It is going to get cold over the next few hours as get closer to the end. I prefer to be dry but that’s fine. The food is good but I am really looking forward to a chicken biryani when I finish!”
Brian Thompson added, “Fantastic sailing on Musandam-Oman Sail; carving across the North Atlantic at near 30knots in flat seas today, we are well over half way across to Europe – only 900 miles to the Scillies. Am really loving sailing this boat, with this team. Tomorrow afternoon will be seeing the UK briefly, before turning for Brest. If we were racing onwards to the Lizard one of these MODs would easily be the fastest sub 100footer on the mythical transatlantic record course. Only Banque Populaire V, Groupama 3, Orange 2, and possibly PlayStation have ever gone faster. The weather has been almost ideal; we have been on starboard gybe since NY harbour, we were really lucky with the timing of departure. You could wait for months for weather this good; and I have indeed, waited with PlayStation 10 years ago and if it were not for the unfortunate foil breakage we would be dueling with the leading group right now. We had done more miles compared to the others at the time of the incident and felt like we were competitive with the fleet. The start was fabulous, with Musandam leading out of the harbour, a good memory! Thanks to Barry Allardice for his local knowledge! Now its off to sleep for an hour before 4 hours on the deck again.”
Update from Spindrift Racing
"It’s the final count-down !" Leo Lucet, Spindrift racing CEO and crew member no longer sees any gybe coming in the next hours. The wind is turning right on a south western angle and Spindrift racing keeps going strong on the same left float since the start. "It is a different ball game" explains Lucet, "with lighter winds, we now carry all the sails up, but the pressure comes sideways and in these situations, Spindrift racing constantly sails on one hull. We have to be more careful than ever !" With no opponents in sight, Guichard and his men have decided to sail in a virtual solo mode, not paying attention to what may happen behind them. Their only concern is the boat, keeping Spindrift racing in perfect conditions, avoid making mistakes, and stay alert for any floating obstacle that could strike her hull, or her rudder like what happened in the wee hours this morning. Fortunately nothing serious and Spindrift racing hardly slowed down. "We havent won yet" says Guichard. "Our lead is a tiny one, but we are fully confident in our speed". The fact is, Spindrift racing has constantly been faster than her opponents in similar conditions. "We’ve worked hard to achieve that" explains Lucet. "We’ve been on it 24 hours a day. We have kept a close watch not only on the boat but also on each other, switching the man at the helm whenever needed…"
