In late September, the weather was like summer in Port Laf’. Brilliant sunshine, flat calm seas and a twelve knot ESE’ly wind. Ideal racing conditions. Five boats all from the latest generation with the exception of Marc Guillemot’s Safran, were sailed double-handed as they get ready for the Transat Jacques Vabre. After a warm-up day to get into the swing of things, and where they could practice, there were two days of offshore sailing with one night spent at sea.

During these three days of training, a few little details could be noted. Firstly that Armel Le Cléac’h, 2nd in the last Vendée Globe, was already well in tune with his Banque Populaire (ex-Foncia): he won one of the two coastal races by going for a daring option close to shore. Bernard Stamm’s brand new Cheminées Poujoulat (designed by Juan K) also seemed to be at ease, confirming her good result in this summer’s Fastnet Race. As for young François Gabart on his brand new Macif, he also won a coastal race, benefiting from advice given to him by Michel Desjoyeaux, who has been helping him get to know the boat. Interestingly, Marc Guillemot’s Safran, although older, compares well with the younger generation of boats. He finished second in both of the coastal races and ahead of the boat built using the same mould on both occasions, Vincent Riou’s PRB. All of the boats were able to test their new sails (during this course, they went through the whole range of sails and took advantage of the opportunity to sort out some minor details during manoeuvres and concerning boat handling. The quest for performance for the next Vendée Globe has already begun and as Marc Guillemot says, “Everyone here is a serious contender for the podium in the transatlantic race and the Vendée Globe, so it was bound to be interesting.”