Sleepless nights and woozy stomachs…The 74 sailors are getting used to it

“The first hours have already taken their toll on our bodies, with some pretty nice seasickness for me,” Catherine Pourre, the skipper of the Class40, Eärendil, explained in a message this afternoon. She is far from alone there, all except for Vincent Riou, who explained to us before leaving that he had an inner ear problem that made him totally impervious to the sea. What luck! The stress of of the start mixed with the boat-breaking seas of the first night have left a good part of the skippers feeling woozy.

Ten days in Le Havre of normal life on land, and hop, in a few hours they are in the deep end! As Jean-Luc Nélias (co-skipper, Sodebo Ultim’) said. “We’ve gone from glasses of champagne to buckets of water in the face”. Whisper it quietly, even sailing professionals get seasick. “I have my medicine from New Zealand, and it works well,” Romain Attanasio (Family Mary - Etamine du Lys)  said a few days before the departure. The Italian sailor, Giancarlo Pedote (Newrest - Brioche Pasquier) was wondering whether to take some tablets after having his “head in a bucket for 3 days, I was exhausted,” on the Transat Jacques Vabre 2015 when sailed in Multi50 with Erwan Le Roux.

Looking after yourself is the best guarantee of thinking clearly, staying safe and performing well

It was a scrap along the coast of Cotentin last night. Gwénolé Gahinet (co-skipper of SMA) said this afternoon: “It was extremely violent around the Alderney Race. There were very shallow waves with some current close to 10 knots. We were getting knocked around by the waves, we had to take the helm and try to keep the boat straight. Oliver Krauss (co-skipper of Ciela Village) also explained that he and Thierry Bouchard had not had any shuteye all night: “It was impossible to get down to the central hull, we clung on to the coffee grinder.” Erwan Le Roux said that Vincent Riou had been “masterly at the chart table” while FenêtréA - Mix Buffet was playing leapfrog between Barfleur and La Hague.

The ridge of high pressure that is crossing the fleet on Monday is therefore somewhat of a welcome chance for to catch their breath and tidy the boats after the boiling pot of last night. It will be a short respite. “We're getting ready for the night ahead,” Krauss explained. “Tonight we will have more swell, we’ll find ourselves being shaken in all directions.” But, the stomachs are now settling to life at sea and the boats are in “heavy weather” configuration: “We’re checking that everything is tidy in the boat, we’re running the engine to charge the batteries, eating and resting and we’ll take in some reefs little by little.” Nélias said to the official race radio, after the broadcasters woke him up.