Oman Air-Musandam team ready to pace themselves during the TJV
by Oman Sail 1 Oct 2013 22:20 BST
1 October 2013
Oman Air-Musandam wins the MOCRA multihull class in the Rolex Fastnet Race 2013 © Mark Lloyd /
www.lloydimages.com
With little over a month to the start of the 20th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre from France to Brasil, the Oman Air-Musandam MOD70 team have just finished a second three-day training session in Port La Foret in France.
The last training session before the start served as a benchmark for Oman Air-Musandam co-skippers Sidney Gavignet (FRA) and Damian Foxall (IRL) to measure their progress, despite light airs on day two ruling out any training or racing against the other two trimarans Virbac Paprec 70 and Edmond de Rothschild.
By the start of the 5,450 nautical mile race which leaves Le Havre on Sunday 3 November, the three MOD70 teams will have a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses and already, Gavignet and Foxall are making plans as to how they can stay ahead in what will be a very tight contest.
"Things will be very tight between the three boats at the start," said the 42 year-old French skipper.
"No one boat will have the advantage. The key to winning the race to Itajaii in Brasil is not to make any mistakes. When the boats are so even, it is not about being better, it is about making as few mistakes as possible. A navigation or boat handling error could prove costly in such a small fleet so it will be important to stay with the other boats all the way unless we are very, very sure that there is something to be gained by going elsewhere."
Emphasis was on improving technical skills, assigning all the important roles and understanding the impact fatigue has on performance at the Finistere based offshore training centre at Port La Foret:
"Sailing in light winds on short courses doesn't really compare to the Transat Jacques Vabre, but it was a good session because we were able to measure our progress from our last training exercise there," Gavignet said.
"We went sailing offshore in 25-30 knots and spent the night at sea in big waves upwind and in the morning we met up with Virbac and did a coastal race. We didn't beat them because we made a mistake in our sail choice, but it was an important mistake to make, we were tired and our minds were not where they should have been. That is what we identified as the biggest and most important challenge of this race – to pace ourselves and keep a clear mind otherwise we will make mistakes. That is what we need to focus on."
The next step for Gavignet and Foxall is to meet up with Oman Air-Musandam navigator Jean Francois Cuzon and their weather routers to organise the communication between him and the boat for the duration of the race, which is likely to be 14 days, weather permitting.
Assistance with routing has only been allowed in certain designated classes previously in the Transat Jacques Vabre with most skippers doing their own routing on the race track so both Gavignet and Foxall are looking forward to having outside help from Cuzon and his team.
"It adds a whole new aspect to the race," Foxall said. "It will make time for us to do our jobs on the boat better. We will have someone following the positions of the other boats, what they are doing, what kinds of conditions we can expect and the stability of the wind which will allow us to push the boat harder.
"We are going to be very reliant on our routing team to be competitive because all the other teams will have the same sort of resources. A large part of the result will be defined by the success of the routing teams and how they work with their boats on the race course."
Like Gavignet, Foxall is happy with the preparations on Oman Air-Musandam and is looking forward to getting the racing underway. "After the Fastnet Race, we knew we had quite a lot of work to do to get ready and we knew we would never have enough time," said Ireland's leading offshore sailor.
"But in the time we have had we have prepared really well. We have learned a lot about how we will sail together and how demanding it is to sail these boats two-handed. It is easy to make monumental errors so we have to be very careful if we want to win. We are both very keen to sail hard and work hard but we need to pace ourselves. I am really looking forward to getting on the race course."
The 20th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre starts from Le Havre on 3 November but to ensure all classes arrive in Brasil at around the same time, the MOD70s will race just 40 miles in a prologue to decide the starting sequence when they start again on 8 November.
Transat Jacques Vabre schedule in Le Havre:
- 25 October: 1200 deadline for boats to arrive in Le Havre
- 26-27 October: Beneteau 7.5 exhibition racing
- 30 October: "Discover Oman" exhibition pavilion opens to the public
- 31 October: Oman Air-Musandam press event
- 1 November: Official Transat Jacques Vabre evening
- 3 November: 0830-1100 boats leave the dock / 1302 Start
- 5 November: 1302 Multi50 Start
- 8 November: 1302 MOD70 Start
Oman Air-Musandam crew profiles
Sidney Gavignet (FRA) skipper
A highly respected French offshore sailor with multiple Volvo Ocean Race and America's Cup campaigns to his name, Sidney joined the pioneering Oman Sail project in 2010 as skipper of the 105ft trimaran, Oman Air-Majan, on which he broke the Round Britain and Ireland record. In 2011 he joined the Oman Air Extreme 40 team before switching his focus to the MOD70 project for 2012. He led the team for the 2012 MOD70 European Tour and returned as skipper in 2013. Sidney has raced around the world four times, sailed across the Atlantic 20 times, raced three double-handed transatlantic races and two Solitaire du Figaros, among others.
Damian Foxall (IRL) co skipper
Damian is one of the world's greatest offshore sailors and Ireland's most accomplished yachtsman. He is a Volvo Ocean Race veteran in his own right with four campaigns behind him, including the recent Groupama victory in 2011/12. He won the Barcelona World Race in 2007/08, was a member of the K-Challenge America's Cup team in 2004 and has raced the Solitaire du Figaro. He has been sailing the MOD70 Oman Air-Musandam since the Around Europe Route des Princes in June.
Sidney and Damian last raced together double-handed in the 1998 Transat AG2R.