For this double-handed race, I am leaving with Robinson, a friend who has - among other things - worked and sailed in Class 40'. He has a solid sailing experience, but above all, we get along very well even if we had never sailed together before.
A nicely windy start
We leave Thursday 4 at 14h in a well established thermal at 15-20 knots. After a clearing buoy at the bottom of Concarneau Bay, the fleet of 50 boats set off due west, wandered up the bay of Audierne and passed the raz de Sein to fetch the"Basse du Lys" opposite the Crozon peninsula. So far so good, we are in the game and we spend the night buoy well positioned in our place in the peloton. It's time to head south!
The wind disappears
We go around the Chaussée de Sein in the early morning as the calm begins to establish itself. We decide to send the medium spinnaker rather than the max spinnaker, because it is much easier to keep inflated thanks to its more taut luff: a spinnaker that does not carry does not bring speed, but slows down the boat as much. Jackpot!
Thanks to this tactical option, we are taking back a handful of places. Unfortunately our escape will be short-lived. The wind is rising a little, it's time to change sails and go under spinnaker max. But we won't be able to keep up with our competitors, who are coming up one by one. At dusk, the balance of this tack under spinnaker is not glorious and we attack at night by spending the Glénan in the tail of the fleet.
With dayfall, the wind has returned and we spend most of the night under code 5 keeping a good average speed. We pass the Birvideaux lighthouse - north of Belle Ile - at the end of the night.
The longest day
Once again, at daybreak, the wind bursts in. It's a very long day ahead. There's not a breath of air. We estimate our position behind the fleet, but without knowing our actual position. Robinson - my team-mate whose first Mini race it is - will say that this is what he found most confusing: not having any weather and not knowing where we are compared to the others. To top it all off, the wind is shifting further and further north. This certainly allows us to finish the day downwind, but above all it announces that once the"oxen" buoy has been reached we'll have to start upwind again.
There was no lack of it, we passed the night mark once again, and set off upwind again on the way back.
Upwind at night with no real tactical choices
If all goes well for this last night at sea, it remains long and tedious. We're starting to feel the accumulated fatigue and there's not much we can do for the shift crew. At night, upwind, the pilot is much more efficient than us. We just have to monitor the wind shifts and adapt the sail settings to the wind force variations. Few strategic options are available to us tonight, once the decision has been made to move outside Belle-Ile.
Night Line Crossing
On the last day of the race, the wind is there. Now that we've passed Belle-Ile, we have a new strategic opportunity to go to the coast. It was a good option that allows us to take advantage of the coast and a smaller sea.
We will finish the race at 22h45 by a memorable battle with Bubulle (#250) that we catch a hundred meters before the line. Today is the 21st e boat of series arrived (29 in total), but we are out of time like most of the competitors: the line closed at 14h. At that time, only 4 protos had cut the finish, all the others will be classified out of time!
An ideal race to perfect your strategy
The Duo Concarneau is a beautiful race, very complete: you have to manage the Brein currents, the dangers of the coast and there are long wide edges with strategic choices. The level of the Mini Class remains very high. As proof, most of the competitors are held in a few hours after four days of racing..
