16 solo sailors at the start of the first edition of the 1,000 Milles des Sables

Departure of the 1000 Miles of Sands © Christophe Breschi

On Monday 23rd April 2018 at 14:02 hrs, the start of the new single-handed race called the 1000 Milles des Sables took place. For this first edition, 14 Class40s and two Multi50s crossed the start line off Port-Olona (Sables-d'Olonne), with a thirty minute gap between the two classes of boats.

Chloé Torterat Published on April 25, 2018

A 1000 mile loop from South to North

The objective? A 1000 mile loop at the start and finish in Les Sables-d'Olonne towards the British coast, as far as the famous Fastnet lighthouse. Finally, this course was the one initially planned, as the Race Directors have decided to modify the programme due to the weather conditions forecast in the Irish Sea for the middle of next week. "The situation is fairly unstable with a front which is due to pass during Wednesday and which could generate winds of 25 knots gusting to 35-40, in chaotic seas. With Christian Dumard, the race meteorologist, we're finding it difficult today to estimate how the situation will develop. We've therefore preferred to take care of the insurance and not send the solo sailors to the front of the pack, especially as this is the first race of the season for each of them and some of the boats are just coming out of the yards explains Denis Hugues, race director.

The 16 solo sailors will finally make their way to a mark off Gijón (Spain) before making their way up to Wolf Rock (south-west of Land's End, Great Britain) and then down to Les Sables-d'Olonne. A course reduced to 930 miles, but which still qualifies for the Route du Rhum - destination Guadeloupe 2018. Finally, once again, the race directors decided to modify the course of the race due to the weather conditions forecast for Friday off the tip of Brittany and in the English Channel (30 knots of wind gusting to 35-40 in heavy seas). As a result, the fleet will not be going as far as Wolf Rock, to the south-west of Great Britain, as Denis Hugues explains: "The fleet will not be going as far as Wolf Rock, to the south-west of Great Britain After the mark of passage in Gijón, Spain, the solo sailors will make their way to the Cardinal Sud of the Banc de Guérande before heading back down to Gijón and then back to Les Sables d'Olonne. Once again, it's a question of the safety of the skippers."

Heading for Gijon, the key point of the stage

It was in a north-north-westerly flow blowing at 6-8 knots that all the competitors set course for Gijon, the first compulsory passage point. The start of the course enabled the favourites to distinguish themselves from the rest of the fleet. At the exit from the bay, we found, in order, Sam Goodchild (All in for the Rhum), Phil Sharp (Imerys Clean Energy) and Louis Duc (Carac) at the front.

This first section of the course should go smoothly, as the race meteorologist Christian Dumard explains: "The sailors will be keeping a north-westerly wind of around a dozen knots all afternoon before seeing it ease off in the evening as they approach the ridge of high pressure stretching across the Bay of Biscay. The good news is that they're not going to be slowed down that much as they're going to round this famous zone of high pressure, but they're going to have to adapt to the gradual shift of the wind to the NE."

But it should go differently for the second part of the course. Already in Gijon, an uncertain waypoint as Aymeric Chappellier, the skipper of AINA Enfance et Avenir explains "I remember an edition of the Transgascogne in a Mini 6.50 where I was stuck for four hours, in the soft, just in front of the harbour entrance."

An end of stage that can reshuffle the cards

"On the way back to Britain, the sailors will have no choice but to cross it. From then on, they will have to deal with very light winds", notes Christian Dumard who sees this as one of the main difficulties of the race before a radical change in the situation.

Once this axis of high pressure in their wake, as they make their way northwards, the solo sailors will see the wind strengthen considerably (up to 30 knots in gusts) and probably make the upwind climb towards Land's End a bit rock and roll" The advantage is that the speeds will increase. What happens next, however, remains very uncertain ", adds Christian Dumard, who prefers not to make a plan for the final miles, but who nevertheless estimates the arrival of the Multi50s during the night of Thursday to Friday, and that of the first Class40s during the day on Saturday.