These training sessions in Lorient are all planned to last three days in the middle of the week, the thinking being that there is plenty of time to get boats and kit ready and then have three intense sailing days where no time is wasted. After some general boat handling drills and a few short races on the first two days we planned a longer race on the Thursday. A 70 mile triangle around the Ile de Groix, starting off with a long beat into a building 18knots and some good waves reminded us of why we chose to train here and not the med. We got a full range of conditions with towering thunder clouds giving us hail, big gusts and a shifty breeze. I delayed changing down to the small jib, partly because its a miserable, wet cold process up on the bow, and ended up with quiet a bit of separation from the fleet. This coincided perfectly with a big shift in the wind direction in my favor and put me in the lead by nearly half a mile. Here is a little clip from the inevitable downwind fun that followed the long beat. Shortly after this the wind disappeared and the race was abandonment before midnight .

This week is a bit of a break, chance to catch up on some admin, see family and get some hours in the gym at home. Next week it’s back to Lorient for two more weeks on the water before heading out to do the RORC Caribbean 600 race aboard a very comfy looking Swan 62

Getting here has certainly been a trial. After lots of early interest, finding delivery crew willing to spend two days at sea, midweek, in deepest darkest January proved too hard. In the end Sam and myself opted to take on the bonus solo practice and do the trip alone. Although the route involved crossing plenty of shipping and navigating the rocky NW French coast line we did manage to get a reasonable amount of sleep thanks to AIS and a ‘watch system’ involving regular radio chat and alternate half hour naps down below with the other one watching out for ships getting too close. The two worst things about this trip were the bone chilling cold on the first night and the nights lasting longer than days. The best things were, good stars, regular dolphin visits and finishing up in Lorient.

Since our arrival last week we have spent most of our time trying to get ahead on all the little boat jobs that make things work better or help in terms of reliability. We start training on Tuesday with a small but experienced group of French sailors and coach Yann Eillies and things will get hectic pretty quickly. Having everything perfect before we line up against these guys will hopefully give us a better chance of making a good impression.

Whilst I haven’t been sailing at all in the last  27 days there has been plenty to do off the water. Working in East Cowes tickling up #77 with the help of Tom Dawson, tasting every freeze dried meal available from RTW food, working with ‘ologists’ Pete Cunningham and Neil Weston on physical and mental preparation, not to mention all the planning and logistics needed to make sure we get to and from all the different training venues and regattas in one piece. Whilst the rest of the squad are down in La Grande Motte myself and Sam Goodchild will doing all of our preseason sailing based out of Lorient. The benefits of this being that it’s right in the center of the course for the Solitaire in the summer and also a bit cheaper than trucking the boats down south. The draw back of our plan though will come when we have to chip ice off the decks to go sailing. This is something we’ll most likely find out about as we sail down to Lorient on the west coast of France from Cowes on Monday!

Unfortunate for us this time we only got one day 30 knot fun on the water as the conditions needed to drive the wind were only fleeting. In the picture above you see a ridge of high pressure labelled H to the north of La Grande Motte (circled in black) and a low pressure, labelled L, to our south and east. The wind is driven from high pressure to low pressure and accelerates into the Golf de Lion as it passes over and around the alps as shown by the purple barbs on this forecast. Our precise location is important as we are sheltered from the strongest forces of the Mistral which often blows at around 50knots in Marseilles just 80 miles down the coast. As it is sailing is very rarely blown off in La Grande Motte for too much wind…

One of many hills we ran up AND down

The only only thing holding me back today are two very very sore legs. Running just over 35 miles up and down some muddy hills in a time of 7:45 on Saturday has taken its toll. I’m currently hobbling around in agony, relying on pain killers and hand rails to get anywhere. All jobs that involve climbing the rig, or a ladder, have been delayed until further notice.

For year two there have been a few changes to our setup within the Artemis academy. Rather than the group of nine sailors and 6 boats that started out last year we are a much leaner squad of four and three at the moment. The benefit of this is that we each get our own room although things are a bit quieter after sailing in the evenings. The other big change in our day to day routine is the lack of 40ft container to use as a workshop and general dumping ground. Instead we are using a long wheelbase Ford Transit van to store all our sails, spares and tools. At the moment this is just about going ok although I predict that within weeks or more likely days of team manager John Thorn’s departure this weekend the ordered racks will become scattered heaps of burning debris.

After nearly of solid month in the yard in East Cowes working on refitting the fleet of five Figaros and getting three ready for the journey down to La Grande Motte it has been nice to get out on the water a few times in the last couple of weeks. Training with the new academy recruits was both refreshing and encouraging. Refreshing to see the excitement and enthusiasm the guys have brought to the squad and encouraging as I was able to show them a thing or two about getting a Figaro around a small course alone. Getting out for a couple of sessions on my own this week has reminded me of the pleasures of sailing alone, the freedom and the physicality of the boat.

Although it is still 2011 the focus at the moment is very much on next year’s season with the Olympic Games causing the Solitaire to be moved earlier than usual resulting in a very compressed calendar. In order to get to know the race area around the north and west coast of France, and line up with some of the top guys, myself and Sam Goodchild are planning to do most of our training over the winter in Brittany not the warmer climes of the med. Hopefully the short icy days and frost bitten fingers will be rewarded by a sense of familiarity with the rocky French coast and confidence in our boat speed in Atlantic waves and weather.

In the short term I have a training session back down in la Grande Motte for three weeks before Christmas with the rest of the time being divided between planning next year, searching for sponsorship and fitness. Partly in order to build up my endurance for solo racing and partly because I happen to like it I have rather foolishly entered a 33 mile ultra marathon around Weymouth in two weeks time. Although I have managed a couple of runs over 20 miles my training has not been what I would have liked so I think I am in for a good deal of pain come race day!

Straight after this I flew out to Bermuda where I am racing in the Gold Cup with Team Wight Match skippered by Sam Pearson. I’ve sailed with these boys a few times this year on the Class 40 Concise 2 and when their regular bowman pulled out I was only too happy to say yes. This is an event I’ve thought about doing myself a few times but always put off due to the cost of flights and the high chance of getting knocked out after 7 short races.  Being on the bow will be a new experience for me as will racing these ancient wooden IODs against the worlds best match racers.

The actions starts tomorrow with our first race against match race legend and world tour president, Peter Gillmore. Along side him rest of our group is by no means easy, but if we can win more than half of our races in the next two day and move on to the next round we will be over the moon. This not only relies on us sailing well but also managing not come off of hired scooters on the 30 minute ride to and from the yacht club!

This rare feeling of preparedness 24 hours before the start has given us plenty of time to focus on the job in hand. Racing around some of the rockiest shore lines in existence against 29 other Figaros for the next week will be challenge enough without the Atlantic autumn weather onslaught that looks set to spice up our week. Our Friday evening weather briefing included more of the wind arrows with the solid black triangles meaning 50 knots plus than I would like. Whilst the organisers have plans A,B,C and D in line in case things get too rough it seems unlikely we will be able to avoid some scenes from the picture postcards that sit in front of every tourist shop in Brittany of giant foaming waves crashing against stony grey light houses. With this in mind we have put a lot of care into checking every last part of the boat and especially the safety kit!

Going up against 21 other teams, most of whom will know this razor sharp coastline like the back of their hands, we will complete four coastal races around Brittany as well as two days of inshore racing. Our expectations are realistic, we would be happy to be stay in touch with the main group, ensuring as much as anything that we have some locals to follow through the appropriate gaps in the rocks!

The event website here will be updated with results once things kick off next Saturday evening. Until then we hope the delivery goes smoothly and will bring more updates once we get there.

Nick and Ed