Aboard Pen Duick VI, Marie Tabarly has been competing for a future participation in the Ocean Globe Race. After his victory in the tour of the British Isles last August, followed by his 9th place in the RORC Transatlantic Race and a fine 7th position in the Caribbean 600, we are heading for New York today. The skipper and her valiant crew will be received by the New York Yacht Club before joining Newport, so that Pen-Duick VI can celebrate its 50th anniversary with dignity where it won its transat… Marie Tabarly tells us with her always light and friendly style !
NIGHT QUARTER UNDER THE STARS
Hello to everyone,
Cockpit of the VI, under the stars and a slightly red moon that will set shortly, the happiness of laptops that allow us to write from just about anywhere. The 3am – 6am watch is on deck, we are under medium spinnaker in about ten knots of wind, my beautiful Black Shark is gliding noiselessly at 9 knots, enjoying her last moments with her keel warm. The 3 hour shift is always all or nothing. Either the team members are full of energy, talking, telling anecdotes, nonsense or getting into fiery debates, or they are meditative, as calm as this night. They also know that this peaceful moment is one of the last, so they take advantage of it.
I’ve just taken a new weather file which still stuck me at the chart table for a long time, not easy to find the best way to the big apple. We left Antigua a few days ago without saying a word. The crew on board is the second trip, the first having landed in Martinique just before the Nelson Cup, after almost two months on board and more than 3,000 miles on the clock. The boat therefore necessarily changes pace even if its operation remains the same, each bringing its own personality. We also changed cooks (just like the nurses, there are 2 in the team) and this position is one of the pillars of the boat, so there too, habits are changing.
NEW CREW: AVERAGE AGE, 28!
It must be admitted that in the Volon’Terre team, a character trait is common: on board, it shoots with real ammunition, the small room is the national sport, the slightest opportunity is taken, the first broadside had a guarantor , the second is just as sharp. It makes you wonder who did the recruiting… The crew is young – even if the dean is 55 – the average age is around 28, many being between 22 and 26 years old. They must be given the opportunity to express themselves, to let go, to be creative, so that in a few seconds they can re-switch and be 150% focused on the boat.
As I often say, and I remind them every day, this boat does not support amateurism. That they never forget that this kind of boat is made to be bulletproof, but that the defect of this quality is that if something breaks, it will be of an incredible violence so much the accumulated force is great. The systems are old, proven, but dangerous. You only have to look at the head of the Yankee winch dollies to tell yourself that shocking a sheet (of a Yankee or a spinnaker), when it is loaded with a few tons of tension, is a bit engaged.
KARINE FAUCONNIER IN TACTICS
This crew therefore found us in Martinique, and only had a few days on deck before tackling the Nelson Cup. Only Tom and Kai, my 2 professional sailors, have been with me since the beginning, so we had to redo the whole organization of the deck according to the skills and qualities of each. In tactics, Karine Fauconnier is back on board, after racing with us in the Armen Race last year. After the delivery, I had booked a training day in Antigua before the race, so that everyone would coordinate, that Karine and I would get our bearings, that the cohesion of a team would be formed.
And that day, we screw up. Nothing is right. As always: everything is always the captain’s fault, so she is also that one for me. Karine needed timings to imagine what the maneuvers would look like, how long we needed to send a spinnaker, to gybe, to change sails. She needed info to do her normal job as a tactician. Karine has extensive experience as a sailor, as a racer, on almost any type of support.
She and I have known each other for a long time, she had already come to train me in another life when I tried my hand at Figaro II. Between us, a small age difference which gives her this somewhat big sister side, a common history, a lot of affect, strong characters, and both with experience in command.
A Jagged NELSON CUP
And on this first day, we can’t find our marks, the division of roles between us is not the right one, I lose myself between giving him space, keeping mine, and always this damn lack of self-confidence which makes me crush myself a little too much. A bit like on horseback, I like to waste time learning to gain time later, and thus build everything on confidence.
Yet that day, we take the problem upside down: instead of doing the maneuvers calmly and timing them, we have to enter the maneuver into a precise timing.
The crew, which does not yet have cohesion, nor enough experience (remember that they have never sailed all together and that individually, they have not sailed on board since last summer), begins to make mistakes, the maneuvers don’t work, they suffer from time pressure, and from my helm, I see that they are losing confidence, that the noise level is rising, that no one is having fun… That’s enough: Stop! I stop everything, we go back to port, we debrief, and tomorrow we go out earlier before the race to do some spinnaker hoisting and a few gybes. And above all guys, don’t think about it too much, everything is fine, everything will be better tomorrow.
The next day we are on the water at dawn, and resume everything calmly, by the book, step by step. I take the lead and my instructions are clear, the regatta of the day who cares, the objective is, 1, not to hurt anyone, 2 not to damage the boat, 3 to sail cleanly, 4 to have fun , 5 to complete the requested route. And if at the buoy, we’re not ready, it doesn’t matter, we take our time. Let’s sail clean and regain confidence. Our final goal is to go around the world. That’s the goal. Not winning the Nelson Cup.
Because the Nelson Cup, I haven’t specified it yet, but that’s pretty much everything except what Pen-Duick VI was designed for! Seeing how Kersauson laughed when I told him, there’s one who smiles from up there: we found ourselves doing the banana course with a boat cut out for the ocean! Yes ladies and gentlemen! Over 2.5 mile courses, with dog legs and everything, we sent spinnakers of more than 400m2 and jibed with our 2 huge outriggers: even the committee couldn’t believe it!
7è FROM RORC CARIBBEAN 600
And this first day to resume everything in calm pays: all the maneuvers pass, the start is right on time, we have fun, the confidence returns and Karine and I find our functioning, each in its place. We finish the first day behind the first boat, and even win a race the next day, happy that we are!
We link the days of races between regattas and offshore races, (which I will not detail here otherwise this article would be endless) thanks to a Karine who brings us a strategy of space, and who perfectly negotiated the 600 sinuous miles and full of pitfalls of the Caribbean 600, especially under the passage of Guadeloupe which was for us very, but then very painful…
The crew also answered present, when I asked them for a sustained pace, with very many changes of sails because of the squalls – and changing sails here is a little more complicated than on a modern with winder…
We finish 2nd in the Nelson Cup, then 7th in the Caribbean 600.
Objectives all validated: our friends and competitors in the Ocean Globe Race (OGR), Team Spirit, are behind in the rankings, the boat sailed very cleanly, we developed the implementation of reflexes and cohesion of crew.
We all learned a lot and had a lot of fun sailing this beautiful boat. Above all, Pen-Duick VI, once at the quay, was once again a great success with other French and foreign racers, who came en masse to discover and visit the boat. Sure that on the body of water, we must be spotted from afar in the middle of all these carbon sledges and many were intrigued.
A FIRST IN NEW YORK
So here we are on the way with the Esprit d’Équipe for New York City, the moon has just set and the day is rising at the same time as my paper ends. A few more hours downwind before we take the swing, then we’ll have the temperature drop, a few low pressure fronts to cross as well as the current of the Golf Stream, before preparing to land.
I have never sailed on these coasts before (and have never been to NYC!) naturally I am a little apprehensive, especially by choosing to go there at the end of winter… But for the moment the weather is favorable. It’s just weird to imagine that over there, it’s going to be really very cold as we arrive from Antigua…
We are going to New York and I still can’t believe that, we will be received by the famous New York Yacht Club and I especially hope that we will have the chance to go to Newport, that Pen-Duick VI can celebrate its 50 years where he wins his transatlantic race. But the road is still long, the hairy part just in front of us, so I go back to studying the weather files.
Good night and good quarter to all,
Marie & Pen-Duick VI
