Route du Rhum Underway

Well the tangled duo is still creeping... ever closer to the finish.

 

Cry babies aside.

There's a great race right out there in front of us. Let's get back to the real thing.

 

The screen shot below now shows Roucayrol clearly in second about to cross the finish line, with Loïc Fequet in third and Philippe Laperche just around the southwest corner in fourth.

3500 miles of racing in the wildest conditions from heavy seas and big winds to flat-out zero wind and sweltering temps and here they are, in one big mob, assaulting the finish line in succession.

Wow!

 

Over the night, there is going to be a parade of high performance boats rolling into Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe as one boat after another completes their Route du Rhum for 2010.

Of course, this parade starts right now with Lalou Roucayrol aboard his M50 tri. He will be shortly followed home by Loick Fequet, also M50 class and then Philippe Laperche, also on an M50.

Right after Laperche will be IMOCA class skipper Michel Desjoyeaux, Erik Nigon, M50 class, Arnaud Boissieres, IMOCA and finally a bit later and probably sometime tomorrow morning, Gilles Lamire from the Ultimate class of big multihulls.

Yes, there will be lots and lots of celebrating in the harbor of Guadeloupe as these very tired sailors make their way from boat to dry land, looking for some fresh food, a shower and most of all.. sleep.

Welcome back to port gentlemen.

 

The word from Lionel Lemenchois...

Lionel Lemonchois comes back for Rhum double

Lionel Lemonchois duly completed the second measure of a pair of Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale 2010 doubles, today when he triumphed on a second consecutive edition of the race. In 2006 Lemonchois smashed the course record by four days, winning on Gitana 11 in 7 days 17 hours 19 hours 6 seconds, just under half the time that it took on this very different but courageous race on Prince de Bretagne.

While leading the race Lemonchois came very close to giving up his challenge when the lashing which hold the mainsail to the headboard car failed.

Three days in from the start his mainsail fell to the deck with the halyard left at the top of the mast. Unable to retrieve late in the evening he had already turned back for Spain.

But, driven as much by his desire to win, the passion of his sponsors – a huge collective of Breton farmers who combine to form France’s biggest organic vegetables producer – and memories of the six months of hard labour he had put into repairing and refitting Prince de Bretagne, in a three hour operation Lemonchois scaled the mast and effected the necessary fix.

Battered, bruised but unbowed after recovering from his considerable exertions he set the Cabaret/Irens design back on course he gave chase.

Lemonchois was 483 miles behind the leading Multi 50, Franck-Yves Esoffier (Crêpes Whaou!).at midday on Sunday 7th Novmeber. That afternoon and evening first Crêpes Whaou! suffered damage, losing part of the bow of her main hull, and then only hours later in the big seas it was Yves le Blevec’s new leader Actual which was damaged, cracking a cross beam.

Both tried to continue after repairs, but subsequently abandoned, Actual retired only yesterday.

Lemonchois stuck to the task, sailing a smart strategy in the light winds and four days later he was 75 miles adrift on leader Lalou Roucayrol (Région Aquitaine – Port Médoc), passing him last Friday.

His triumph today was a popular one by a modest skipper who has an extensive collection of multihull records, including sailing with race winner Cammas on Groupama 3’s setting the Jules Verne Trophy round the world record. Cammas’ Groupama 3 sailed out to salute Lemonchois’ arrival this afternoon. As well as winning the 2006 Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale, Lemonchois won the 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre, and in 2008 set records on Gitana 13 from New York to San Francisco and San Francisco.

Lemonchois left the Gitana team and unsuccessfully sought sponsorship to defend his Route du Rhum title.

Offered the option to skipper Prince de Bretagne, which was launched in 2009 and had a slightly chequered career to date Lemonchois seized the chance with customary vigor. Damaged in her maiden race last year’s Transat Jacques Vabre she had to put in to Vigo for repairs. When Lemonchois first saw his 2010 Route du Rhum race winning Multi 50, she was a slightly sorry sight in a yard in Lorient, with hull, beams and floats all in different parts of the yard.

But Prince de Bretagne let him do what he thought best to rebuild and refit the boat and their reward today is a Route du Rhum class winner.



Details

Crossing the finish line in Guadeloupe at 17h 52m 48s (CET/Paris) (16h 52m 48 GMT/ 12h52m48s local Pointe-à-Pitre), Lionel Lemonchois secured first place in the Multi 50 class in the Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale 2010 transatlantic race from Saint Malo to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.

The elapsed time for Prince de Bretagne is 15 days 04 hours 50 mins 48 secs, his average speed on the water is 13.10 knots over an actual distance of 4776 miles. On the theoretical course of 3539 miles Lionel Lemonchois’ average speed is 9,70 knots. Lemonchois completes a notable Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale double winning this multihull class after winning the race outright in 2006 when he set the current course record of 7 days 7 hours 19 mins, 06 secs.



Quotes, Lionel Lemonchois (Prince de Bretagne), winner Multi 50 Class:

“At one point I really thought that I would give up. But after some sleep and hard thinking and I told myself I had to find a way and go on. During the night I found a solution and then I went back racing and just pushed for a place on the podium. Al

I really wanted was to be on the podium.”

“Well I did not do all this only for myself otherwise I really might have stopped.

I did it for Prince de Bretagne and for all the people who put their faith in me. After all that has happened to that boat in the past and the work that we put in, to stop the race after being in the lead, was not conceivable.. I had to try and do something.”

“This is not the victory I’d have wanted for sure (because of the 2 competitors who retired from the race) but that’s racing. You still need to finish the race to win it.”

“Yes this win has a nice feeling. Maybe it doesn’t have the same feel as the first one which was unexpected maybe. But this story is very different and I’m living it fully.”

“Prince de Bretagne is a really good boat. We almost reached 30 knots in speed. That was a surprise. I’ve never been afraid. And you know, when you sail a boat a lot you learn to like it. This one we spent so much time on refit and repairs you invest a bit of yourself in it. And when you are working on her you imagine the race and how it could unfold with the boat. There are still plenty of things to do on the boat to improve her. But I won’t tell what !”

At the end, as the weather was not reliable, I closed the door for the guys who were in the south. I just put us in a settled position as regard to the fleet to avoid anyone could come back on us.

I was happy to see Franck and Groupama 3 sail to meet me. I really appreciated. It’s good that he won the race, he deserves it and manage his “machine” very well.

Yes we are two (with Roland Jourdain) to win the race twice. Not too bad. I suppose there’s a bit of luck but also we spend so much time on the project, night and days and we even dream about it.

This boat has gone through a lot of things since she was launched. Even after the second refit she had problems...so a victory that was unexpected and yes I am happy.

But I have to relax a bit to really appreciate it.

.

 

Something very unique is about to happen at the finish line of the 2010 Route du Rhum. Over the next several hours, the Pointe-à-Pitre harbor on Guadeloupe, will see the arrival of multihulls driven by two different women... Servane Escoffier in the Ultimate Class skippering a big cat with a very strong heritage and Anne Casaneuve in the M50 class of trimarans.

In a sport dominated by men, these two ladies stand-out, boldly, as they complete a race that every finishing skipper has mentioned as especially difficult this time around. These two ladies are incredibly tough and very focused on their boats.

Just a few photos of the two women and their boats, below, along with the latest snapshot of their positions as they near the finish.

 

Marco Nannini in Class 40 writes a good blog.

http://marconannini.com

His learning curve into racing has been steep but pretty successful with class wins in the OSTAR, etc. It's hard to remember that it's not so long ago he was mystified why it took much longer to return from Cowes to Brighton in his J24 than it had to go. Having only sailed on the Italian Mediterranean before moving to the UK, he hadn't even heard of tides!

 

Hey cardsinplay...since you have alot of energy to follow this kinda stuff why not for your next Boatdesign.net blog do an investigation of Grand Prix...latest thinking ...autopilot systems. ? Its the heart of these boats

 

Not a bad idea, Michael, and I agree with your point.

 

Yeah, Crag, Marco's blog posts are fantastic.

I, too, love the way he writes. He's unusual, has wonderful flights of fancy and is crazy honest about his experiences. He is just what the sailing world needs as a writer. I'd love to see more from him, but I'll bet that his job as a banker will surpass the cash he can earn as a writer any day of the week and sailing does cost money.

 

Its important. The front of the fleet..the guys with the big bucks...crashed and burned because they were pushing the design, structural engineering, envelope. The rest of the fleet, with more primitive technology, failed because of autopitot associated problems. Bernard Stamm is out.

 

Both ladies mentioned in post #141 are now tied-up at the quay in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. This is a powerful moment for women sailors everywhere. Servane Escoffier in the Ultimate Class and Anne Casaneuve in the M50 class of trimarans should be as proud of this feat as for anything they have done in sailing.

Congratulations.

 

I am fascinated by this piece on one of the all-time long distance sailing greats, Michel Desjoyeaux, who sailed an IMOCA 60 for his sponsor, Foncia, in this year's Route du Rhum, finishing well off the podium in sixth place.


Desjoyeaux, 6th, "we will turn the page"

Crossing the finish line at 06h31m04s (CET/Paris(05h31m04s GMT) Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) took sixth place in the IMOCA Open 60 class, some 2d 00h 18m 08s after class winner Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement). The southern routing, one which also cost him dearly a year ago in the Transat Jacques Vabre, worked for the Ultimate class but this time it clearly did not work for the double Vendée Globe winner with his new VPLP/Verdier design. Desjoyeaux has had time to analyse his result and the way forwards, making ready for the Barcelona World Race which starts 31st December. “It would have been good if they had left us some wind for the finish because in the end it was bit too long at the end. Everyone says it’s a good trick to head off to the sun, but I went too early. We had looked at it and there were good chances of passing over the top, but it was on the Monday morning I took the decision. That was the best routing on the morning, I was on a good shift on the left with Kito and I wanted a trip to the south, I had wanted to go there for a while. I did what I wanted. From time to time you try things when you don’t know if they will be good or not so good. I expected to have 50 miles of deficit in the south of the Azores amticyclone and it was 150. There the mass was said.

I had the toolbox open once for a small allen key to tighten a small screw on the rudder, but I have a list of things to be improved. Speed-wise when you are on your own you are a world champion. The boat is good it was just important to learn how to put it in the right place. I wanted to go to the sun, I went to the sun.”


Jourdain’s win?

“He is a great winner. He is a double winner, and what more can you say? He positioned himself, always attacked, he sailed super good. He did not hesitate to push when he needed to and cover the fleet when he needed to. He did the whole race without any technical hitches and that allowed him to focus on his route and to make a beautiful race, more especially because there was a race. I have had time to digest this, now we move on. Life goes on. This is a beautiful boat, and I sufficiently happy with what I saw. We will turn the page.”

 

About to arrive at the finish line in Guadeloupe, is Jean-François Lilti, aboard
CitoyensduMonde.net. To say he's got problems is an understatement. From the skipper's website, read below for an idea of what he's dealing with:

Jean-François Lilti to finish the race without rudders November 17, 2010

Less than 100 miles from the finish and after 16 days of the race heading for Pointe a Pitre, Jean-François Lilti lost his second rudder.

He progressed to the Pointe de la Vigie in the north of the island of Guadeloupe, Jean-François Lilti lost his second rudder. Already deprived of his port rudder for 8 days is a blow to the skipper of CitoyensduMonde.net.

Still determined not to let go and cross the finish line, he is still racing along at 6 knots and the west coast of Guadeloupe to go transfer the buoy Basse-Terre, 30 miles to his bow.

We will know within hours if Jean-Francois will keep the crazy bet to get around without a rudder in Guadeloupe.

 

Jean-François Lilti, aboard CitoyensduMonde.net draws ever closer to the finish line at Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe while having to deal with huge steering problems. Take a look at the map below and you'll see how he has navigated the western coast of Guadeloupe in fits and starts as he looks to find a controllable method for handling his 50' catamaran.

Now, most sailors would toss the towel and call for help in this same situation, but keep in mind... This guy has sailed across 3500 miles of the Atlantic in some pretty testing conditions with huge sleep deprivation, day after day of freeze dried food and some pretty interesting periods of pure isolation. I don't blame him for trying to bring this thing in now that he's but a few miles from the completion of a dream. He's got something like 22 miles to go.