SolOceans

Bostik took the start of the Rolex Middle Sea Race on Saturday 18 October at 12.10pm, on his own in its category on a starting line opened by the Royal Malta Yacht Club for the Veolia Oceans^® one-design class (16 metres), that is to say ten minutes after the biggest boat entered (20 metres and above) and 1 hour and 10 minutes after the smallest ones (12 metres).

The Rolex Middle Sea Race, starting and finishing in Malta, is a counter clockwise race around Sicily and its satellite islands, i.e. starting with a long leg towards the North to go crossing the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily. It's a perfect speed test to examine the behaviour of the Veolia Oceans^® one-design in light wind conditions, against prototypes specially designed for the light and capricious Mediterranean winds. It's a real exercise in style and a challenge for Charles Caudrelier, Yann Clavier and their two guests from the Figaro Bénéteau Class: François Gabart from Espoir Région Bretagne and Thomas Rouxel from Défi Mousquetaires.

Let's recall that the Veolia Oceans^® one-design is specially designed for the long oceanic rides and for the two legs of more than fifty days of the SolOceans between Caen (Normandy - France) and Wellington (New Zealand), and then between Wellington and Cherbourg (Normandy - France) round Cape Horn. On these courses, the light winds i.e. the weather conditions in which Bostik is sailing at the moment in Northern Sicily represent less than 5% of the race. But as all the Veolia Oceans^® one-design will be equipped with identical North Sails sails, the question of which competitor has a spinnaker of more than 100 square metres compared to the other ones while sailing in the same class i.e. on identical boats won't arise. It is the case here in the Rolex Middle Sea Race. Nevertheless, in this adjustment stage of the one-design series carried out by Charles Caudrelier and Yann Clavier, it is useful to compare itself to yachts optimized for various sailing conditions, in order to get some ideas allowing us to keep optimizing the Veolia Oceans^® one-design series, but without increasing the cost to respect the general philosophy of the SolOceans and of the Veolia Oceans^® series. In this time of International economic crisis, the strict control of the cost guaranteed to the teams and their sponsor is a major asset of this competition and of this new oceanic class.

"Under spinnaker in the rear wind, in winds below ten knots (force 2), it is hard for us against prototypes with a bigger sails area" Charles Caudrelier reported this morning "especially with this spinnaker that we have torn in the Indian Ocean between Cape Town and Wellington last winter and which is patched up! But when we sail close to the wind (side wind) we accelerate and pass many pure regatta yachts. Then when the breeze blows at 20 knots and more, we pass everybody, sometimes with a difference of speed of several knots, even prototypes bigger than our one-design. It is very impressive. It's great!".

"The whole navigation in Northern Sicily, towards its western tip (Trapani) will be uncertain. We are too far from the land to benefit from the thermal breeze and we will have to hold up, especially against the small pure regatta yachts with big sail areas. They go fast on calm sea. What makes us strong in the breeze penalizes us below ten knots of wind. And on this Monday morning (20 October) the wind does not even reach five knots (Force 1)! After that, we should benefit from a light wind around twelve knots that will get stronger slowly. We will first sail on a beam reach and then on the wind. The last straight line should be sailed on a beam reach with a steady breeze. We count on that to show all the capacities of Bostik and to come back with the leaders. In short, it is going to be a long day today and a long night next night. But we will certainly have great fun at the end of the race. By then we will have forgotten about the lack of wind we have at the moment…"