Big speeds and broken rudders

Transat Quebec-St Malo fleet now out into the Atlantic proper

The majority of the fleet in the Transat Quebec-St Malo have now crossed the Grand Banks, with its mix of fog, shallow water, fishing boats and cargo ships and are out into the open Atlantic.

Today has come the worst news yet in the race - the broken rudder on Victorien Erussard's 50ft trimaran Laiterie de Saint-Malo - a cruel blow for this young crew, who have been working flat out to make up the ground they lost on race leader Crepes Whaou! in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Under the influence of a low up to the north and generating westerly downwind conditions so Franck-Yves Escoffier's red trimaran Crêpes Whaou! has covered 320 miles over the past 24 hours. In their wake, Laiterie de Saint Malo was also benefitting from the conditions, as they attempted to get the most out of their 20 year old steed.

However a collision with what was probably a whale put an end to their race, as skipper Victorien Erussard recounts: “We were making 22-23 knots. I was down below with Loïc Escoffier. We had made up some ground on Crêpes Whaou! and were discussing our strategy for the coming hours. Loïc Fequet was at the helm. We felt a violent impact and were thrown a good metre. Nobody was injured, but turning back to look at our wake we saw a whale… and the rudder. We didn’t see much more after that as we struggled to slow the boat down. Spirits are pretty low. We’ve installed an emergency rudder, but it is better suited to crossing a bay rather than the Atlantic. I don’t have much confidence in it. We have dropped the mainsail and we’re making headway under ORC which we’re trimming to help the helm. We are 350 miles from Cape Race (SE of Newfoundland). We’re going to have to make it back by our own means and we’ve only got 40 litres of diesel and only 5 days of food left. We were right in the action and were beginning to think of the finish on home waters. The race is now over and going home just won’t be the same…”

Among the 50ft multihulls the catamaran Délirium has also suffered a similar misfortune breaking her port rudder (however she has two...). 600 miles behind Crêpes Whaou!, skipper Hervé de Carlan and his crew are today bringing up the rear of the 50 foot multihull fleet off Cape Race. They have been joined by the IMOCA Open 60 monohull Cervin ENR. Yannick Bestaven and his crew are now back in the race after a 24 hour pitstop to the south of Newfoundland to repair the port rudder bearing, that too damaged by an encounter with another whale …

“The locals of the little village of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, were really great and very kind," recounted Bestaven for whom this damage does not come at a good time, prior to the start of the Vendee Globe. "We had to moor in the port, because there were no pontoons or anything so we had to skim the rocks a little. We didn’t do any serious damage though! We had pretty much everything we needed aboard in terms of carbon etc and we eventually managed to get 4l of resin from a fisherman, who was a little loathe to give it to us initially just in case he needed it himself. The repairs to the bearing took a while as we had to clean up the hole first and then try and get some extra tools from the locals. We then set about sticking the rudder bearing back together which took us most of the day by the time we’d got the necessary material ready. Then the resin took quite a while to dry given the high humidity levels. We then reinforced the area around the bearing by which point it was 4am, so we left if to dry while we slept for four hours as we were all really tired. In our 24 hours there we probably saw - an hour of sunshine but other than that we were fogbound so we didn’t really get a chance to do any sightseeing or even eat a nice lobster!”

Among the Class 40s the racing remains as intense as ever. After the challenges they have faced since the start of the race, into the open Atlantic with Newfoundland behind them, they are into a long drag race, flat out under spinnaker.

After passing through the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon islands in thick fog and fickle breeze, the crews are enjoying having the pedal to the metal. Across the fleet, the boats are in double figure speed and spirits are high as Miranda Merron on 40 Degrees states: “The boat’s great! We’re flying along the Grand Banks and we can now see for half a mile which is brilliant! It’s raining but the visibility is much better. We had 25 knots which wasn’t bad but now it’s down to 20. Sea conditions are very pleasant and quite flat with little waves to surf down - really very nice conditions, apart from no sunshine obviously! This is why we came here to do this race - to go downwind fast. We saw a tiny bit of the very north of Saint Pierre and it looked stunning. We really enjoyed the first part of the race - it was fantastic. It’s a great race as it’s so varied. I think those up front will keep the good wind for longer but that could all change. It’s a very good atmosphere aboard and the boat’s running very well. Everyone’s really enjoying it!”

Among the Class 40s, Giovanni Soldini and his Italian crew on Télécom Italia are setting the pace, while Halvard Mabire on his latest generation Pogo 40S is still managing to shadow them, two miles to the north. The latter has covered 260 miles in 24 hours in these favourable downwind conditions…

Cecile Poujol ( Destination Calais) gave her impressions from the race course: “Conditions have changed quite a lot. For the first 5 days we were tacking in light winds, in general with everyone side by side. We had to keep close watch on what was happening around us to check everything was alright etc. We passed Saint Pierre and Miquelon yesterday which was great. The fog lifted just as we got there and closed in behind us afterwards. Since then it’s been a cavalcade to the Atlantic in the fog again. We know the others aren’t directly beside us so we can concentrate more on the getting the boat making headway. Having 4 people on board is quite nice as we’ve had a bit on since the start and this way there are always 2 people on deck. We try to eat together and all the decisions relating to the weather are taken together too. The boat’s in tip top condition and the sailing is great as we’re moving fast along the route.”