by Anne Hinton
Yann
Guichard said last night, during the Café de la Marine du Télégramme at Quai Ouest, Lorient, that Spindrift 2 (the ex-maxi tri Banque Populaire) will
take part in the Fastnet Race this year. Guichard also confirmed that Dona
Bertarelli, his partner in both life and sailing, has not previously done ocean
racing. The programme for the maxi trimaran is only the Fastnet Race for 2013.
Later, they will look at the Atlantic record and other records, but not the
Jules Verne Trophy for the time being.
We noted at the time that neither
Groupama 3 nor Banque Populaire V had perfect weather conditions for their wins
of the Trophée Jules Verne, and Guichard confirmed that he believes that the current
record is beatable. [Look at the time differences between the boats in the
Barcelona World Race 2010-11 and the Vendée Globe 2012-13, for example. Michel
Desjoyeaux is quite correct in noting that the meteorology was the reason for
the fast times in the latest edition of the Vendée.]
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Dona Bertarelli, first female winner of the Bol d'Or in 2010, on board her D35 catamaran, Ladycat. Image copyright Chris Schmid/Eyemage.
Yann
Guichard is off to helm the Energy Team AC45 at the America’s Cup World Series
in Naples, Italy, mid-April. On his return, the Spindrift MOD70 will take part
in the Tour de Belle-Ile on 4th May, where they will be up against
competitors such as the course record holder Sébastien Josse on Gitana 11 and
Lionel Lemonchois on Prince de Bretagne 80. (Prince de Bretagne 80 came out of
the water in Lorient yesterday, prior to her official christening on 27th
April in Roscoff.)
The Sprindrift MOD70 programme will commence in June, while
Guichard and Dona Bertarelli will compete on the Ladycat D35 on Lake Geneva
from May onwards. Spindrift Racing is based at La Trinité-sur-mer, but the size
(mainly the width) of Spindrift 2 means that she is likely to be sailed out of
Lorient.
Café de la Marine du Télégramme
PS Yann Guichard also commented that he believes that Franck Cammas has taken on too much with the M34 in the Tour de France a la Voile, an Olympic Nacra 17 campaign and the C Class, but it seems sensible to us to work hard on the one design Nacra 17 catamaran while also testing out different sailing techniques, etc, in the development C Class. SailRaceWin
PS Yann Guichard also commented that he believes that Franck Cammas has taken on too much with the M34 in the Tour de France a la Voile, an Olympic Nacra 17 campaign and the C Class, but it seems sensible to us to work hard on the one design Nacra 17 catamaran while also testing out different sailing techniques, etc, in the development C Class. SailRaceWin
