GUYOT environnement - Team Europe continues to prepare systems and crew test in practice race
by Offshore Team Germany 11 Jan 2023 09:37 GMT
Complete team including the onboard reporters is looking forward to the start in Alicante. L: Anne-Claire Le Berre, Phillip Kasüske, Benjamin Dutreux, Charles Drapeau, Sébastien Simon, Annie Lush, Támara Echegoyen, Robert Stanjek, Gauthier Lebec © Gauthier Lebec / GUYOT environnement - Team Europe
Before the start of the first leg of The Ocean Race, the teams are working through the program of the race management. Two days after the first scoring race, the Inport Race from Alicante, the five IMOCAs were now sent out on the track for the Practice Race. The Coastal Race is of no significance for the scoring, but included a series of system checks for the teams to be prepared for the 1900 nautical mile leg to Cabo Verde on January 15.
The GUYOT environnement - Team Europe has to face the challenge of not being able to start its engine at the moment. Already on Sunday, the machine had sputtered and spewed white smoke. Since then, the Tech Team has been waiting for the delivery of a spare part. For the short test race, the RIB drivers had to be particularly careful when docking out and docking in. For the race, the failure of the engine would be fatal, as this ensures sufficient power supply for the electrical systems on board.
Skipper Benjamin Dutreux remains calm despite the tight schedule: "We think we can fix the problem on Wednesday." For the Practice Race, in addition to the obligatory tasks of communicating with the Race Management and testing the emergency systems, there was also another opportunity to test boat and crew coordination. For this purpose, in addition to the crew for the first leg with Benjamin Dutreux, Robert Stanjek, Annie Lush and Phillip Kasüske, Támara Echegoyen and Anne-Claire Le Berre were also on board.
In good sailing conditions with 10 to 14 knots of wind at the Costa Blanca, the black yacht of GUYOT environnement - Team Europe got off to a good start, then concentrated on working through the protocol, refining the crew work and once again putting the A2, the racing sail for light to medium winds to use. "It was a good day to test everything, to also try the different crew constellations and practice maneuvers. We were able to work through some important topics on the to-do list. The watermaker is running, the electronics are working. Now the engine remains as a big item on the list. Of course, there are always new topics to add - but this is fine tuning now," said skipper Benjamin Dutreux. "We will continue to work day by day in preparing the boat. But it was great sailing today. We got on the foils and had boat speed of just over 20 knots."
Another strong woman for the team
GUYOT environnement - Team Europe adds another strong woman to its team. Anne-Claire Le Berre was already on board for the transfer of the yacht from Barcelona to Alicante, and now it is certain that the 40-year-old Frenchwoman will join the crew squad. She is also immediately available for the second leg, when Annie Lush will have a break before the mammoth Southern Ocean leg and Támara Echegoyen has other commitments in her Olympic campaign.
"I am very happy to get the chance to join GUYOT environnement - Team Europe. I had approached Benjamin Dutreux for the Azimut regatta to see if there was still a need for a woman on the team," reports the mother of two boys, who lives in the French IMOCA stronghold of Lorient, has been sailing since the age of seven and switched to yachting ten years ago after Olympic ambitions in the 470 (2000-2004), the Yngling (2008) and match racing (2012).
She also knows her way around the high-performance IMOCA class racers. In 2014, she joined the yacht designers at Finot-Conq, working for Initiatives Coeur's IMOCA campaigns - most recently as project manager for Sam Davies. She has already completed two transatlantic crossings with IMOCAs, and also sailed to third place in the 2021 Mini Transat. "I'm looking forward to team sailing IMOCA and the South Atlantic - it's going to be a new experience for me. On the transfer to Alicante, I was already able to get to know the yacht."
After the second leg, Anne-Claire Le Berre is also available as a spare for legs three and five.