Transat AG2R La Mondiale: a change of pace for Safran-Guy Cotten
The 12th edition of the Transat AG2R La Mondiale is living up to its promise. After perfectly negotiating a challenging start in strong winds, the crew of Safran-Guy Cotton – Gwénolé Gahinet and Paul Meilhat – who led the fleet for 48 hours, are now in the light airs that will be with them all the way to La Palma in the Canary Islands. At each ranking there is a new leader and at about 100 miles from Madeira, the Safran-Guy Cotton duo were in at 5th place, 8.7 miles behind Generali (Lunven-Peron), the leader of the transat on Friday at 1200hrs (French time).
If the first five days of the Transat AG2R La Mondiale have been physically demanding for the sailors, the next three days will be played out in much calmer, but equally nerve-wracking conditions. Gahinet and Meilhat are currently in around ten knots of wind; a gentle north-north-easterly that is likely to get lighter still in the coming hours as they pass by La Palma in the Canaries. The morale and motivation of the crew remains in good shape: “We must be philosophical,” Meilhat said this morning in the official race call. “At the moment, the conditions are a bit like the trade winds, it’s nice.”
Heading South
On the road to the Canary archipelago about 300 miles (555 km) away, their 14 competitors spread about 50 miles from east to west this Friday. The Figaro BénéteauSafran-Guy Cotten is in middle of the fleet and shifted slightly to the west. “The night was still tricky because we had to make several gybes,” Gahinet, the skipper of Safran-Guy Cotten. said. “We’re concentrating on our weather files but we’re also keeping an eye on our comrades; we saw Interface Concept on the AIS (Automatic Identification System) last night. We get the positions of the other boats by day, but not at night, which means you it can play your own game a bit more, but it is also more stressful. But anyway, the latest weather files confirm our position.”
Friends on board
After five days of racing and almost 1,000 miles (1,852 km) covered at high speed, Paul and Gwénolé have found their rhythm and bearings. “We are finally beginning to have our meals on time,” Gahinet said. “Yesterday we feasted on roast chicken conchiglie (pasta shells) and duck stew with bulgur wheat. We also had some bread, some cheese…I can’t stop snacking,” Gahinet, who is also enjoying the small temperature increase, added. “The sky is still grey but we have taken off our hats at night and are sailing in a little fleece and an oilskin. It feels good.” With watches of three hours, the duo are finally allowing themselves 1½ to 2 hour slices of sleep. Gahinet’s clear and cheerful voice says much about the atmosphere on board. “I’m really happy to be in the race,” Gahinet said. “I’m getting along very well with Paul and we are still finding out about each other. We chat a lot about the weather, but we also talk about lots of other things. We even listened to some music for the first time, a Jack Johnson album.”
La Palma by Sunday afternoon
With this small low-pressure system over the Canaries generating a weak and unstable wind, the next few hours are going to be complex but potentially decisive. This will obviously be a chance for the crews to get their boats in order but the main objective will be to close the gaps before the start of the Atlantic crossing. “The wind will continue to soften gradually,” Gahinet said. “We’ll probably take down the spinnaker tonight and be reaching with a small genoa to Madeira. Then there will be some tacks to get to official course mark at La Palma. That won’t be easy but for now we are focusing on the moment.”
