The big part of the third stage has begun. With great strides, spinnakers sent, Berrehar, Bourgnon and Morvan open the route to cross the Channel.
On board the Bateau Express
The wind has really just freshened as the head of the fleet, now reduced to 32 units after the official retirement of the Spaniard Pep Costa ((VSF Sports Sailing), has quickly passed Ouessant. Since the intermediate sprint of the Occidentale de Sein, shortly after 5 a.m., crediting them with 5, 3 and 1 minutes, Basile Bourgon (Edenred), Loïs Berrehar (Skipper Macif 2022) and Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne-CMB Performance) have seriously extended the charge pace by hoisting their balloon sails. And this should last for many hours until the first course mark on the English coast, 130 miles away. Behind the scouts, catching up with the wagon will not be easy. Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan), leader of the provisional general classification, with only 2 miles behind the triumvirate, is keeping up the pace well in the company of Alexis Loison (Groupe REEL) and Hugo Dhallenne (YCSL-Primatice-SLB Pharma).
The Irishman was preparing for the coming trench fight before daybreak: “I’m happy to finally be at the end of Brittany, it was starting to take a long time. I’m taking advantage of it to take a few more naps, as long as the conditions allow. The sea is flat at the moment but after Ouessant it’s going to start to change with the wind picking up. It’s going to be rough. I’m going to take advantage of a little boost in the Fromveur passage to head north. We should all get through it in theory. The next step is to preserve the boat and the guy, it’s going to go very quickly. I already have an idea of what I’m going to do but I’ll have to choose my sails carefully. I’ve already equipped myself with my dry suit. We have 20 knots of wind on a flat sea at 100° from the real, we’re sailing at 12-13 knots, it’s going quickly, it’s starting to get a bit wet.”
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Basile Bourgnon, the great disappointment of the 2e stage with almost 3 hours of delay in the general classification, seemed fresh to impose the tempo: “We had to be on deck last night because depending on the clouds, the wind was changing quite a bit. In this little game, I managed to stay in front. Now, we’re starting the bulk of this stage. You’ve just told me that the intermediate sprint was on the western side, so much the better. It’s important, we’ll see that at the end. We changed the course which means that the angles are no longer the same. We have a big long tack up to the first waypoint where we have to go and there, I’m taking a few naps to be sure to be fresh on this tack later. We have 20 knots of wind, on the beam, with the swell on the beam too but not very big yet. It will gradually deepen throughout the day to 2.5 m. The wind will crescendo up to 30 knots or even more in the gusts. It’s still quite strong wind for our small boats. Since I’m going to be at the helm at that time, I have to make sure I have all the energy I can to be ready.”
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He was going to pass in front of his house, at Aber Wrac’h, Gaston Morvan was also preparing to wear the heavy helmet: “I fought all night with Edenred and Macif. Until the passage of the Occidentale de Sein, we didn’t know who was going to take the time bonuses. I was a little bit off at one point and that deprived me of first place. This time bonus had allowed me to move up to second in the general classification in Royan. There, in the Iroise Sea, the wind is starting to pick up, it’s slipping well. We haven’t had much time to sleep since the start. The wind was so unstable that I haven’t closed my eyes much. Maybe later under large or small spinnaker, I don’t know yet. I have an idea for passing the islands, the game will open up after in my opinion. With the change of course, I redid the routings but I don’t have all the timings in mind. So I don’t know when we’ll arrive at Portland Bill.»
The great ride towards perfidious Albion could begin. Preserve the equipment, be attentive to maritime traffic, put the accelerator handle in the corner or not. The tasks were going to be numerous for this first crossing of the Channel.
