Light to moderate conditions forecast raise no major fears for Sunday's Transat CIC start
by The Transat CIC 25 Apr 12:57 PDT
28 April 2024
Alexis Courcoux village © Alexis Courcoux
As all of the Transat CIC skippers convened this morning at Lorient's La Base for the main briefing before Sunday's start of the 3,500 miles solo race across the North Atlantic to New York, ideas about the weather which will prevail on start day are the main topic of discussion as well as the routing strategies over the first few days.
The key message seems to be that, in stark contrast to the recent ballistic Autumn starts on to the Bay of Biscay of the likes of the Route du Rhum and the Transat Jacques Vabre, there will be no initial gales to contend with, rather a relatively light winds start followed by one modest frontal system.
Emerging from the briefing Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), one of the top three favourites, explained "The global models have not really converged yet but we will start in a SW or NW breeze with some light winds over the first night and then from Tuesday we will be SW of a low pressure with quite gusty, squally conditions with very cold air. And then we will be sailing for less than 24 hours in a N'ly breeze before a ridge, a big no-winds line to cross. Then there will be some decent SW'ly breeze. There does not seem to be any southerly route opening. That NW'ly will be cold and squally and can be tough. I feel really good and am so happy to be back racing and ready to take on a race I have been looking forwards to for a long time. It will be my first time ever in New York and so I am really looking forwards to arriving by sea on my boat."
The German skipper who has sailed more miles on his IMOCA than most of the other skippers, and has new foils fitted to his VPLP design to help improve his upwind performance, Boris Herrmann is looking forwards to taking on this historic course, one which he cut his teeth on in 2008 in Class40.
Herrman said today "It is going to be a race of details. You encounter more than one system and it is how you deal with them will determine how you do. There are a series of things you can do well or less well. And so there will be places to get a second chance, and then another chance. Hopefully it will be a bit more even across the race course. This will be a hard race, I think everyone will go full on. Now is the time to find weak points. The weather does now look too bad for the start. I most worry about the starts when these boats are now 12 metres wide, with both foils out we are 14 metres wide and when we have wind and the bow goes up then you can't see a lot. So I am happy with that. It looks OK. I am happy to be off the start line and through the first night I can send it. And I like the look of this course, there will be lots of transitions, systems and chances."
Key points today
- The conditions look particularly benign for Sunday's 1330hrs local time start before the passage of a first depression on Tuesday
- 150 m2 of exhibition space in the village is dedicated to players in sailing transport who contribute to boosting the sector
Cyrile Duchesne of Météo Consult spoke at the briefing of a "depression centered in the North Sea with a moderate, slightly irregular westerly flow". In essence this system is fading and so conditions on Sunday should be decent, even enjoyable for the start.
FOCUS ON... Sail powered maritime transport promoted in the Village
OC Sport Pen Duick and CIC, Title Partner of the race, supports several initiatives which pursue the decarbonization of marine transport and so fulfilling a very important global objective with its sporting partnerships. And so they wanted to put sail powered maritime transport in the spotlight at the Start Village of The Transat CIC.
A 150 m2 space, set up in partnership with the CIC, Bretagne Développement Innovation (BDI), Wind Ship and Audélor, is dedicated to the theme in the heart of the race Start Village. From Tuesday to Sunday, the general public can discover an exhibition which allows them to learn more about maritime transport and the reasons why it is important to decarbonize it. This exhibition also presents existing technical solutions as well as those in the testing phase, as well as models of cargo sailboats. The objective: to show that boats are already using this type of solution and that they work. A tablet game, which allows you to complete the course of The Transat CIC with a cargo sailboat, raises awareness among children.
Increasing the profile of sail powered maritime transport solutions, SeaKite, Wisamo Michelin and ACC Wing will symbolically start The Transat CIC under sail at 25 minutes ahead of the fleet to "show that boats which use technical solutions aimed at decarbonizing maritime transport exist and can sail," says Stéphane Bourrut Lacouture, CSR Manager at OC Sport Pen Duick.
Virtual Regatta Offshore. Ready to go!
Like the 48 competitors competing in The Transat CIC, thousands of eSkippers will set off on the transatlantic between Lorient and New York on Sunday April 28 at 1:30 p.m. As in every event organized by OC Sport Pen Duick, Virtual Regatta, the official game of the race, will allow players to compete virtually against the greatest sailors and their peers on the same course and in the same conditions as the IMOCA skippers, Class40 and Vintage category (trimaran). And as in every race, everyone will be able to equip their boats to optimize both playing comfort and performance. "We are delighted to be the official game of The Transat CIC, to continue our partnership with OC Sport Pen Duick, and to be able to offer the Virtual Regatta community the opportunity to participate virtually in a legendary ocean adventure," rejoices Tom Gauthier, general manager of Virtual Regatta.
They said:
Sébastien Marsset (FOUSSIER, IMOCA): "I'm super confident and happy. The Village is nice, our partners day yesterday was too. The start weather looks good. It's going to be a great race."
Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB, IMOCA): "I'm happy. The boat is pretty ready. I think it's going to be an interesting race. The weather forecast looks interesting, with conditions not too bad to leave. We were afraid a few days ago that it would be a little muscular and complicated but it seems to be clearing up in a good way. Afterwards, it remains a committed course on the North Atlantic with a very northern route upwind and into the weather systems. So the good news is we are not going to be caught by 50 knots of wind. These are conditions that I like. There will probably be a lot going on, a lot of transitions, maneuvers, changes, so I don't think we'll get bored. I can not wait to be there."
Paul Meilhat (Biotherm, IMOCA): "The weather has become slightly clearer and is rather easier compared to what we experienced at the start of spring. It's always easier to set off in medium conditions and we should access the northerly route easier. It will be a fast race because it is shorter than a Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe for example and we are often close to the direct route, even when upwind. Everyone will put the cursor where they want in terms of rhythm. In terms of strategy, it will be more open than in the trade winds so it will be interesting. We will have to be precise in the trajectories and sail choices, it promises to be intense. I'm rediscovering solo racing I've I've only done the Route du Rhum in six years. I want to learn to sail again on my own! The fight is going to be awesome!"
Ollie Heer (Oliver Heer Ocean Racing IMOCA): "Since this morning the forecast are light, maybe even sub 10 knots at the start. Then on Tuesday a frontal system coming through that we maybe see 30kts. After that we will tack and there is no major depression on the horizon which will bring 45 knots, and so for I am happy with that which I saw on every major race last year and the year before. I am so looking forwards to getting out and going yachting."
See new Boris Herrmann interview on the website at www.thetransat.com/en