Back
News

End of the summer holidays, back to the sea!

Generali Solo 2015, Already the 20th Edition…

The only race of the Figaro circuit held in Mediterranean Sea, the last leg of the Elite Championship of Offshore Sailing takes place in Sète, Nice and Barcelone from September 16th to October 4th.

Pen Duick, the organizer of the event, ensures a spectacular fleet for the 20th edition: two women, a double-winner, leaders as well as less experimented navigators take part to the competition. It is likely to be an exciting end of season!

The 23 Figaro skippers will be racing on the 774nm course (coefficient 6) and in the Grand Prix that are held on each stopover (coefficient 1).

Yoann Richomme (Skipper Macif 2014), Gwénolé Gahinet (Safran-Guy Cotten) but also Sebastien Simon (Bretagne-Credit Mutuel Espoir), to mention but a few, will not only try to win the race but also to reach the podium of the Solo Offshore French Championship. Among the skippers considered as favorite can be mentioned Xavier Macaire (Skipper Hérault) who competes at home in Sète and Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert), the only double-winner to take part to the race this year.

Several freshmen also participate: the Mediterranean Aymeric Arthaud (Reel – PGO Automobiles), Benjamin Dutreaux (Team Vendée), Nicolas Thomas and Arthur Prat (Guadeloupe Grand Large), the British Nick Cherry (Redshift) but also Sam Matson and Alan Roberts (Magma Structures).

The Generali Solo has started on Friday 18th September with the Languedoc-Roussillon Grand Prix (won by Charlie Dalin after 5 legs), and the first leg has started on Sunday 20th September (to be followed on the race website)

ADRENA supports the Generali Solo

Already present onboard the majority of Class Figaro boats, ADRENA is now equipping the Generali Solo Race Management Team. Thanks to mutual tools, the link between the navigators and the organization team is facilitated and security at sea is strengthened. The various functionalities of the navigation software (GRIB weather files display, roadbooks, competitors monitoring thanks to the automatic position loading, ranking, competitors routing…) enable the preparation of press scrum as well as the briefing sessions for skippers.

Mini TransatMini Transat, Return to its origins

24 years after the edition of 1991, the race starts again from Brittany, France; a return to its origins which is close to the idea developed by Bob Salmon about the race. Often considered as a “must do” for professional navigators, the Mini Transat is an exceptional marine adventure: almost 4 weeks of navigation to cross solo the Atlantic Ocean on 6.50-meter sailboats without any exterior assistance.

Douarnenez / Lanzarote / Pointe-à-Pitre

There are 72 boats participating to the 20th edition of the Mini Transat. 4 women and 68 men of 16 different nationalities have started from Douarnenez on September 19th. After having crossed the Bay of Biscay until Lanzarote, they will cross the Atlantic Ocean into the trade winds.

 

The competition inside the race: prototype or production?

There are two divisions in Mini 6.50: prototype and production boats. The prototype division is the birthplace of offshore racing technical progress thanks to performant and innovative boats specifically conceived for the race. They are the very essence of the Mini Transat. There are 26 prototypes competing this year.

As for the production division, it gathers 46 boats, which is almost twice as much as the prototypes. They are initially conceived for the race but also for cruising. Less sophisticated and performant than the prototypes, but easier to handle and maintain, they enable navigators to be almost on a level playing field saving themselves the construction stages. To obtain the status of “production boat”, a minimum of 10 similar units have to be built.

 The “Mini Transat Iles de Guadeloupe”, to be followed here.

Rolex Fastnet, a Race that “Rocks”

603 nautical miles between Cowes and Plymouth via Fastnet Rock

For its 90th anniversary, the 46th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race registered a record-sized fleet: 340 IRC boats and around fifty Open sailboats. Far from the spectacular weather conditions that made the race’s reputation (sometimes in a dramatic way), the competitors encountered light and unpredictable winds this year.

  

Spindrift2, Comanche & PRB, winners in real time

Start was given at Cowes, on the Solent, the area of water between southern England and the Isle of Wight, on Sunday 16th August at 12:00. Maxi-trimaran Spindrift 2 finished first at 23:57 (CET) on Tuesday night. Yann Guichard’s and Dona Bertarelli’s crew sealed their second victory in real time.

Comanche, the Maxi American 100 ft. skipped by Ken Read, was the first monohull to finish the race only 4 minutes before Rambler 88. They finished 6 hours after the 88 ft. in the corrected-time classification.

As for IMOCA, Vincent Riou and Sebastien Col (PRB) finished first on Wednesday 19th August in the beginning of the afternoon, just before Yann Elies & Charlie Dalin (Queguiner-Leucemie Espoir) and Morgan Lagraviere & Nicolas Lunven (Safran). Paul Meilhat & Michel Desjoyeaux (SMA) missed a mark of the course – Bishop Rock, to the west of the Scilly Isles – and chose to retire whereas they were leading.

IMOCA Foils vs 2012 Generation

Apart from SNSM Record and training sessions at Port-La-Foret (France), the new IMOCA did not really have the occasion to confront themselves to the ones that raced the last Vendee Globe. The long-awaited duel took place and the 2012 generation boats took the advantage on the 2015 IMOCA Foils (Safran and Banque Populaire). To be continued…

Overall IRC: 13 is the lucky number?

Gery Trentesaux was racing in IRC3 onboard his 10.80 JPK, Courier du Leon, but as he beated all his opponents as well as the biggest boats in IRC2, he won the victory in Overall IRC which is a nice reward for his thirteenth participation! Even if he had stolen the start on the flat sea (it took them 40 minutes to start again), the French navigator finished 2 hours and 20 minutes before his sistership “Dream Pearls”, skipped by Arnaud Delamare and Eric Mordret.

French domination

In the IRC Canting Keel class, Nicolas Groleau finished first onboard Mach 45 “Bretagne Telecom”, just before “Privateer”.

In IRC 1, Samuel Prietz’s Ker 39 won the race with a 30-minute lead on the South African Mike Bartholomew’s GP42.

Very nice performance for Corentin Lognone onboard MC34 « Nutmeg Solidaire en Peloton », class leader in IRC2, finishing 2 hours and 22 minutes ahead of his sistership, Vincent Willemart and Eric Campenhout.

Gerard Quenot, former Transquadra winner, finished first in IRC4 thanks to his JPK 10.10.

In Two-Handed, Stuart Childerley and Kelvin Rawlings save the honor of the British by winning onboard “Jester”, a J/105.

As for the course record, it has not been broken and is still held by “Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing” Volvo 70 with a completion course in 42 hours and 39 minutes in 2011.

Adrena on the Fastnet

There were a lot of ADRENA users competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race 2015. Adopted by top-level sailing for a long time, the navigation software has equipped 40% of the 20 first Overall IRC boats, 60% of MOCRA, 65% of Class40 and 90% of IMOCA!