Imoca Paul Meilhat passed the lock Saint-Malo this Sunday, November 4 around 1 am. A stressful moment for the SMA team members who took charge of the maneuvers. They then spent the night aboard the boat at anchor Dinard and made the final preparations to put the skipper in the best arrangements before the start of the Route du Rhum. We followed them all night.
This is the keel for the boat in any case under the colors of SMA. So obviously, Sunday shortly after midnight, the emotion is palpable among the members of the insurance company came to wish good wind and taste one last time the taste of the sea after four years of partnership with Paul Meilhat.
The stressful passage of the locks
The monohull 60 feet goes to join his buoy in the Bay of Dinard pending the Battle of the Rhum. Before that, you have to go through the locks at night. The Imoca is planned in the airlock of 0:45 with nearly a dozen other boats.
On the pontoon of the Duguay-Trouin basin, this warm atmosphere of departure contrasts with the somewhat tense mines of the team members. For them, no time to savor. The next hours are stressful. They are six to maneuver, four will spend the night on board. Clément Rivé, Marc Liardet, Grégoire Noël and Gabriel Couronne.
"We do not really like these moments," said Marc Liardet the Boat Captain. "It's very stressful, we are dependent on the other boats, the way the passage is made. This does not always happen as originally planned. The six members of the agitated Mer team are requisitioned to maneuver. Paul Meilhat is not here, the lock will be without him.
"We are here to make life easier for Paul, to avoid those stressful moments of energy use," explains Clément Rivé, the project manager. The skipper takes care of recharging the batteries and enjoying a last night of warm sleep in a bed.
This is the moment, the 60 feet passes the first lock, makes rounds in the water before going to moor in the lock of the Nay lock. This is the most delicate maneuver. Sensitive point, the outriggers, these spreaders, mounted on the deck which increase the span of the boat. It climbs as quickly as possible to install fenders.
The tension rises, the tone becomes drier. On a tire, Clément Rivé is positioned to buffer with another boat or the edge of the lock. The mooring is done at the tightest to get everyone in. Minutely and safely. The lock opens and delivers the boat to the sea. Direction the buoy to spend the night.
Nearly two hours in the maneuvers
Finished, the most trying is over, the tension goes down. Coming, a few hours of calm. Because the Bay of Priory in Dinard shelters wind, the sea is flat. It is far from the hustle and bustle of Saturday afternoon in the bay. Around the mooring, lights on the water a lot of lights like so many boats at anchorages.
The night promises to be cool too, with the humidity the cocktail stings from the nose to the toes. Given the favorable conditions, the team does without rounds, "we will not hurt ourselves for nothing," said Marc Liardet. So everyone inside for a nap. It is 3:30.
A calm but cold night
The comfort of the litter is not the first quality of the ship. Nor for one person even less for five. It is not for sleeping but for sailing. There is the skipper's beanbag, folded sails that act as mattresses or just the hull, cold as steel.
Keeping the boots, trousers and the quarter jacket and even the hat is not farfelu. Lying, the little cottage could almost rock. You must not get used to the noise. That of the water on the hull. As if you came to shake a 5 liter can in the hollow of the ear, methodically, tirelessly. He never stops.
On board the night is quiet as expected. Some people can not resist getting fresh air to make sure everything is fine. Mechanically. Gestures become reflexes.
Latest preparations
The sun rises after a short night. Coffee, chocolate bread brought by a member of the team and it is the moment of the last preparations. "We still have to put the sails that will serve today, to put the equipment on the right side to counter weight against the wind and a little vacuum, before welcoming our beautiful skipper," says Marc Liardet.
Paul Meilhat arrives, already focused but smiling. He slept well, quietly. As soon as he got on board he moved to the chart table, the crews sailed to Pointe du Grouin. It's the beginning of a long day that will last a little over ten days.