THE SUNDAY QUESTION.
Every Sunday we develop a theme, answer a big question or drill down into a topic. This week it is noise. It is a constant aboard these ULTIMs. There are the waves and spray on the floats and hull, there are the appendages whistling and humming, the stresses and strains on the rig and indeed the whole aero package. On the one hand the sounds are often how the skippers interpret what is going on with their boat, the contented even hum of high speeds and relatively flat water to the cacophony of heavy loads and alarms going off all the time. Living, working, operating these giants the sounds never stop and are usually useful but they are also tiring and exhausting, especially after six weeks at sea.
The noise readings are actually surprising. At Sodebo they actually measured the noise on board and the data is astonishing: it is often at 100 decibels, the equivalent to the sound of a chainsaw or the speakers in a disco. And to fully understand you have to learn and understand where all these sounds come from.
“The noise varies depending on the pace and speed,” explains Éric Péron (ULTIM ADAGIO). “The foils whistle, the daggerboards vibrates, the waves hit against the hull and the connecting arms. Sometimes the boat bounces, the sheets and ropes hit the structure… It’s just constant noise!”
“We can’t fight this sound”
“The noise on board? It’s just hellish.” Reiterated Anthony Marchand (Actual Ultim 3) the other day. “But you can’t just tell yourself that it’s hell, otherwise you’ll never last two months! We have no other choice but to adapt. And we realize that over time the human body is capable of adapting to many things, much more than you might think.”
That said the body suffers, ears and hearing included. Armel Le Cléac’h often wears noise-cancelling headphones.
“When I take them off and I return to normal volume, it is like being on an airport runway,” explains Le Cléac’h, skipper of the Maxi Banque Populaire XI. “In fact my hearing in one ear is less good because of sailing with noisy boats.”
“It’s almost a danger to your health,” emphasizes Thomas Coville. “It ends up irritating inside the eardrum, it’s almost embarrassing.”
Yet, despite everything, it’s impossible to cut yourself off from all these sounds. “The thing is that we need to listen to them, to interpret them to know if everything is going well on board,” adds Éric Péron.
Monday morning, taking care of business….
None of the ARKÉA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest skippers are close to their highest speeds this Monday morning. Whilst Éric Péron in fifth has been the fastest over 24 hours, race leader Charles Caudrelier takes some satisfaction from seeing his miles to the finish dropping steadily. This will be his last week at sea and he has less than 2000 miles to sail to the finish line in Brest. He is taking things cautiously And Armel Le Cléac’h, two rudders replaced, is back in business.
For Charles Caudrelier the passage back home becomes clearer hour by hour, minute by minute. Even if he has reported some damage that is compromising his top speed potential of his Maxi Edmond de Rothschild and he knows that he will soon have to deal with the passage of a big depression which he might slow down for to avoid any final disasters, the leader continues his march northwards up the Atlantic, still making a useful 600 miles over 24 hours.
Caudrelier is methodical and experienced, he is driven and knows both the costs of and the joy and satisfaction of winning. Now it is all about steely focus to get to the line and avoiding any potential pitfalls.
A small anticyclonic ridge is in front of him but this monster low pressure coming from Greenland will sweep over the Bay of Biscay and Finistère in about three days time. He and his routing team will be working hard to find the best, safest solution. Meantime this Monday morning, Edmond de Rothschild was making some 23 knots, due north, in a northeast wind of around fifteen knots.
Some 2,300 miles behind, in second place again Thomas Coville is heading along the Brazilian coast at around twenty knots in a moderate trade wind. His daily averages have dropped a little: at 7 a.m. this morning, he had covered “only” 378 miles in the last 24 hours after being in light, fitful trade winds close to the coast.
But now he is heading into stronger airs Coville aims to pass the latitude of Recife in the next few hours before crossing a very large doldrums to his east. This is probably why he remains so close to the land.
Armel Le Cléac’h has resumed his climb home, in the same modest sailing conditions that Sodebo will have encountered earlier. Now some 400 miles behind his nearest rival, the skipper of the Maxi Banque Populaire is doing all he can to close that gap progressively.
Now there are less than 800 miles for Anthony Marchand to sail to Cape Horn. He is well positioned now for a quite direct course to the Cape. The skipper of Actual Ultim 3 has repositioned himself at the front of a small depression and so he should be able to accelerate today. He now has Éric Péron a little less than 500 miles behind. And Péron has been pushing, in fact making the highest 24 hours averages of the fleet at 633 miles. The two could be less than 24 hours apart at Cape Horn which would ensure the former Figaro class rivals might yet enjoy a spirited fight back in the Atlantic.
