The Normandy Channel Race, a “Dantesque” sailing race true to its reputation

Until the end, the Normandy Channel Race will have left no respite to its participants.

Friday September 18, barely crossed the finish line, the winners and their runners-up had to hurry to cross the locks of the port of Ouistreham on time.

Finally moored, the Swiss Valentin Gautier and Simon Koster, on their Banque du Léman sailboat, were able to celebrate their success in front of Ian Lepinski and Julien Pulvé on Crédit Mutuel.

“We had to go get that one,” Valentier Gautier said from the deck of his boat.

And for good reason, at the end of a breathless sprint of four days, twenty hours, twenty-five minutes and thirty seconds, the Swiss team gained only six minutes and fourteen seconds.

A habit for this race which had seen sacred skippers for even less than that in recent years.

A return trip Calvados-Ireland

“We knew what to expect anyway,” confided the victorious skipper, his face marked by the effort.

A navigator had said it was a five day street fight.

That pretty much sums it up.

This is how the Normandy Channel Race "built its legend", according to its organizer Manfred Ramspacher.

“The competition is tough.

It was hard in the first part with a very weak wind which pushes the nerves to the limit, and hard in the second part with a strong wind, a strong sea… Difficult conditions for the sailors and the boats.

"

The race, reserved for Class40 (a 12.18 m long monohull), starts from Ouistreham, along the coast to Cotentin before a first crossing of the Channel and a new part of the longe-coast towards the western tip. from England.

The following ?

The beacon embodied by the Tuskar Rock lighthouse in the south-east of Ireland, before turning around.

“It's a race worthy of a great Solitaire du Figaro stage,” greeted Valentin Gautier.

A boon after confinement

The event, maintained despite the Covid-19, was a boon for the 27 teams entered, after cancellations of series races.

Ian Lepinski and his co-skipper Julien Pulvé, admittedly washed out, fully savored: “It was sportingly rewarding.

There were plenty of twists and turns, as the reputation of the Normandy Channel Race demands.

But it was magnificent.

Great, but tough.

"

So hard that twelve crews had to give up.

A few hours after the firsts, Redman, with Antoine Carpentier and Nicolas Groleau at the helm, completed the podium for the sailboat's inaugural outing.

There too at the end of a high-level fight with a small peloton of boats.

“It's a great school of determination.

It's very comprehensive for sailors, ”underlined Manfred Ramspacher.

The organizer, who extended the support of partners last year until 2022, can savor the showcase offered by his race again this year.

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