Record SNSM - Superstar Sailing in France
Brittany, France - The fourth edition of the Record SNSM started yesterday off the eastern jetty in the port of Saint Nazaire, on France’s Brittany coast in the Atlantic. A crewed yacht race from St. Nazaire to St. Malo and back, this sailing race is providing a fantastic spectacle, with a mix of amateur and professional sailors competing on high speed monohulls and multihulls. The fleet of Imoca monohulls include seven of the yachts which will be competing in the upcoming Vendée Globe this fall.
Because of light winds forecast in the Channel, a new shorter course was chosen for this year's race. Though the distance will be shorter than in previous years, the race will be more tactical, as YachtPal Loïck Peyron, the skipper of Gitana Eighty, explained shortly before casting off: “Throughout the race, we’ll have to deal with and play with the currents, the tides and the numerous coastal effects. The first of the stretches to Sainte Marine is likely to involve close-hauled sailing with a westerly breeze clocking progressively round to the NW, decreasing in strength in the process. It’s a selective and open route so we’ll constantly have to choose the right compromise between sailing along the coast and offshore. Tomorrow night, we may well have to put in a series of tacks in the bay of Quiberon, not far from the home port of Gitana Team [La Trinité-sur-Mer, SW Brittany].”
After the start, Loïck headed offshore, and quickly shot towards the front of the fleet with his crew on Gitana 80. As we know, this is Loïck's normal tactic in yacht races - dominate early, use expert tactics, and adapt to the conditions as the boat requires (his "Bamboo" method).
In the multihulls, all eyes are on Franck Cammas and his crew on Groupama 2, who set off from the start sailing neck and neck with Banque Populaire. At an average speed of 18 knots with hulls flying, these two ORMA trimarans put on a great display for the crowds in Saint Nazaire at the start of the Record SNSM. The crowd could clearly see a concentrating Franck Cammas at the helm, who calmly gave his orders to his crew as they sheeted in or eased the sheets, pulling ahead of Banque Populaire. Alongside skipper Franck Cammas, navigator Stève Ravussin regularly consulted his computer, avoiding the sand banks.
Mike Golding reports good progress on the SNSM race track from onboard the monohull ECOVER 3 "We have really had a bit of everything, and so that has been worthwhile as well. We’ve had up to 17 knots of wind speed but mostly it’s been quite light. We have never really stopped at all in the light. It’ll be interesting tonight although looking at the forecast at the moment there should be breeze through the night."
The yachts should be back at the entrance to the Loire estuary sometime Tuesday.
-- Yacht Skippers for the Record SNSM --
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Xavier Gosselin | AVOCET 50 |
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Eric Dumont | Interoll |
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Jean-Christophe Lair | Restabern |
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Aymeric de Chezelles | Corsair Marine |
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Jean-Baptiste Fédide | Magic Hécalou |
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Damien Grimont | Monbato |
| Wilfrid Clerton | CG MER | |
| Christian Chardonnal | Neurodon.fr | |
|
Loïck Peyron | Gitana Eighty |
| Le Mutin | Le Mutin | |
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Jean-François Queldan | Naos |
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Jean-Baptiste Fedide | Magic Hecalou |
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Martin Guillaume | 600 vies sauvées |
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Lalou Roucayrol | Port-Médoc Hello Doc |
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Olivier Rabine | IxFun |
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Franck Cammas | Groupama 2 |
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Pascal Bidegorry | Banque Populaire IV |
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Jean-Pierre Dick | Paprec Virbac |
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Mike Golding | Ecover 3 |
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Bernard Stamm | Cheminées Poujoulat |
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Jean Le Cam | VM Matériaux |
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Jérémie Beyou | Delta Dore |
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Michel Desjoyeaux | Foncia |
| Pen Duick VI | Pen Duick VI | |
| Pen Duick V | Pen Duick V | |
| Pen Duick II | Pen Duick II | |
| Pen Duick | Pen Duic |
- KH for YachtPals
Story Photo: Record SNSM at the docks by Pascal Desroch.
Video: Interview with Franck Cammas and the crew of Groupama 2 at the docks in Saint Nazaire. Interviews in French and English. Sailing Groupama 2 at the start of the Record SNSM.
Interviews de l'équipage de Groupama 2, enregistrées à bord pendant le convoyage vers Saint Nazaire pour la semaine du record SNSM.
Submitted By YachtPals on 23 Jun
Record SNSM, France, the record SNSM, SNSM, SNSM sailing, SNSM record, yachts, sailing, Loïck Peyron, Michel Desjoyeaux, Franck Cammas
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Gitana Eighty at the Record SNSM - Loïck Peyron
We were a bit behind at the start yesterday, but we quickly got up with the leading pack. As the routing indicated prior to casting off, we had a play around the bay of Quiberon last night. There were a fair number of manoeuvres but it was close racing on the water and that makes things very interesting.
As we passed the Ile de Groix, off Lorient, we must have got caught up on a fishing pot, and we had to do a fine little reverse manoeuvre under the cover of darkness to get ourselves free. However everything is going very well aboard Gitana Eighty on the whole.
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