The Vintage classes of the Route du Rhum are producing some of the tightest racing in the fleet, with duels within duels keeping skippers on their toes mid-Atlantic.
In Vintage Multi, Damien Seguin (Arkéa, Handicap International) and Éric Péron (French Touch, Oceania Hotels) are locked in a constant battle. In Vintage Mono, four boats sit within thirty miles of each other. Several skippers spoke during this morning's radio check-in, reflecting on the pleasure of being at sea and pushing hard.
Sidney Gavignet has a knack for putting words to the emotions of sailors offshore, and he did it again this morning, describing his bond with Cigare rouge, the legendary boat once steered by Jean-Luc Van Den Heede and Catherine Chabaud. "It's wonderful to be on this boat, I thank it every moment of the day, I thank the pilot, the sails, the hull, I thank it for holding together."
Gavignet says he is focused on his own race rather than the standings, but he hasn't missed that in Vintage Mono, the top four are separated by only around thirty miles on the direct course, fifty miles laterally. Long in the lead, Tanguy Caradec (Eurvad, 1st) and Kieran Le Borgne (Armor-Lux, Le Finistère Assurance, 2nd) have been caught by Patrick Isoard (Groupe Cogedis Pour Enfants du Mékong) and by Gavignet himself.
"We didn't plan it, but it's great to find ourselves all together," says Isoard. "Now it's going to funnel and everything will come down to each person's options." Le Borgne adds: "We're at about the same speed, we're scrapping and going flat out."
Each boat is now positioning against an approaching depression. Caradec and Isoard are pointing slightly further north than the Le Borgne-Gavignet pairing. Le Borgne is at the helm of a boat that won the Vendée Globe twice, with Michel Desjoyeaux in 2000 and Vincent Riou in 2004. "The boat is truly brilliant," he says. "This will be the first time I take it into conditions like these, but I feel very good on board."
In Vintage Multi, the Ormas dominate. Despite Francis Joyon's capsize aboard Oceans, the other three Ormas hold the top three spots: Seguin first, Péron second, Gilles Lamiré (Groupe GCA) third.
"I'm well aware I'm on an extraordinary machine, and it's very enjoyable," says Seguin. "But these are also stressful boats. I feel like I'm losing years off my life." Despite his vast experience, he admits to feeling vulnerable at times aboard. "You have to make the right decisions at the right moment, you know you can't do just anything. It might be the most committing kind of boat there is."
Focused entirely on racing, these Vintage sailors are writing a new chapter for boats already steeped in history, showing day after day what these old machines can still do.
"Whenever I look around at the other skippers, I think it's crazy to be on this boat," admits Le Borgne. "I feel incredibly lucky to be steering this boat during the Route du Rhum."
