Normandy Channel Race: Mission Tuskar for the Club of Six

Normandy Channel Race 2018 © Rick Tomlinson

Normandy Channel Race 2018 © Rick Tomlinson

Tightly bunched yesterday afternoon during the tough rounding of Land's End and its wind shadows, the head of the fleet in the Normandy Channel Race witnessed a new selection process in operation once they launched into the beat across the Celtic Sea.

This explains how Phil Sharp-Julien Pulvé (Imerys), Aina Enfance et Avenir (Chappellier-Delahaye) and then Louis Duc-Gwen Riou (Carac), with the skipper's familiar impulsive common sense, secured the 'golden ticket' for the express elevator ride up to Ireland, whilst just a few boat lengths back, the other protagonists were stuck fast to the water. Ultimately, six boats, including the astonishing duo Gerckens-Duthil (Volvo), Lamotte Module Créations (Berry-Le Vaillant) and V & B (Sorel- Carpentier) have a chance to round Tuskar lighthouse to the South of Ireland this morning, with a substantial lead over the rest of the fleet. In so doing, they'll bring to an end the long beat they've been embroiled in since Wolf Rock. These duos will then be able to get out their big headsails and slip along, still in light airs, towards Fastnet, some 130 miles to their West.

Astern of them, the battle is continuing to rage at every stage of the game. The club of 6 has managed to open up a lead of around twenty miles or so in relation to the chasing group led by Campagne de France (Mabire-Merron), neck and neck with the formidable Talés II (Féquet - Champannhac). Also up in the Top 10 now is the Grizzly Barber Shop (Cedric De Kervenoael – Robin Marais) and Fondation DigestScience skippered by Romain Rossi and Sylvain Pontu, both crews posting a blinder of a performance.

Yesterday was punctuated by the first two retirements from the race. The Japanese crew of Kitada and Tomouchi (Kiho) were keen to make for Lorient as quickly as possible for personal reasons, whilst the unfortunate Sébastien Marsset and Jean-Luc Nélias couldn't see the appeal of continuing after breaking their bowsprit, preventing them from hoisting the essential headsails. Also heading back the way they came, Serenis Consulting skippered by Jean Galfione and Alain Pennaneach officially retired earlier this morning due to alternator problems.

The whole fleet is now making headway in the Celtic Sea after Morgane Poupon and Arnaud Dhallenne (Up sailing) rounded Land's End overnight, with a deficit of just a hundred miles or so in relation to the leader.

Night messages

Sébastien Marsset and Jean-Luc Nélias retire from the Normandy Channel Race. The bowsprit on the Class 40 Campings Tohapi has broken and the duo can no longer use their headsails. "The chainplate around the bow has given up the ghost," explains Sébastien. "It is now complicated to complete the course within the allotted time. It's wiser to cut short our Normandy Channel Race so we can get on with the technical preparation for the Route du Rhum. Thank you to Jean-Luc for his constant commitment alongside me. I've learned a great deal for what comes next".

Louis Duc (Carac)

"The racing is intense. We've managed to hook in with the leading group. We need to be really attentive as you can lose a lot in a very short space of time! After rounding the tip of Land's End, we saw a gust carry Imerys off at 9 knots whilst everyone else was stuck to the water. After that, Aina also got a ride in the elevator, just metres away from us, whilst we never even got a sniff of breeze! It's awesome to see something like that! Then it was our turn."

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