Figaro training off Lorient with coach Tanguy Leglatin, through Lorient Grand Large. Image copyright Lorient Grand Large
Lorient
Grand Large was set up to organize the centre for offshore racing
that is based in Lorient. It was set up for nautical creativity in
Lorient by Lorient Agglomeration Partners and others in the
surrounding community, to support everyone who wants to base their
sailing project and related activities in Lorient.
This
means that Lorient Grand Large helps the 80 skippers who train from
Lorient on a daily basis, but also develops the nautical side of
Lorient; i.e. Lorient Grand Large acts to organize everything
directly in relationship with local businesses and the community and,
side by side with that, to encourage events and international sailing
projects to be based in Lorient. At the same time, Lorient Grand
Large was set up to coordinate the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in
Lorient. Lorient Grand Large is run by Christophe Baudry and his team from offices by the Base des Sous Marins, by the main sailing team bases and BSM marina in Lorient.
Christophe Baudry. Image copyright S. Cuisset.
While
there are plenty of private on-the-water coaches in the Lorient area,
there is a great deal more to a sailing campaign than simply sailing
to train for events. However, Tanguy Leglatin, featured in a 2013 edition of Café de la Marine du Télégramme, is the most widely used and
respected, being recently, for example, coach to Seb Josse’s Gitana
Team MOD70, Edmond de Rothschild, winners of the inaugural Route des
Princes offshore and inshore racing around western Europe this year.
“We arrange the complementary work: meteorology, electronics, rope
work, etc; everything except for physical training, except that we
have a day for a swimming pool session each week,” said Christophe
Baudry.
Swimming pool session organized by Lorient Grand Large. Image copyright Lorient Grand Large
“In
principle we do the same work as Port La Forêt, the Pôle centre for
the course au large (offshore sailing) in France, but Port La Forêt
only has people who are of a very high level. We have some people who
are of a very high level, but who have felt that they did not want to
base themselves at Port La Forêt for training, e.g. Adrien Hardy and
Isabelle Joschke. Port La Forêt is only for the elite. We believe
that those who are not names in the sport can benefit from the same
training, and we also welcome those who are e.g. Parisians, who have
other work, e.g. including journalists, and who do offshore racing.
So, we support those who base their sailing project in Lorient. That
means, train in Lorient, find an apartment in Lorient, install
themselves in Lorient, buy a house in Lorient, raise a family in
Lorient, etc.,” Christophe Baudry explained.
Rope work training organized by Lorient Grand Large. Image copyright Lorient Grand Large
The
benefits for Lorient and the surrounding area are that the teams
spend a large part of their sponsorship funds in the region. This is
not just daily living needs, such as food, but also supporting and
sustaining the large nautical infrastructure, which, in turn, brings
in substantial (multi-million Euro) international revenue and creates
and sustains jobs locally in this area, so, in turn, supporting the
local population. In turn events, such as the Lorient stopover of the
Volvo Ocean Race, considerably enhance this, on both a short-term
(during event) and long-term (legacy) basis. For example, the
international North Sails loft in Vannes with multi-million Euro
revenue, headed by Bruno Dubois, who has global responsibility within
North Sails, was set up due to the Volvo Ocean Race coming to
Lorient, to satisfy that need in the market, and now has rebounding
orders, including provision of sails to such boats as the Multi-One
Design trimarans, many of which train out of Lorient, and the new one
design Volvo Ocean 65s, in use for the next edition of the Volvo
Ocean Race, which will return to Lorient in June 2015.
Jean-Yves Bernot gives a class on weather and strategy at Lorient Grand Large. Image copyright Lorient Grand Large
Well-known
router, Jean-Yves Bernot, came up from La Rochelle for meteorology
training a while back at Lorient Grand Large. “Yes, we made a deal
with him for two days and we had a good turnout for each day. Each
time that Jean-Yves Bernot has been, it has been a great success,”
commented Christophe Baudry. “There are a lot of singlehanded
sailors who come to the events, but also Team Jolokia, who do the
main classics, like the Fastnet Race. Team Jolokia is a mixture of
handicapped and able-bodied people, with people with all ages, the
old, the young, and differing levels of experience in sailing, etc.
for social-cultural mix. There are a large number who are from the
Mini class, mainly singlehanded sailors.
Figaro training off Lorient. Image copyright Lorient Grand Large
“Many
teams are preparing for the Tour de France à la Voile. This is
something that is very good, but we have the singlehanders in
addition. Also, this year, we have the Mini Transat and the
double-handed Transat Jacques-Vabre, so we have a format that is
above-all singlehanded.
A mixture of theoretical and practical classes are organized by Lorient Grand Large to help train solo sailors. Image copyright Lorient Grand Large
“There
are stages in the season. During the winter we have things most
weeks, but now they are racing, so there aren’t so many events laid
on. For each event, we try to do something specific. For example, for
the Class 40, for the Transat Jacques Vabre too, and for each event
we try to do some preparation. For example, we did something for the
Pornichet Select 6.50 on site just beforehand, with someone who was a
specialist in the theory and who went over the data for what they
were likely to expect. The Lorient sailors won that event.
“We
have Conrad Colman from New Zealand, who is racing on the other side
of the Atlantic Ocean at the moment, and also Katrina Ham, from
Australia, and another foreigner who is interested in racing a Mini. In total we
have twelve international sailors, who are attached to Lorient Grand
Large. This is also an effect of the Volvo. Katrina Ham said to me
“Lorient is the capital of offshore racing in Europe, so, as I want
to do a Mini Transat, I came to Lorient as the place to be to learn.”
“Port-La-Forêt has nothing for the 6.50 [the Mini Class]. They do Figaro, IMOCA and a little MOD70, but that is all. They don’t do anything for the Class 40. We are complementary. We get on well with them. We discuss things, but we are complementary,” said Christophe Baudry. One can see lots of Minis, some Class 40s, some IMOCAs, and some M34s and MOD70s in the water at the former submarine base in Lorient.
Lorient skipper Tanguy Delamotte on Initiatives Coeur, IMOCA, rounding Cape Horn on the 2012-13 Vendee Globe. Image copyright Tanguy Delamotte/Initiaves Coeur.
“Port-La-Forêt has nothing for the 6.50 [the Mini Class]. They do Figaro, IMOCA and a little MOD70, but that is all. They don’t do anything for the Class 40. We are complementary. We get on well with them. We discuss things, but we are complementary,” said Christophe Baudry. One can see lots of Minis, some Class 40s, some IMOCAs, and some M34s and MOD70s in the water at the former submarine base in Lorient.
IMOCA racing in the Tour de Groix, off Lorient, September 2013. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All rights reserved
The
annual individual subscription to Lorient Grand Large is 30 Euros, so
not much! After that everything is either free or at a substantially
reduced price. Skippers who sign up to Lorient Grand Large can sign
up for courses in classes, etc. For these they have to pay 30 Euros
for a day’s training, in place of the normal charge of 100 Euros
per day. The money to subsidise the training comes from the
‘creativity’. This year, the activities also have the support of
a private partner for the season.
Tour de France à la Voile in Lorient, July 2013. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All rights reserved
“We
have run many events. We are a centre for creativity, etc. For
example, we have welcomed the EDHEC racing (which is for students),
and Tour de France à la Voile, and for these types of events, we are
the ones who operate every day with the organizers. It is this
creativity that pays for the training, and we also act as a desk for
the organizers of these events, which may also include corporate
events and championships, e.g. the J80 World Championships. There we
study the potential impact of the events on the local economy, and
then we can say that we think that the event is beneficial for such
and such reasons, or this event has no interest. One tries to pull
together the expertise to internalize this,” commented Christophe
Baudry.
Tour de France à la Voile in Lorient 2010. Image copyright Yvan Zedda
Another
example of this is the Volvo Ocean Race stopovers, which will be
discussed in part two of this article. “We have some racers who are
in the Groupama Sailing Team, but it’s not a big thing. However,
the Groupama Sailing Team Director, Stéphane Gibault, is also on the
directorship panel of Lorient Grand Large, so he has daily input into
our organization. The very big teams who are based in Lorient, like
Groupama, we support, but we don’t provide training as they have
everything that they need for that in-house. However, for the teams
like those of Groupama and Jean-Pierre Dick’s Absolute Dreamer, one
has the role of representation, or lobbying, further to creativity.
For example, with the depth of the keels and the dredging of the
port… because the team and race organizers based in Lorient have
begun to find that this is an issue. Another example is that they may
ask us how to declare a Convoi Exceptionnel for moving a very large
boat. For things like that, we investigate and come up with the
answers,” said Christophe Baudry.
A visit to Franck Cammas's Groupama Team base. Image copyright Lorient Grand Large/Groupama
Stéphane
Gibault explained his role as providing input to Christophe Baudry
and his team at Lorient Grand Large as to the needs and wants of the
large teams based in Lorient. He had been elected into this role from
a gathering of all such teams, including, for example, Groupama,
Banque Populaire, Gitana Team, Virbac-Paprec and Beyou Racing.
Equally, there is a representative of the Mini Class skippers, and
the same for other classes, so that Lorient Grand Large receives
input to guide its lobbying from representatives of all the teams of
the boat types that train from Lorient.
Two Lorient IMOCA skippers, Jeremie Beyou (Maitre Coq) and Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec), autographing posters for fans. Image copyright P. Guiguenot
The
lobbying on behalf of the teams is strictly geographically-based, to
represent their interests in Lorient and the surrounding area. “We
lobby to represent the interests of Lorient offshore racing. For
everything to do with the Class, the skippers look after that
themselves, and, therefore, also the way to run the racing and the
rules,” explained Christophe Baudry.
Jörg Riechers of Mare. Image copyright mediamaritim.de
Mini racing in Brittany. Image copyright Jacques Vapillon/Sea&Co
“We
want to continue to attract skippers to Lorient. We will do
everything for this. We convinced Jörg Riechers, sponsored by Mare,
who wants to do the Barcelona World Race (with a Lorient-based
sailor) and the Vendée Globe, that Lorient was the best base for
him. Oman Sail is now based in Lorient; we hope that they will remain
in Lorient a long time. We want to continue to attract skippers and
to exploit the facilities and base to the maximum, and to continue to
develop the offshore racing centre (Pôle Course au Large), and for
this we need to look to the outside, to the creativity of Lorient,
which already has a considerable resource base,” concluded
Christophe Baudry.
Cite de la Voile in the foreground and a part-empty marina at the BSM Lorient, as many boats are out racing in summer. Image copyright Yvan Zedda.
Altogether
the model of Lorient Grand Large builds on the reputation and
existence of the sailing teams in Lorient, the events held partly as
a consequence of the presence of these large international classes
and teams, and the infrastructure, from high-tech computing to spar
makers such as Lorima, which is within the Base des Sous-Marins
(BSM), sail lofts and many other businesses, such as shipping (U-Ship
has recently moved from the city centre to the BSM in Lorient), which
in turn sustain, and are substantially enhanced in development of
their own business by, the international reputation of Lorient as
“the place to be” in Europe for offshore sailboat racing. Lorient
Grand Large coordinates the interactions and positive development of
Lorient’s international sailing base. Despite the present economic
crisis, there is considerable new building work for business going on
in the area; a direct illustration of the success of the positive
feedback generated.
Lorient Grand Large
