Project Rescue Ocean (162) – Axel Tréhin / Erwan Le Menée
“Second night of racing in the CIC Normandy Channel Race aboard Project Rescue Ocean and this one is much more conducive to writing than the previous one! As much as we had our work cut out in terms of trajectory and sail changes 24 hours ago, last night it was all about a long, straight-line course on starboard tack under spinnaker, bound for Land’s End! You seldom get to do as much sailing at 90° to the course from the start for such a long tack, but the light patch along the English coast on Monday afternoon was sufficiently frightening that we were among a good dozen or so playmates to pass to the south of the Casquets TSS, which even came with a bit of French 4G! It was an opportunity to do a recce for the return leg because with the fantastic visibility we’ve had since the start, we could clearly make out Alderney, Sark and Guernsey. You can reassure Race Management that the course mark is nicely in position. Ahead of us lie the pitfalls of the south-west tip of England where we’ll be slowed at some point as we make our rounding… verdict by early morning, before we make straight for Tuskar, still on starboard tack, albeit under gennaker on a reach! Have a good day landlubbers.”
Crédit Mutuel (202) – Ian Lipinski / Antoine Carpentier
“Evening all. The first little night message from the crew on Crédit Mutuel. We were in deadlock on the first night until we got into the swing of things. It’s a mild night this evening with a fairly full moon lighting up the racetrack. We’re neck and neck with Greg Leonard and Jack Trigger’s boat. We missed our ride to the south due to being late to exit the Solent for various reasons. We had a mediocre start off Ouistreham, a lack of speed in the light airs and a serious blunder in the Solent. On a positive note, the boat is fantastic to sail. She seems to have real potential when the wind picks up and heading downwind in general. We’ll see how she fairs upwind on the return leg. Antoine is having a nap but I’ll soon be waking him up. We didn’t really get much sleep on the first night so it’s a good opportunity to recharge our batteries. See you soon.”
Sogestrant – Seafrigo (197) – Guillaume Pirouelle / Cédric Chateau
“Hello, all’s well aboard Sogestran – Seafrigo. Conditions have been pleasant since the start enabling us to devour the miles. We’ve had to revise all the strategy we’d worked out at the start as we’ve made much faster progress than planned throughout the first chapter of this race . Long may it last! The forecasts are pretty good and stable going forward. Have a nice evening. Guillaume and Cédric.”
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