Category: Franck Cammas

Exactly one week on from the first weather window, which was ultimately rejected, the crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild has seen another departure opportunity taking shape offshore of Ushant from late in the day on Tuesday. As such, this morning, in agreement with their onshore router Marcel van Triest and Cyril Dardashti, the director of the five-arrow racing stable, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier have triggered code orange among their crew and Gitana Team.

“This looks like a promising window with a very fine passage time to the equator for the moment. The idea is to set sail from the north-west tip of Brittany once an Atlantic front has rolled through. The coming days will enable us to adjust this target window, but today we’re aiming at crossing the start line on Tuesday night through into Wednesday,” confided Charles Caudrelier.

 

 

This information is naturally intended to be viewed simply as a possibility. Indeed, the episode last week, which saw a deterioration in the target departure window, serves as a reminder of this. In terms of weather and the record hunting, things can change very quickly in one direction or another. As a result, through until the point where the virtual start line is crossed offshore of Le Créac’h lighthouse, on the island of Ushant, the men of Gitana Team may well decide to postpone their departure and turn back.

“This launch window is one of the only things we can really choose in this record attempt so we’re putting in every effort to get it right. This choice has implications for the first third of the course, through until the Cape of Good Hope, which is already a very sizeable chunk. It’s a long way, as we’re talking about a forecast of over 10 days, but this does come into play in our departure criteria. We’re after optimum conditions to have a manageable departure, a quick trajectory towards the equator and then the right timing to hook onto a train of depressions in the South Atlantic. This is the sequence we’re targeting,” explained Franck Cammas.

It’s worth noting that Gitana 17, which has been on standby in Lorient since 1 November, will be tackling her very first Jules Verne Trophy with six sailors aboard, including the two skippers of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild. In this attempt to break the record of 40 days 23 hours and 30 minutes, held by Francis Joyon and the men of Idec Sport since 2017, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier will be accompanied by Morgan Lagravière, Yann Riou, Erwan Israël and David Boileau.

That’s the way records are set! Having switched to code orange yesterday for a potential departure offshore of Ushant within 72 hours, namely over the course of the day on Wednesday 18 November, in the space of 24 hours the crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild has seen its chance of setting sail on the round the world record under sail simply vanish. These comings and goings are very much a part of the game of strategy that colours these Jules Verne Trophy departures, especially in light of the fact that the current record held by the crew of Idec Sport is so high that there must be no doubt about the launchpad’.

Yesterday, the evening’s grib files were already hinting at a deterioration in the weather window being targeted by the Gitana Team. Unfortunately, this trend was confirmed over the course of the day leading to a return to standby for the men of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild.

“Yesterday, we switched to code orange with a departure possibility that we reckoned to be between 70% and 80%. We were waiting for this window to develop in a bid to obtain a greater degree of certainty about the connection in the South Atlantic. However, yesterday evening, it was in the North Atlantic that the situation deteriorated with the appearance of a tropical depression sprawled across the route through to the trade wind. This new element is not favourable for a departure as it would likely prolong our trajectory towards the southern hemisphere considerably. At the same time, the models were also predicting a very long course along the coasts of Brazil and Uruguay to get around the high pressure associated with Saint Helena, which is not the way to secure a record,” explained Charles Caudrelier.

OVER 5 DAYS TO THE EQUATOR

“Therein lies the difficulty of these pre-start periods! The desire to set sail is inevitably much in evidence, but we’re at the start of our standby and we mustn’t rush into it. The record will be tough to hunt down and we need an ambitious departure window if we are to stand a good chance,” added Charles.

Meantime, Franck Cammas was keen to point out that: “The timing criteria we’re striving for are dictated by the performance we know that the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is capable of, together with the analysis of the different record sequences posted by Idec in 2017. The passage to the equator and the time to Cape Agulhas are our primary criteria. Over 5 days to the equator is no longer a good window and that’s what the routing was offering us.”

The crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, skippers
Morgan Lagravière, Yann Riou, Erwan Israël and David Boileau.

Reminder of the standby codes
During the period of standby for the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, which the five-arrow team has scheduled to run from 1 November to the first few days of February 2021, any changes in the situation and a possible departure date for the boat are announced via a colour coding system as detailed below:
– Black: no departure possible within 96hrs
– Red: observation of a possible departure between 72 and 96hrs
– Orange: observation of a possible departure between 48 and 72hrs
– Yellow: probable departure between 24 and 48hrs
– Green: departure within 24hrs

After setting off on the great Jules Verne adventure on three occasions, it was in 2010 that Franck Cammas scored a record time on the course. At the helm of Groupama 3, a maxi-trimaran designed for records, the man nicknamed as the “little Mozart of sailing” pulled off the world tour in 48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds. Notably the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race (2011-2012), three Jacques Vabre Transats (2001, 2003 and 2007) and a Route du Rhum (2010), Franck Cammas here retraces his experience of the Jules Verne.

 

What prompted you to commit to the Trophy for the first time in 2008?

The team and I had already been involved with 60-feet boats for 8 years already, and we wanted to move onto something bigger, in sporting terms. With our partner Groupama, we agreed that the Jules Verne Trophy was a challenge that would suit us both: in sporting terms for us, and in media terms for them. This is why we embarked on a program in 2006, the year in which the boat was constructed. We launched it in 2006, and set out on our first attempt the next year.

What is your favorite memory of the Jules Verne Trophy?

I have plenty of them! But I have to say that when I did the Jules Verne, it was the first time that I went past Cape Horn. When we went past it, we had the wind against us, at 15 knots, with not much wind. It was fun even if we weren’t going very fast. In any case, it was a very moving experience. Next, the arrival was of course a great moment. In 2010, we had fairly bad weather all the way along. We were behind even when we went past the Equator on the way back. We only managed to gain two days once we were in the northern hemisphere on the way back. It was quite tense, so it was a release to finally arrive and beat this record.

What is your worst memory?

In 2010, we were frustrated because we constantly fell into weather impasses. We sailed upwind at Cape Horn and this was the way things remained until the Equator. We weren’t able to open the sails from Cape Horn up to the Equator. We set off near the cut-off date (end of January) and everything went a bit awry in terms of weather. Luckily, we had a good boat that was very versatile – this allowed us to beat the record.

What do you prefer – sailing solo or with a crew?

I haven’t sailed solo since the 2010 Route du Rhum. Overall, I’ve always preferred sailing with a crew, and the dimension of working as a team. I should point out that in a crew, we can use the boat 100 % – something that you can’t do when you’re sailing alone. When you sail solo, you’re forced to gloss over the setup and the fine aspects of steering a little. So in a team, there’s a certain intensity that you don’t find – or less so – when sailing solo.

What does the Jules Verne Trophy mean to you?

It’s the simplest race that exists. There are practically no rules, except regarding the route. So this helps open up opportunities for innovation and investigation on all sporting or technical levels. We see that it isn’t necessarily the largest or most powerful boats that win. The Jules Verne really allows competitors to try out things without any limits being set, making it a competition that reaches extremes. This is pleasant. There isn’t any other race like it.

Do you think about attempting the Jules Verne again one day?

I haven’t thought about it… I’m not closing the door, obviously. It depends on the record because when you commit to the race, there has to be a possibility of beating it. It’s when you believe that you can beat it that you end up lining up on the starting line one day. You also need to have the technical conditions to achieve it, in other words, have an adapted boat. So it’s necessary to either build a suitable boat – and this is a huge operation –, or you need to pick up a boat that is still capable of achieving it, in the way that Idec Sport is in the process of demonstrating.

Idec Sport is of course the former Groupama on which you once sailed…

It’s an old boat, but it’s still proving today that it was designed at a good balance: not too big, very efficient, capable of being sailed solo or by a team. There aren’t many boats like that. It isn’t completely optimized for the solo sailor or for teams, but it’s capable of serving both. And what it does, it does well.

Do you have a message for Francis Joyon and his five teammates, currently attacking the Jules Verne?

Francis has sailed some fantastic times, and notched up some huge days. It’s remarkable! You need to understand that sailing permanently at over 30 knots requires a great deal of attention and agility at the helm; it’s uncomfortable and very noisy. It’s necessarily stressful. Francis and his crew are in the process of finding their limits without going over them. It’s excellent sailing. We can only congratulate them.

 

Interviewed by Isabelle Trancoen