After leaving the quay in La Trinité, the Ultim Actual Leader set sail for the start of the 2019 Armen Race Uship. We are on board and have taken full advantage of the start up. Now let's get started.
Reduced course on the ArMen Race
The race committee has decided to reduce the distance to 210 minutes due to the high pressure centre, and its erratic winds that stay quietly on the axis of the course.
Departure from La Trinité sur Mer, heading towards a virtual mark to be bypassed at the height of the chaussée de Sein, return to La Trinité sur Mer to cross the finish line.
If everything goes as planned, we should go upwind in light airs and go upwind in light airs, but between the two, a zone of calm awaits us..
Routing at rock level for the Ultim Actual Leader
On this 32 m trimaran, it only takes one step to pass from the winches to the chart table. Indeed, the life cell is on the same level as the manoeuvring area. From the inside, the ovoid shape of the roof reminds me a little of the cockpit of an aircraft cockpit.
Yves settles at the chart table. It sits in the living cell where there is also a quarter bunk, the lazarette and a small stove. Facing his giant screen, he prepares the routing of the race on the Adrena software.
Depending on the weather models, the forecasts are quite different. It's not easy to set up a stratégie?! However, ours is taking shape: to look for - for this start of the regatta - more wind pressure near the land. This means: many manoeuvres along the coast and changes of tack in light airs. Not ideal for these "machines", made for offshore at high speed, not for rocker transfers.
Only importe?! It is the same for our competitors Sodebo Ultim' 3 and Maxi Edmond de Rothschild. The main difference, to their advantage, is that they have two columns of coffee grinders making their manoeuvres twice as fast.
Departure imminent!
We're sailing a little off the line, as the 8 Imoca and the Multi 50 are getting ready to start.
The entire crew is manoeuvring to prepare the Ultim for the first tack of the race: foil insertion, neutral rudder rack, upwind angulation of the mast, tilting of the rig to the wind and adjustment of the drift depth.
An Ultim more than any other boat requires a lot of anticipation.
We are sailing under D1. It is a large genoa with light winds that will be used during the beginning of the regatta. Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant gave all the instructions to the crew while Yves Le Blévec was at the chart table.
Back to the line, Yves asked the crew:" Does anyone have a watch for the départ? countdown?"
This joke illustrates the difference between these great sailors and those from the Olympic sailing world, with the time still on the wrist. Fortunately, Kevin Bloch is the man for the job. He taped his watch to the coffee grinder column to keep the countdown under his eyes and hands busy.
The countdown is lancé?!
In this crew reigns a confusing form of relaxation. You can feel the experience and mastery of tall ships.
Everything is there différent?! The scale obviously, the velocity certainly, the accelerations without a doubt. But above all, there is this strange gap between the immobile world of the miniature boats that populate the bay and us, who literally seem to fly over them at high speed.
The visual watch must be extremely attentive as the closing speeds are high. In addition, some boaters may be a little panicked by the sight of these giant boats.
With four minutes to go, we are finally - and for the first time - close to the other two giants and it's really impressionnant?!
Two minutes before the start, we luff crosswind. The 32m trimaran is frankly accelerating, no time to realize what's happening. We are at more than 15 n?uds?!
The Ultim has finally come to life, and resonates. The sails deliver all the power of the wind and more. The listening becomes stiff and crumbles under the effect of enormous tensions. The sound of the wake increases as much as the apparent wind, the appendages whistle and the adrenaline rises.
To position ourselves on the line, we pass behind Thomas Coville (Sodebo Ultim' 3) and Franck Camas (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild) who are already upwind.
30 seconds from the start. The sails are planked flat, they give their maximum power. We're upwind. We are the 3 Ultims, the 3 giants of the seas, the 3 32 m trimarans sailing side by side. 5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1
Good start, good départ?! So it's true, I'm not dreaming, it's a race start in Ultim.
On-board navigation between Actual Leader, Sodebo and Gitana
Immediately, the Actual team immersed itself in the search for performance. The sensory sensors of each crew member are fully available to make the most of this boat that Yves and his crew are discovering.
We sail in a grouped fleet, it's both impressive and rewarding. We observe our competitors: Sodebo Ultim' 3 seems fast, but we have Maxi Edmond de Rothschild.
To get out of Quiberon Bay, we head for the Teignouse Passage. The wind is blowing at 12/14 knots, upwind the Ultims are sailing at the same speed as this wind. It is perhaps at this precise moment that the wind will blow the strongest during all our ArMen Race.
Yves informs us that we will soon be firing. With the J2 in position on its structural forestay, the large genoa will have difficulty moving over the other tack, so we will roll the sail during the tack, unroll it on the other tack and bend. Let's remember that the Actual team is still in the discovery phase of the boat.
One loss to turn is enough to become Ultim hunters
During this first manoeuvre, the speed of the Ultim, which until then had seemed unstoppable, dropped dramatically.
However hard the crew may be on the coffee grinder column, the winding of the J1 is not fast enough and the large trimaran is stopping in front of the wind like a common HC 16. Yves announces that he has "lost" the boat, which means that the water no longer attaches to the appendages, we are no longer manoeuvrable and in line with the wind.
And it's like on an HC 16 that we're going to get out of this bad situation. The Ultim starts to abut, Yves reverses the rudders, the crew shocks the GV trolley and listens to it.
We go a little backwards and away from the wind axis. The J1 is inflating again, the trimaran stops her retreat, drops and then starts moving forward again, slowly. The sheets are stretched again, the arms are heated on the coffee grinder column and Actual Leader finally restarts.
In the battle against the wind, we lost contact with our comrades, but it is only the beginning of the race and the weather forecasts suggest that there will still be many twists and turns.
We are the hunters and are ready to take advantage of any opportunity to get ahead of our competitors.
