A very pleasant crossing to France for the weekend (Homer's Iliad on the way over, and a book on the fall of Cherbourg in 1940 for the return trip!) and a chance to sample the new facilities at Port Chantereyne, which I can now recommend – you will soon have the chance to try them at reduced rate when the club has been granted a regular 20% discount on mooring fees (watch this space!)
Glorious sunshine meant I was having lunch in the cockpit, when I noticed the telltale rig of a JPK making its way through the local side of the marina, so I strolled over and found Pascal Loison just back from a training session in 'Night and Day'. Pascal is trying to have a year off this year, to spend time in the mountains, but he likes to keep on form with practice when he can.
We talked, of course, about 'Night and Day' winning the Fastnet, and it was interesting to have his account of both aspects of the race – beating the other JPKs, and winning overall. Modestly discounting his and his son Alexis' immense skill and experience, Pascal explained how he felt that the options he had chosen when buying the boat were important: he chose an ordinary keel as he feels bulbs slow you down, and compensated for the loss of weight in the keel by going for a carbon rig. He also reckons that, while a single rudder may be better for 'round the cans', twin rudders give you better control of the boat in shorthanded offshore racing.
As far as the overall win was concerned, Pascal said that the bigger boats, arriving in the Irish Sea that much earlier had to beat into a nor'westerly all the way to the Rock and then tack downwind away from it, while he and others reaped the benefit of the wind backing to SW and giving them a straight line reach both ways, thus reducing the distance sailed by a huge amount.
Pascal is looking forward to coming to Weymouth later this month with the Cherbourg Yacht Club; he is a regular in the event, but this year will be entering the new IRC double-handed division, which promises to attract a range of sailing talent from along the northern French coast. You can meet everyone in the club on the evening of Saturday 24th May, which is our 'return match' for their welcome of us last year in Cherbourg!
Leaving Cherbourg just before dawn on Monday morning, I encountered 'Raging Bee' (described on the JPK website as 'magnifique' after their invasion of England last year!) coming in, back from a double hander at Le Havre though this time Loulou was without Titi Lacour, with whom he is doing the Transquadra event later this year; they managed a fourth at Spi Ouest in April together and the article suggests they might have 'legitimate ambitions' for their transatlantic project (See http://www.jpk.fr/?mode=actualites).
Coming back across was a bit slow, though I managed to get the kite up after lunch and was able to practise gybing up into the bay on about 12 knots of SE; until now I've only usually tied one sheet on, but with the wind directly behind gybing becomes a necessary skill to practise!
Steve Fraser
Cruiser Class Captain
