02.11.2007 Back to news
Transat Jacques Vabre 2007: Tomorrow, Groupe Bel takes the lead
 | © Gilles Martin Raget |
Gently as it goes?
« “The North Atlantic is a huge anticyclone,” Kito summed up this morning. “On the other hand, the depression over the Azores is active and stable. We could find ourselves sailing in a 35 to 40 knot wind in that area and that will eliminate the trade wind option further south” That's the situation this week, but who knows what it will be like tomorrow? “The start on Saturday will be in a 5 knot North-North East wind, strengthening in the evening.” The competitors have heard it all before. In these light weather conditions, the Channel current can be as much your best friend as your worst. You need to aim for the turn of the tide and go with the flow near the rocks. “In principle these are favourable weather conditions for Groupe Bel, which is at ease in a gentle breeze. She will need to be as light as possible. We are building our strategy and setting out our choices. A yacht quickly reaches 50 kilos and landing part of the boat's wardrobe is crucial for the rest of the race. The competition has therefore already begun.”
To learn or to win?
« To leave at the front and to lead the fleet for a good part of the prologue last Saturday definitely gave us a boost”. However, let's not be pretentious. It would be stupid to say, so shortly after Groupe Bel's launch (6th September), that we are going to “crack” this transatlantic race. We feel that the boat has "horse power under the bonnet". She will move fast, we know that, even if these machines are very complex and delivered without a user guide. We are going to learn a lot, about ourselves and about our competitors, who we will meet again in a year for the Vendée Globe. We are not just going to Brazil for the Caïpirinia! We are racers and if the weather is with us, we won't hesitate.
The surprising“Seb Col”
A childhood spent sailing, a Melges 24 world champion title, a No. 1 place in match racing and two America's Cups, one of which as helmsman, have not yet given “Seb Col” the opportunity to cross the Atlantic. This first crossing to "the other side" has now entered the life of this already "highly-decorated" thirty-year-old. Even if racing has always been his world, it is the first time that he will be sailing this kind of yacht, living through this kind of agitation prior to the start of such a race and rubbing shoulders with the great names of ocean racing. So Seb, what surprises you most?
At sea: “The density of the maritime traffic. I don't remember this as a child. I now realize the amount of attention that this requires. Then, there are the yacht's noises. The manner in which one has to make out those meaning everything's normal and those linked to bad adjustments or a technical problem. As far as I'm concerned, I'm surprised in the end that I'm so relaxed on board. We were delivering the boat and not racing, however, I know that if I maintained the same intensity as that in two hours of match racing, I wouldn't last two days on the ocean. Finally, I was really impressed by the yacht's capacity to support so many sails downwind and to surf like a large centre board boat.
Ashore: “The number of times Kito is called upon is impressive. These requests are media related, but a skipper must also spend a large amount of his time with his technical team to be self-sufficient once he's at sea. This is totally different to the America's Cup, in which there are greater resources and in which everyone has their own specialization. This is a new environment for me. It is fascinating to try to understand how the Loïck Peyron, Michel Desjoyeaux and other well-known skippers master their subject and to be able to compare with other sailing disciplines.”
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