Etienne Hardy and Philippe Machefaux, who have been loyal ADRENA users for a decade, discuss how the software has been integrated into the organisation of the Rallye des Îles du Soleil and the Défi Atlantique. The duo detail the use of bipolar day/night routing on ADRENA Octopus, and share a few anecdotes about the ‘Rally Tracking’ function and the behind-the-scenes workings of fleet mapping.
How long have you been using Adrena and on which races?
We have been using ADRENA on all events organised by GPO since 2018 (excluding boat shows). That is to say, on the Rallye des Îles du Soleil, as well as on the Défi Atlantique, a return race from the Route du Rhum, reserved for Class40s, the next edition of which will take place in 2027.
And as racers, we have both been using it for over 10 years!
What is your favourite feature, or the one you use the most?
ADRENA Octopus allows you to plan routes using a daytime polar curve and a night-time polar curve. This is really useful for us because we know that night-time navigation on the Rallye des Îles du Soleil (which is a cruise, not a race) is often quite difficult. Being able to take this into account in our routing from the outset allows us to be much more accurate with our ETAs!
Do you have any anecdotes to share with us about ADRENA?
It’s partly thanks to us that the ‘Rally Tracking’ feature was added to ADRENA Octopus. We encouraged our Rally participants to use this software, which we consider to be the most comprehensive for cruising, but it did not display the fleet’s positions. It was Philippe (editor’s note: Machefaux, position at GPO?) who asked Michel RODET at ADRENA to integrate this feature.
And what about the organisation of the Rally?
The team and I spend a lot of time on the charts, tracking progress between the various position reports. Based on speeds and courses, we can guess at route choices, sail choices, or possible damage. During a previous edition, on the first leg between the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, we spotted a boat sailing into the wind, obviously under engine power. We immediately imagined the worst: dismasting, man overboard… So we tried to contact the boat immediately. In reality, it was a spinnaker wrapped around the forestay. We still wonder about the relevance of performing this manoeuvre against the wind and the trade wind swell and without a mainsail!