Mixed fortunes

As racers in the Transat Quebec St Malo try to exit from the Gulf of St Lawrence

Light and lighter airs. In these conditions the fleet of the 7th Transat Quebec Saint Malo not loking likely to beat any speed records, the exception perhaps of the trimaran Crêpes Whaou! which has gained massive separation from the fleet and is closing on the archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. As they head towards the open ocean, the remaining 26 crews are making laborious progress in the waters of Saint Lawrence Bay. In the multihull class, the deficits on Crêpes Whaou! are increasing, while the Class 40s bunched up dramatically at the passage of Percé. Off Gaspé peninsula the race restarted at dawn this morning as they set a new course for Newfoundland 330 miles ahead…

The fog is back, but Crêpes Whaou! continues to lead through Cabot Strait between Cap Breton, the northern tip Nova Scotia and Newfoundland's Cap Ray, At around 1000 GMT, Escoffier’s trimaran had given away virtually no ground, heading for the next mark of the course at the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon islands. Escoffier's closest pursuer, Laiterie de Saint-Malo (Victorien Erussard), at this stage was some 120 miles behind.

“We had light conditions throughout the night. At the moment the wind is picking up a little. We have 17-18 knots and are sailing close to the wind which is set to veer. We are 78 miles from Saint-Pierre et Miquelon and I hope we’re going to make it on a single tack”, confided the skipper from Saint Malo at today’s radio session. He envisaged making the 3 mile corridor between the islands late this afternoon or early evening.

Alone up front, the others behind, the multihull fleet have split wide apart. At the 1300 UT ranking this Thursday, Délirium skippered by Hervé de Carlan had not yet rounded the Percé rock and had racked up a 330 miles deficit on the leader.

Pascal Quintin on Forget Formation added: “Conditions are a bit too light for our liking. After Percé and île de Bonne-Aventure, it was really laborious. Last night, even the 40 footers made gains on us. We’re really hoping the conditions will improve: close-hauled in light airs is not our favourite point of sail. The forecasts are announcing SW’lies: provided that they kick in pretty soon! However, it’s true that we’re likely to have more beating on the cards as far as Saint-Pierre. Getting back with Crêpes Whaou! or Laiterie de Saint Malo feels like mission impossible, but we fully intend to play with Imagine. What more could we wish for? Ideal conditions for Forget Formation: 15 knots on the beam on flat seas...”

In the Class 40s, after experiencing the worst of the light conditions as they tried to round Percé, which the majority of them managed under the cover of darkness, some 24 hours after Crêpes Whaou!, the fleet effectively restarted, with just 30 miles of separation between first and last.

Today’s scheds have shown a complete turnabout with every report but it is clear that conditions this morning favoured the tailenders who were able to see the pitfalls that lay ahead. As a result Novedia Group (Tanguy De Lamotte) came right up through the fleet to pole position ahead of the Italian leader Giovanni Soldini ( Télécom Italia), but the duo have both since tumbled 8 miles back from the head of the fleet.

On Belgua Racer, Meike Schomäker updated us: “Day 3 of our trip. Beluga Racer was making 7.8 knots of boat speed under the moonlight last night as we sail ever further along the Saint Lawrence and get ever nearer to the Atlantic Ocean. We’re still about 2-3 days from the open sea though. It really is a special transatlantic regatta, as it’s reminiscent of an inshore race initially. Julien has just come up from his warm berth up onto the deck but the night is quiet, contrary to the day. Making 13 knots of speed over the ground in fog can be a little scary when you suddenly hear a warning signal from a passing freighter. Conditions are such that we’re having to do a lot of hand steering. Another interesting part of my first Atlantic crossing is the fact that we had to drop anchor briefly at the start as the wind was so gentle in relation to a strong current on the nose. Today the mood onboard is good as we have high hopes. The main thing will be getting out of the river so we’re focused on escaping the Saint Lawrence!”

Designer/sailor Sam Manuard on Novedia Group explained their good fortune: “It’s amazing that we’ve come back into the match at the head of the fleet; it’s really incredible. We lost 10hrs 30 mins through running aground and the adventure proved to be fairly perilous. Two days on and we’ve made it right back up through the fleet, which is something we couldn’t have dared hope for. It’s very odd! We’re fairly at ease in terms of speed, but above all we’re sailing flat out and aren’t taking our foot off the accelerator. We rounded Percé by nightfall and the pierced rock is certainly imposing and strange. We’ve still got a good way to go from Gaspésie to Saint-Pierre and it’s not very wide yet. Between here and Newfoundland we’re going to have to tackle a wind shift…”

While Giovanni Soldini on Telecom Italia has been pulling his hair out: “The past 48 hrs have been very difficult and it was hell in the calm conditions. We were stuck fast, powerless as the others made up the ground on us and then we all got going again together. We’re hoping for the wind to establish itself a little more as we’ve had calm conditions since the start, changing tack and never on a direct course. We’re going to need some wind or we’ll just get stuck here for a month. We’re itching to get into the Atlantic and more stable winds. It’s nice to be sailing together. We’re trimming and focussing on speed. The easterly wind looks set to shift round to the southeast, east and then souh and we’ve got 10 knots of breeze, which isn’t catastrophic. There’s fog and humidity but we’re doing fine and the pace is sure to pick up.”

Halvard Mabire on Pogo Structures added: “We were prepared for a new start to the race from Percé but it would have been good if we’d had a committee boat (laughs). We’re all neck and neck and it feels a little as if all the hard work which was done on the way down the Saint Lawrence has been reduced to nothing… We rounded Percé in the early hours (0430 UT) with a full moon and a blanket of stars: it was really very pretty. And here we are back in the murky conditions, but it looks like we’re heading towards the banks of Newfoundland, so we shouldn’t be too surprised. We have Mistral Loisirs just ahead of us and Télécom Italia and Tanguy aboard his jet fighter ( Novedia Group) aren’t far away. The back of the fleet has really sprung back on us. We’re still close-hauled as ever and I’m not going to hazard a guess as regards the ETA in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon...”

The good news of the day comes from Saint-Malo Team, the large monohull skippered by Denis Douillez which was forced to make a stopover in Matane, on the Gaspé coast to have her mainsail track repaired. After completing the necessary work with the support of the locals, they are ready to head back into the race. The Douillez writes: “On arriving in Matane yesterday we were a little demoralised as we wondered how we could get the necessary parts - two metres of track, plus 15 inserts - being over 800 km from Montreal. That was before we considered the kindness of the inhabitants of Matane. In addition we were given fresh supplies of drinks and smalls desserts. We should set out again this evening with the promise that we will return here one day”.