Thomas Rouillard is the leader of the race but Yannick Bestaven could beat him thanks to his bonuses.
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JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP
Thomas Rouillard is at the forefront of the Vendée Globe (with one foil less).
Like all skippers, he can count on his weather files to choose the best route.
But at more than three days, it remains an inexact science, and it always takes a little success to find (good) wind.
On the Vendée Globe, there are several types of Imoca, including foilers and drift boats.
Between the two, Thomas Rettant (LinkedOut) has entered despite himself in the semi-foilers category.
A damage in the South Atlantic had forced him to pull out his saw Charles Ingalls style to amputate his port appendix, with all the consequences that implies in terms of performance and navigation comfort.
“The boat starts up less easily,” said the runner-up in the middle of the ocean.
We must be more on the regulation, on more canvas.
I somehow manage not to get off the hook.
“Thanks to a greater profusion of energy, therefore, but also judicious weather choices, a combination of prudence - because you must not break - and adaptability - because you have to get the most out of this diminished machine.
Knowing how to interpret the data to attack well
Let's focus on the weather, a crucial parameter for the Vendée Globe fleet because it is from this that the strategic choices of the sailors derive, responsible for interpreting their digital files indicating the force and direction of the wind with support, says Rouillard, “software that will help us find the right strategy and explore the best possible routes depending on what we are looking for.
It's up to us to make decisions based on that ”.
And therefore answer some basic questions.
Namely: where should you go to move forward?
Will the benefit of time in the short run make sense in the long run?
Is it reasonable to go to the heart of a tough low pressure system at your own risk?
On the last, the skipper on LinkedOut is categorical: “we are not hotheads.
when there are 45 knots on our files it is probably winds of 60-70 knots with 9m of swell awaiting us.
It is for this reason that a week ago, while still well west of Cape Leeuwin, Thomas Rettant made a small detour to the north to avoid the depression which he certainly did not dodge at. 100%, but which suffered much less from the effects than taking a direct route.
Result of the races, the boat moves forward without shaking too much, in short, nothing but happiness.
Obviously, and although the Vendée Globe is a one-quarter race, we cannot take a break from the competition by constantly playing it safe.
Jean-Yves Bernot, renowned meteorologist in ocean racing:
“There are times when the decision-making will allow you to build a very comfortable gap and you have to start attacking for two or three days.
Times when you will have to hurt yourself to make the break.
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Textbook case in recent days with a strong blow from the top three who surfed the back of the depression in South Australia and along the ice zone to take 200 more miles from the chasing group .
In the calm for half a day, Le Cam and company went from 220 to 450 nm by Thomas Rettant.
It hurts.
A bet on the future
Return to earth, anteroom for good decisions on the high seas, a laboratory for paying tactical choices, a peristyle for the daring.
In 2020, we no longer navigate with a compass with two, three notions of weather and old marine adages for ourselves.
“There is the proverb of Jean Le Cam which says: '' if you don't know where to go, go west, '' jokes the Northerner.
But we want to go to the East!
“And to learn to stay north in all circumstances, you have to be steadfast, eat short weather forecast with simulation, learn.
Bernot knows almost all the skippers, he has trained many:
“It requires training, especially since during the race they have to manage all that on a sailing boat where there are many other things to do, so we have to make sure that it is not time-consuming.
So we have to automate the reading of the weather and the decision-making.
Upstream, we therefore practice on land: we give them data, we work with them by taking concrete examples, we do group work to facilitate data acquisition.
And at sea, we debrief the navigation, we look at what they have done and how they could have optimized their route.
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If a good interpretation of the weather data is enough to look good on Virtual Regatta, it is on the other hand inseparable from the other parameters available to sailors.
The wind can be favorable but the sea is rough, and, explains Thomas Rettant, “theoretically better routes on the files but technically harder to achieve on the boat can lead us to error.
This is what is interesting in this weather game.
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As in any game, there is at worst a part of chance, at best of uncertainty.
Eole, Zeus and Poseidon know how to be capricious and predicting the behavior of the elements is only possible in the short term, with the exception of the areas north and south of the Doldrums, where the trade winds are a safe bet.
Bernot: “In two days we foresee fine details, in six days we foresee the weather system and in ten days the types of weather.
"" When we cross an ocean, continues the skipper, we make a bet on a weather forecast for ten days.
You have to be a little lucky, predict the most realistic scenarios.
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There are, however, areas where Rouillard and his rivals will have no leeway, such as the narrow corridor formed by Cape Horn and the Antarctic Exclusion Zone, where they will have to take the elements as they come.
“Typically, concludes the Northerner, if a depression occurs at the same time as us, everything will obviously depend on its power, but it can be violent with the sea conditions. You will then have to manage your business or even stop to let it pass. .
Better than losing a second foil.
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20 seconds of context
Partner of Thomas Rettant during the Transat Jacques-Vabre in October 2019,
20 Minutes
continues to support the northern skipper on the Vendée Globe 2020.
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