French Whitbread yacht L’Esprit d’Equipe sailed into Cowes on Saturday 13 April to take second place within the Ocean Globe Race. Barry Pickthall reviews.
Lionel Regnier and his crew aboard the veteran French Whitbread Race yacht L’Esprit d’Equipe returned to Cowes late on Saturday 14 April to take second place on elapsed time for the ultimate leg of the Ocean Globe Race from Punta del Este, Uruguay.
Simply over 24 hours later, the Finnish crew aboard the Whitbread veteran Swan 641 Spirit of Helsinki crossed the road in third place after crusing for 179 days.
It was a stellar efficiency from L’Esprit d’Equipe. The 57ft three-time Whitbread Race veteran, then beneath the command of fellow French skipper Lionel Pean, gained the 1985/6 Race outright. Crossing the end line at 2027 UTC, simply 21 and a half hours behind Marie Tabarly’s a lot bigger Pen Duick VI, Regnier and his crew have comprehensively out sailed 4 bigger rivals, the closest being Spirit of Helsinki.
Regnier stated on the end. ‘I’m exhausted however very pleased to be right here. It’s been an extended mission and we had been all disillusioned by our positions on the primary three legs [to Cape Town, Auckland and Punta del Este]. However on this ultimate leg we’ve proven what this boat is able to.’
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Spirit of Helsinki, skippered by Jussi Paavoseppa returned to Cowes at 23:37 UTC on Sunday to take the provisional total lead within the Ocean Globe Race, however the ultimate pecking order stays an in depth name with Britain’s all-girl crew aboard Maiden, and the 2 French Neptune and Triana nonetheless within the body.
Paavoseppa and his crew, who had been greeted to an incredible welcome from household and pals, ran up the Solent beneath spinnaker at greater than 10 knots thanks partially to a 2-knot flooding tide, however Neptune and Maiden are being pushed even quicker up the English Channel by a 50-knot sou’wester that might but work of their favour.
The Spirit crew, racing the previous third positioned Whitbread yacht Fazer Finland, led the fleet into Cape City, however faltered on the 2 Southern Ocean legs earlier than discovering their kind once more on this ultimate 6,700 mile leg from Punta del Este again to the end.
‘It was a tough leg, however the greatest problem has been tying up in opposition to the dock right here,’ joked Paavoseppa after his crew-mates had jumped ashore to hug household and pals, leaving him to safe the traces.
‘The climate was actually tough within the South Atlantic with plenty of excessive strain techniques popping up. We had little or no good climate info till the Azores.’ From there, Spirit of Helsinki rode a collection of beneficial winds all the best way throughout the Bay of Biscay, Western Approaches and up the Channel chalking up a secession of 200+ mile days and one once they lined 308 miles.
‘We suffered just a few breakages; our generator, engine and the watermaker, however managed to restore them which was all the way down to the power of this crew,’ Paavoseppa mirrored.
The subsequent to return is the French yacht Neptune, one other Whitbread veteran. At 1000 right this moment, she was off Begin Level, dashing alongside at 10.7knots with 107 miles to go. She is anticipated to cross the Royal Yacht Squadron line at Cowes at 0700 Tuesday.
Whereas different crews fell into calms off the Brazilian coast, the L’Esprit d’Equipe crew learn the climate precisely proper and had been main the race outright as they crossed the Equator utilizing Nineteen Seventies period climate faxes transmitted in morse code along with sextant sights to plot their positions simply because it was within the first Whitbread 50 years in the past.
A giant a part of the problem of the Ocean Globe Race is that there are not any satnavs or chart plotters, nor any of the satellite tv for pc climate reviews and wind predicting apps that each one of us take as a right now.
It was not till the leaders had been in tropical commerce winds within the North Atlantic that the larger 73ft Pen Duick VI was capable of present her higher pace.
Now the main focus turns to an intriguing battle for handicap honours, not only for this final leg, however the race itself.
Marie Tabarly has set down the marker. On the time of writing, one other French yacht, the Swan 53 Triana nonetheless topped the leaderboard on handicap, with a projected elapsed time of 180 days 14 hours, however that is solely 2 hours forward of Spirit of Helsinki, with Britain’s all-girl crew aboard Maiden skippered by Heather Thomas, an additional 4 hours behind.
Only one poor climate name, false tack or blown-out sail may make all of the distinction for any of those three.
Comply with the race on the Ocean Globe Race tracker.
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