About ten days ago, I arrived in Douarnenez to take the start of the last race of the season: the Trophée Marie Agnès Péron.
A record as a preamble
I spent a few days sailing in the bay, taking the opportunity to pick up a few friends, including Jack de Sailing Virgins and her friend, but also Romain, who had come to sail with me for several weeks on the Écume de Mer Ann Alé in the Caribbean . By the way, we're going to beat the record set in the bay by the Mini Class.
We complete the 15 nautical miles of the record for the Déferlante at an average of more than 10 knots. Lla déferlante is an app for ministes, different courses are available all along the coast and everyone can try their luck whenever they want using their phone as a tracker beacon to record the performance.
Bad start quickly caught up on the Marie-Agnès Péron Trophy
On October 15 at 1300 local time, our 50 minis crossed the start line upwind in about ten knots of wind. I got a mediocre start, but by starting second curtain, I was able to tack quickly to go towards the reefs on the right-hand side of the race zone. That paye?! I'm catching up and getting closer to the leading pack. I pass the clearing buoy in the top 10. The max spinnaker, which I had prepared before the start and then finished rigging on the last tack, slams at the clearing buoy.
The boat is gaining speed and soon a squall is gaining on the bay and the wind is picking up. Kiraucassis goes surfing, the keel and rudders in resonance with peaks of more than 15 knots. I turn around and see a gust making a dozen or so minis go off in a heap, like a gust of wind in a wheat field, the minis bend, but do not break.
The wind is getting stronger and the boats tracent?!
I quickly get out of the bay, we pass the Raz de Sein, we are in high tide (more than 100 of coef) and the current against us. But our powerful machines launched under spinnaker are still making almost 10 knots, in spite of at least 5 knots of current from the front. The wind is still picking up as we're whipping across the bay of Audierne to roll up the tip of Penmarch.
Pretty soon, I can't hold my big spinnaker, it's too powerful. I need to be close to 110 degrees to the true wind and I'm making too many heap starts to be efficient. I would go faster and more stable under Code 5 (a smaller, flatter spinnaker).
In less than 3 minutes, the max spinnaker is down and the code 5 in tête?; Kiraucassis is off again. I'll keep this sail plan until the mare of the Glénan where I'll pass under GV and genoa alone to set a course north of Groix.
I'm still in the top 5, but two Maxis have managed to escape and are far ahead, with at least a 3 mile lead.
A quiet night
I went back under gennak when I arrived in Groix, then under max spinnaker to go down to the Birvideaux lighthouse, before putting the gennak back on to begin the climb back up to the Breastsail. It's about 1am, I managed to take a little nap for a few minutes between the Glénan and Groix.
Now that the boat's working well, the sea is relatively flat, so I'm taking advantage of that to go and lie down. I take three 20-minute naps, interspersed with a little trip around the deck to trim the sails and look around. In the middle of the night the wind picks up from the right and I go back under spinnaker max. In the early morning, the ranking hasn't changed too much and we're now downwind VMG, which isn't the Maxi's favourite point of sail, as there's too much wet surface when the boat is flat. The Pogo 3s are taking advantage of this to nibble away at the lead we had built up on reaching during the start of the race.
Following the ripples to stay on course
The wind weakens as I approach the Chaussée de Sein. Luckily once the cardinal has passed, the current takes us north, when the road to the Basse du Lis is east-northeast. First upwind, I'm neck and neck with Anne Claire Le Berre, an excellent sailor and former Olympian. I'm always very impressed by these sailors who know a lot about tuning cars and are monsters at the helm. Luckily I manage to hang on as the wind drops and takes a right. I quickly send out my little gennak. Very flat and well trimmed by the HSD sailmaker, I manage to carry it very high. It gives me a small advantage in power without losing almost nothing in heading.
In contact with the two leaders
Now there's more current than wind. The first one's taking us north when the next mark, the old lady's bass, is to the southeast. The wind's getting very unstable. I'm trying to keep up with the wind, trying to keep the speed down. The lead of the 2 leaders, already well established during the last tack, is falling. I'm neck and neck with JM Jezequel and Hugo Dhallenne. The latter has taken an option on the left and got carried away by the current towards Brest (which I didn't know at the time, I thought he had already entered the bay).
First of the boats on série??
Step by step, we get close to the last course mark, Low old. I'm a nice laughing stock, one last tack to shift and I get my little gennak out. I'm struggling to get past the buoy, 0.5 knots, then 0.3 knots... The bay of Douarnenez is emptying out and in the bottleneck where we are there is at least 2 knots of current. With a little more power thanks to my gennaker and a lot of luck, I'm making my way through, albeit slowly, but I'm managing to get into the bay. Behind me the door is closing and it will take them over an hour to get through this invisible obstacle.
It's pitch black, the wind is still very light and I'm trying to stay as concentrated as possible. All I have to do is fall into a wind shift, a site effect or something else to get stuck and see my pursuers pass me just in front of the line. Seeing Fabio in the prototype 2 miles ahead of me, I also understand that there is a chance I could be the first production boat in the bay. So I decide to tack in the middle of the bay, which is certainly less efficient than going to look for areas with less current on the outside, but I prefer to make the move and mark my rivals.
Victory in série?!
A few hours later, I cross the line, first series and second to the general. This victory is completely unexpected. I had set myself a top 5 goal for this race, so premier?! I'm lucky to be welcomed on the pontoon by the Turballe pole and some friends, I don't fully realize what's happening to me.
I had a good race, but JM and Hugo largely led the way. I only managed to come back in the last few miles, when the calm weather reshuffled the cards.
Anyway, really happy to finish the 2020 race season like this, now it's time for winter training.
