Guyader Bermuda 1000 Race
The serious things begin!
This Sunday, May 8, at 2:40 p.m., with a slight delay on the scheduled time, the start of the 3rd edition of the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race was given off Brest. The 24 sailors in the IMOCA class taking part in the event then set off gently, propelled by a westerly breeze blowing between 6 and 8 knots. An erratic wind that will greatly complicate the situation for the solo sailors on the first miles of the race and will force them to multiply their maneuvers between now and the passage of the Finistère Department Trophy waypoint, which the first should overflow in the middle of next night. In this context, surprises cannot be ruled out. The daggerboard boats could, in any case, hold out for the foilers!
“The start should be quite complicated with a light wind and very unstable in direction”, announced Christian Dumard yesterday. The weather consultant for the Guyader Bermuda 1000 Race was certainly not mistaken in his predictions. The race committee was initially forced to delay the procedure before finally launching the (English) start at the start of the afternoon, 40 minutes behind the originally scheduled time. Although Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée), positioned at the end of the line, was undoubtedly the quickest to leave, it was in close ranks that the fleet overran Pointe Saint-Mathieu before heading straight for the broad, in the direction of the virtual mark Trophée Département Finistère, located 100 miles to the west.
A varied and technical menu
An opinion fully shared by Louis Burton who also expects a race that is intense, complete and tricky. “A priori, we are going to pass all the sails on board. This promises sport but also a lot of tactics, with transitions that are not always going to be simple, “detailed the Malouin, then putting his finger on the many weather uncertainties remaining, for the time being, on the first miles of the course, but also on the last ones, in particular after passing the Gallimard waypoint located northwest of Cape Finisterre. “When the situation is not yet very clear two or three days from now, we know that a lot of things are bound to happen on the water. It will be exciting and I think there will be a bit for all boats, with or without foils. We will be able to validate a lot of things,” added the skipper of Bureau Vallée. Endorsing the work carried out this winter and then fine-tuning the job-lists at the end of the event are clearly objectives for the vast majority of competitors in this Guyader Bermuda 1000 Race, the first of the four events on the 2022 calendar of the IMOCA Globes Series.
