With seven months to go before the Vendée Globe starts, Marc Guillemot is getting ready for a three-day and three-night solo sailing. The Safran skipper is leaving on Thursday for a 800-nautical mile training route that will take him to « The Rock », the legendary Fastnet lighthouse in Ireland, before he comes back to La Trinité-sur-Mer by night, between Saturday and Sunday.

This is a quite intensive sailing that is « interesting » to him. The wind should actually be medium on Thursday after the low tide (about fifteen knots at the start), the west to northwest winds could go up to 30 knots and the Breton wind could make the sea rougher. « Basically, I will have a close-hauled route (editor’s note: facing the wind) until I get to the Fastnet. It won’t be very comfortable but sailing back under downwind is what I’m really interested in because it’s usually tough wind conditions and difficult sea, which makes a big difference. It will be a great test for the auto-pilot, among other things », Marc Guillemot explains on the website of his sailing team (safran-sailingteam.com). Determined to get used to Vendée Globe sailing conditions, the skippers adds: « The goal is always the same: Sail for as many nautical miles as possible in an environement that’s as close as the real race conditions as possible. That’s the only way to become more serene, more confident and to have the right reactions when you face the same things during the race. »

That training session is also the Breton’s first solo sailing since he raced in the Transat B to B in December. Let’s just hope that what he sees as his own « back-to-school period » will allow him to reach his goal of « reaching 90 to 95% of the boat’s polars (editor’s note: the theoretical speed evaluation), which is quite challenging for a yachtsman sailing solo », and to be ready for his round-the-world race in November.
 

On Wednesday, the Port-Camargue-based skipper left Algiers, where he had arrived on Saturday after sailing solo across the Mediterranean Sea for a training session. Several hours later, he was already very far from the Algerian coast as a strong westerly wind helped him sail between the Balearic Islands during the night and to approach Barcelona on Thursday. He will have to finish his route under head wind and took the opportunity to send a message through his official website (www.beltchiztour.com) : « Our nice stay in Algeria went just fine. Bel Algeria gave us the best welcome, the celebrations were great. A big thank you to François-Xavier, Mustapha and Gwen for dealing with the last-minute details and for keeping smiling throughout it all! And of course, a huge thank you to all the Bel staff for giving me the thumbs up!»

Arnaud Boissières and his monohull AKENA Vérandas, which recently received its new mast, were supposed to go for their first offshore sailing session on Tuesday. But the session has been delayed and it is now scheduled for Friday April 20th because of security and technical reasons. « We eventually had to reschedule the sailing session, ‘‘ Cali ’’ explains. Despite the hard work we did over the week-end, we won't be ready technically. Besides, Tuesday should be a very windy day so next Friday is also a safer option for us. We have a brand new equipment and with the strong wind forecast, we need to limit the risks as much as possible. We're not really worried but this first session includes tricky operations like climbing up the mast. So it won't just be a nice moment at sea, but a very technical session indeed. That's why we don't want to take too much risk. »

The Paris Marathon took place on April 15 and the world of sailing in general, and of the Vendée Globe in particular, was present in the race. Tanguy de Lamotte was actually at the start of the Paris Marathon to run in the Kilometers of the Heart operation launched by Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque, de Lamotte’s partner in the last Solidaire du Chocolat transatlantic race. The association’s goal is to allow children born with a heart defect in underprivileged countries to undergo heart surgery in France. It was the ninth consecutive edition of the operation, making it possible for celebrities and more anonymous individuals to run the Kilometers of the Heart – the first six kilometers of the race run a few minutes before the official start - while wearing the colors of the association.

Tanguy de Lamotte, who is hoping to be at the start of the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe in November, was among the celebrities running with the winners of the Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque prize competition, along with PPDA, Marc Raquil, Sylvie Tellier, Sylvain Marconnet, Taïg Khris or former pole vaulter Jean Galfione, who just finished seventh of the Solidaire du Chocolat with Tanguy. Let’s hope for the Lorient-based skipper that this running session for the good cause will help him with his physical preparation and will give him the extra energy needed to close his project and participate in the upcoming Vendée Globe…
 

After the first training sessions of the Finistère Offshore Racing team last week, François Gabart (MACIF) said he was happy and relieved. As the youngest skipper to have officially registered for the next Vendée Globe, he draws attention and was able to compete against five other boats. « Sailing conditions were good, there was quite a lot of wind pushing the boat hard. The sea was agitated, which is what we get often during races, so that was really interesting, he explains on macifcourseaularge.com. I'm glad we were able to do that, with boats quite close to each other when it comes to performance. We were always in visual contact with each other, like we are in Figaro class races, and you learn a lot from situations like that. I'm still discovering my boat and I'm new to solo sailing so having the best skippers around is the best reference you can get, it helps you get better. »

The young dad is very happy with how well his boat did and he is now going to take a well-deserved short break. « It's a relief to see that all the hard work that was done over the winter is paying off: The boat is doing well and it is going fast. Such sessions help us feel positive and serene. I'm now goign to take a short break to recharge batteries and get some perspective, even though I always have the boat in my mind and I'm already thinking about the next sailings. »
 

Kito de Pavant is in Algeria. Just like he had planned to, he sailed across the Mediterranean Sea at the end of last week, heading to Algiers where he arrived on Saturday morning after 48 hours on Groupe Bel. The main goal of the sailing was to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Bel factory in Algeria. Everything went well at sea on the red and white monohull and « KdP » even had to slow down to make sure he did not arrive at the Algiers port too early. « What a strange night!, de Pavant explains on beltchiztour.com. I spent the entire night doing my best to slow the yacht down because I didn't want to be early. Gwen had received extremely clear instructions from the Algiers port authorities, my arrival had to take place between 9 and 10 AM on Saturday. It's even more precise than a train schedule!!!! »

During that short solo sailing, the Hérault-based skipper had a nice and unexpected encounter: « Last night (Friday), the sun came back as I was sailing off the coast of Ibiza and a small group of dolphins came by to say hi. The weather remained great all night long but the strong west wind (30 knots) made me sail faster so I had to trim sails and I ended up with only my mainsail with two reefs. You could barely make out the cow on the sail but Groupe Bel was still going 15 knots. So finally I decided to go southwest to make my route much longer but then the waves got in my way and forced me to ballast the boat to stop it from hitting the waves so strongly! A skipepr's life can be weird sometimes... »