Chris Ballois left Brest on Saturday 3 June 2017 for his Inter-îles Bretagne 2017 disabled sports challenge. On the programme, a 260 nautical mile (460 km) course completed with the strength of a single hand. He completed several stages, always under the escort of the SNSM .
Stage 1: Brest - Molène
After a delayed departure due to the wind, Chris Ballois set off at 12.50 pm from the Moulin à Brest beach, in the presence of friends, people from Brest and members of the ASSEDEA association that he sponsors (French Association of people concerned by agenesis [absence or malformation of members]). He reached Molène in 3 h 49 min
Step 2: Molène - Ouessant
On June 4th, the kiteboarder attacked his 2 e stage by sailing from Molène to Ushant in 1 hr 25 min He had to deal with a cross swell which was fairly difficult to manage, with two metre high waves between the two islands, then three metres at the entrance to Lampaul Bay.
Step 3: Ushant - Breast
The day's leg had to be shortened due to the storm that hit Brittany. Chris and his team made another stopover in Molène tonight. They will reach Sein very early tomorrow morning on the SNS 065 launch Jean Cam to attack the 4th stage between Sein and the Glénans.
The wind angle associated with the sea state made it impossible to reach Sein today and the lack of visibility did not ensure the required safety conditions.
The wind strength and sea state were tolerable for Chris, but the south/southeast wind was forcing a very strong upwind, which was not feasible in this configuration.
Stage 4: Breast - Les Glénan
Chris Ballois completed the longest stage of his route in 6 hours and 30 minutes at the end of a busy day and a long battle with the elements. Chris' take-off was very complicated, but his piloting finesse still allowed him to get out of the Sein.
Route over the Glénan with a rather uncomfortable wind angle, as there is a full tail wind and a very large swell of around 6 metres, forcing him to sometimes surf and sometimes work the kite.
Relay a little longer than expected at St Gué - Penmarch, which forced Chris to return to the port for shelter. Between St Guénolé and Les Glénan, the swell settled down, the wind eased a little, but the angle remained as uncomfortable for him as ever.
Stage 5: The Glénan - Groix
Chris set off thinking he would find a 10/15 knot wind coming out of the Glénan, but in the end it remained very light, forcing him to change tack 30 minutes after the start. The tail wind still present as far as Clohars-Carnoët forced him to put in a lot of tacks and, in fact, lengthen his course.
Once past the relay, he was able to pick up a crosswind, completing the last 10 miles in half an hour.
Stage 6: Groix - Belle-Ile-en-mer
Stage relayed yesterday for the penultimate day of the challenge due to the lack of wind. Team Ballois took a nice ride from Groix to Belle-Île aboard the speedboat, for a well-deserved forced rest of the warrior after a lunch with the members of the SNSM.
Stage 7: Belle-Ile-en-Mer - Hoëdic - Houat
Departure of the whole team this morning with the SNSM Belle-Île launch from the port of Le Palais under the sun with a light wind of 10/12 knots. A semi-rigid drop off at the tip of the foals, between 2 cliffs for a rather technical and uncertain kite takeoff.
Once again with a wind in the back, the first part was done by tacking at a speed of 16 to 20 knots on a long distance board in a small swell. As the wind dropped sharply to the west of Houat, a change of support to pass over the foil had to be made in open sea.
As the wind dropped as Hoëdic approached, the angle of descent became very complicated to stay optimum, so much so that the wing eventually collapsed just a few hundred metres from the harbour.
Stage 8: Houat - Lorient
Chris Ballois completed his journey on June 10 by reaching the submarine base in Lorient at about 1 p.m., despite difficult sea conditions.
