Just a fortnight ago, Franck Cammas accompanied the French team at the SailGP in Saint-Tropez. There, France's highly intelligent and multi-talented mastermind watched over the efforts of Quentin Delapierre, Kevin Pepponet and their Les Bleus. A week later, the versatile Monsieur Cammas was called upon to head up the performance department with the French Orient Express off Vilanova i la Geltrú in the first pre-regatta for the America's Cup.
Dalin and Bidégorry temporarily in the lead
Another week later, Franck Cammas has now won the 48-hour Le Défi Azimut race alongside "Charal" skipper Jérémie Beyou in his very first participation. The "Charal" duo reached the finish line on Saturday before dawn after just 1 day, 17 hours, 46 minutes and 43 seconds. That's how quickly the French had completed the 600-nautical-mile Atlantic course to and from Lorient.
The fleet was put to the test in unsettled wind and sea conditions, interrupted by countless squalls. Beyou and Cammas had to stretch themselves to keep the strong competition at bay. Charlie Dalin and Pascal Bidégorry, who at times even led the exciting battle for victory, crossed the finish line on "Macif - Santé Prévoyance" 1 hour and 48 minutes after the winners.
Every time we realised that we were a little out of step, we were able to catch up again" (Jérémie Beyou)
Just under half an hour later, Sam Goodchild and Thomas Ruyant completed the podium on "For the Planet". They only had to let Dalin and Bidégorry pass them in the final sprint. Yoann Richomme and Yann Eliès missed out on the podium with the new rocket "Paprec Arkéa" in fourth place, a good hour behind "For the Planet".
In the start and finish harbour of Lorient, winner Jérémie Beyou commented on the race: "We got off to a good start. Then we got caught in a pile of seaweed and had to pull up the foil. It was a great feeling to fight our way back through the fleet afterwards. The downwind section wasn't bad. We made a few small mistakes, but every time we realised we were a bit off the pace, we were able to catch up again."
It's reassuring to be at the front. It means that we are on the right track in terms of speed" (Franck Cammas)
Jérémie Beyou commented on the performance of the fleet with the new and last year's Ocean Race-optimised Imocas: "The standard in the fleet is incredibly high. When you win such intense races, it's something special. Psychologically it feels good. It was especially nice to sail with Franck, who was there as a Défi Azimut rookie."
Franck Cammas summarised his Défi Azimut premiere as follows: "Everything was pretty complicated in the heavy breakers. It was very choppy. Yesterday afternoon we got caught in another 40-knot squall that we hadn't expected. It's reassuring to be ahead. It means that we are on the right track in terms of speed. We didn't sail a very good reach, but we were definitely good on all the other sections. Especially at the end, when 'Macif' tried to keep up with us but wasn't as fast in the end. Tactically, we didn't make too many stupid mistakes."
Franck Cammas also referred to the sailing training that both Jérémie Beyou and he himself have enjoyed: "Jérémie and I are on the same wavelength. We were both trained in Port-La-Forêt. We have the same mindset."
We are satisfied with our race. It was intense and interesting" (Charlie Dalin)
Looking ahead to the Transat Jacques Vabre from 29 October, where the Imocas will be challenged to cross the Atlantic, Franck Cammas said: "It's not the same race. It will be very long - with a few days in the trade winds. At least that's how I hope it will go. We will see how other boats perform, but I hope we will be in the mix. That's definitely possible, because we've really improved this year."
The second-placed "Macif - Santé Prévoyance" co-skippers Charlie Dalin and Pascal Bidégorry also gave a positive overall assessment. Skipper Dalin, runner-up in the 2020/2021 Vendée Globe and one of the favourites for the next edition of the solo regatta around the world, said: "Some sections were very fast, especially on the downwind course. We performed well in this phase. We are happy with our race. It was intense and interesting. At first glance, everything is fine on board the boat, even though we had phases where it was very tough. The structure seems to be at the level we expected."
We found pretty much exactly what we were looking for" (Yoann Richomme)
Yoann Richomme and Boris Herrmann's former Ocean Race team-mate Yann Eliès were not very disappointed that they missed out on the podium with "Paprec Arkéa". Richomme said: "We finished the race in the top five. That was our goal. We experienced the good performance of the boat especially in the rough seas. We found pretty much exactly what we were looking for."
Team Malizia: in seventh place on comeback
More specifically, Richomme said of his new Koch-Finot-Conq design: "It was rough, but that was exactly what we needed as a test before the Transat Jacques Vabre. And to reassure us a little about the design criteria of the boat. They are very much geared towards downwind in rough seas. We know that our boat is capable of fulfilling these objectives."
Boris Herrmann and Will Harris finished seventh after "Initiatives - Cœur" with Samantha Davies and Ocean Race winner Jack Bouttell and "Teamwork.net" with two-time Ocean Race winner Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion. 82 days after the showdown in the Ocean Race in Genoa, the 42-year-old from Hamburg and his British co-skipper were back in action for the first time.
Herrmann and Harris completed the Défi azimuth course in 2 days, 2 hours, 52 minutes and 56 seconds, finishing a good nine hours after the winners in the recent strong drop in winds. Team Malizia relegated Maxime Sorel and her Ocean Race team-mate Christopher Pratt on "V and B - Monbana - Mayenne" to eighth place. Romain Attanasio and Lois Berrehar on the ex-"Malizia" "Fortinet - Best Western" and Clarisse Crémer with Alan Roberts on "L'occitane En Provence" were the last two boats in the top ten to cross the finish line.
Le Défi Azimut: Navigation error in Team Malizia, mast breakage on "Corum L'Épargne"
The crew of the "Malizia - Seaexplorer" could have achieved an even better result in the double-handed competition with 34 Imocas. A navigational error prevented the German-British duo from making it into the top five, as Boris Herrmann had already reported during the race on Friday: "We sailed past a waypoint because there was a waypoint change shortly before the start that we didn't realise. Our mistake. Too bad, because otherwise we would have been where Initiatives Cœur is now."
Shortly beforehand, Nicolas Troussell and Benjamin Schwartz had reported a mast failure on their "Corum L`Épargne". For skipper Troussell, it was the next serious setback after the mast broke in the Vendée Globe on 16 November 2020.
We are looking forward to the Transat Jacques Vabre" (Will Harris)
Immediately after crossing the finish line, Team Malizia's co-skipper Will Harris said: "We were very happy with our speed. We just made a few mistakes, which is why we dropped back a bit and finished with the second group of finishers. There are a few things we can work on between now and the TJV."
Boris Herrmann and Will Harris experienced the race itself as extremely varied, as the Briton reports: "It felt really good to be back in the race. It was a really nice race with a huge range of conditions. We experienced a bit of Southern Ocean conditions with big waves, as well as trade winds with squalls. But in the end we also had a very flat final. Now we are looking forward to the Transat Jacques Vabre."
Water ingress at "Nexans - Art & Fênetres"
Kiel-based sailor Andreas Baden was unlucky at his Azimuth premiere. He had to abandon the race with his skipper Fabrice Amedeo on "Nexans - Art & Fênetres" after the first night because an inspection hatch had opened and the crew experienced a severe water ingress. However, the team was able to bring the situation under control and return to Lorient under their own steam.
The team did not want to take any risks with regard to the Transat Jacques Vabre, so they abandoned the race despite repairs at sea. Andreas Baden said: "After a bad start, we had just managed to catch up with a few boats. But that's life. We're working on the boat today and hopefully we'll be back on the water for the runs on Sunday.
