Getting ready for a hurricane...
L'Hermione is heading to Brest, for her grand return on August 10. Having left Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon on July 24, she encountered difficult sailing conditions. Contrary to the outward journey, the crew expected to encounter some hazards in the North Atlantic. On August 3, a low-pressure system, expected and hoped for a long time, was announced, to propel the ship towards the French coast.
Indeed, unlike our modern sailing ships of today, the old rigs only sail with a tailwind. That's why Yann Cariou and his crew had to wait for a low-pressure system to move forward. But in the end, everything did not go as planned. On Wednesday, July 29, 24 hours before the arrival of the low-pressure system, it turned into a hurricane.
"The last 48 hours will probably remain in our memories for the rest of our lives. Wednesday 29th, around 10:30 pm, the notice came down. The low we wanted to hang on to had just changed its classification. After having sucked in two other lows, it became a hurricane. On the bridge, it's all hands on deck" says Loïc Bailliard, on the Hermione's blog.
In the video that retraces these 48 "memorable" hours experienced by the whole crew, we can see the commander Yann Cariou, a touch of anxiety in his voice, briefing the deck crew "A hurricane, ça pas rigole, c'est pas une tempête! A storm we can stillâeuros¦ This boat is not made to face a hurricane! It's simple, it's not made for that. Don't joke about it, don't take it lightly."
... Which turns into a storm
The 80 crew members and the commander were prepared to have to deal with some very difficult conditions âeuros wind of 70 knots (130 km/h) with gusts between 110 and 120 knots âeuros it was not the case. Finally, a new weather report reclassified the hurricane as a storm, then as a strong gale.
"It's hard to describe a day like the one we just had. It's also hard to put it into words. No matter what we do, the lenses collapse the mountains of water that have passed under our keel and the words do not have the strength of a gust of wind at 45 knots. Many eyes were lost in this majestic swell reaching 7 meters established at the strongest. If one feels small when crossing an ocean, one feels frankly tiny in front of these waves as beautiful, attractive and dangerous as the sirens of the Odyssey. When we see them breaking over the passers-by, when the wake of L'Hermione seems to undulate before our eyes on the steep paths of a hill in perpetual motion, when we find ourselves almost lying on the deck in order to compensate for the roll, when we see the tips of the cannons skimming the surface of the water, when the deck trembles under our feet as the frigate accelerates while surfing the waves, we feel more alive than ever." reports again, the journalist, on the blog of the frigate.
And this storm was the opportunity for the replica of the La Fayette frigate to break a new speed record, with a peak of 13.3 knots reached twice during the day and nearly 11 knots average with 130 miles covered in 12 hours. The previous record was 12.7 knots during the 2014 sea trials. "Between midnight Thursday and midnight Friday, we had even finally exceeded 240 nautical miles in 24 hours, averaging 10 knots!" reports the blog.
Photo credits: Loïc Bailliard / Association Hermione La Fayette
