The Drheam-Cup: shortened courses and changeable weather

The sun was out on Sunday in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin on the day before the fifth edition of the Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix de France de Course Au Large, an opportunity for visitors to enjoy all the activities in the village and admire the 70 boats that will leave today at 16:30 to sail on the two courses drawn by the Race Manager Hervé Gautier. Due to the weather conditions expected from Monday, the latter decided to shorten them: the Class40 and the single large yacht, Akela, will race on a 630 Mile course initially designed for the Multi 2000, IRC crewed and double-handed, Sun Fast 30 One Design and the classic yacht (Merry Dancer). The other classes will battle it out on a 490 miles course.

In concrete terms, the first course will take the fleet across the English Channel to the West Shambles mark, then down to Wolf Rock, and on to the DRHEAM-CUP virtual point off the tip of Brittany, then to the Rochebonne plateau before heading back up to La Trinité-sur-Mer. The second will be almost identical, once the fleet leaves the DRHEAM-CUP virtual point to port, they will head straight up to La Trinité-sur-Mer, leaving Houat and Hoëdic to port.

Why were the courses shortened? "After a fairly quick crossing of the Channel, the conditions will lighten with some calms which can considerably delay the slower boats", explains Hervé Gautier. We therefore deigned a course that would enable all boats to arrive within the time limit, in Sunday morning, 6 o'clock. The fastest boat, MOD70 Eric Defert's Drekan Energy should take just over 30 hours, and the majority of the fleet is expected on Thursday to Friday night and Saturday to Sunday night."

Although the wind will drop as the fleet advances, the conditions forecast on Sunday in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin outer harbour will be more favourable for a quick start, with a 15 knot Southerly wind shifting West fairly quickly. The sky will be cloudy at midday before clearing, enabling good visibility for spectators who wish to follow the start from Le Becquet and on the short preliminary leg to the "Urville" spectator buoy from the Saline, Tourlaville, Querqueville and Urville-Nacqueville beaches.

Once they have passed the Urville mark, the fleet will head North on  what should be a fairly fast Channel crossing to the West Shambles buoy. They will then sail on a long upwind leg along the English coast before crossing the channel again on a reach, in easing winds. Charlie Capelle, who has been loyal to the Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix de France de Course Au Large since its first edition, in the Multi 2000 trimaran ACapella-Proludic-La Chaîne de l’Espoir explains: "I think we're going to have to get off to a fast start, because in my opinion, the race will play out along the English coast, where we're going to have to negotiate a few shifts, so we're going to have to be particularly careful. "

For Jean-Philippe Cau, President of Lorient Grand Large and a member of the IRC crew on Fastwave 6, one of the favourites in this category, "anything can happen given the conditions, that will change every six hours", while Noa Geoffroy, who leads a crew from the Yacht Club de Cherbourg on the Sun Fast 30 One Design, adds: "Not a single file agrees. We should have wind across the Channel, then upwind to Wolf Rock, then it's more uncertain."

Jean Passini, skipper of Numerobis and president of the C30 class, which brings together the new Sun Fast 30 One Design boats, is not unhappy about these changing conditions: "It's going to be fun to see how the boat behaves in the very different conditions we're going to encounter, and it will allow us to compare our speed with the others at all points of sail. "

Suffice to say that in all the classes competing in the fifth edition of the Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix de France de Course Au Large, we can expect some great battles, and the victory, at the end of four or five days at sea for the bulk of the fleet, will have to be earned!