Français
On this seventh day of racing, the nineteen crews taking part in the Paprec transatlantic double-handed race are getting ready to cross the finishing line at La Palma. Some, of course, will set off ahead of the others on the Atlantic crossing to Saint-Barthélemy. For the moment, Mathilde Géron and Martin Le Pape on "Demain" are leading the race. But they are closely followed by Pauline Courtois and Alexis Thomas on Wings of the ocean, and Charlotte Yven and Hugo Dhallenne on Skipper Macif, 2.6 and 6.2 nautical miles behind them respectively. However, it was a pack of six other Figaro Bénéteau boats that the leaders had to contend with. One of these is Cap StBarth, where Cindy Brin and Thomas André are firmly at the helm to start their crossing in the best possible conditions.
During the night and again on Saturday morning, the two sailors spoke more about their experiences during the first few days of the race. Particularly Cindy, who was ill for four days but has now regained her strength and enthusiasm.
"I'm having a shit!"
I don't really know where to start," says Cindy. It's very difficult. I've had a lot of feedback on how it's going, but in the end, it's nothing like what I was told. Difficult is an understatement. To put it another way, I've had it! I'm in the juice all the time. I'm starting to feel a bit better, but the rhythm on board is pretty intense. It's not easy.
All the more so as the weather has clearly not spared the instructor at the Saint-Barth Yacht Club sailing school. I think I have a problem with the weather," she laughs. Every time I take my watch, it's 14 to 15 knots, and when I finish, it's 25 knots! When Thomas takes his watch, it's down to 14 knots. It's terrible. As a result, I get scared relatively quickly when the boat. Because I don't have the same feel for the helm as Thomas. As a result, I'm more apprehensive and I'm less likely to push the boat to its limits. So when you're going flat out at 25 knots, you're quickly afraid of breaking something on the boat. I made a peak at 19 knots, and I was scared, but it was so good! "In fact, Cindy's initial apprehensions seem to be gradually fading. As her team-mate, Thomas André, confirms.
"She turned everyone on!
"Cindy is racking up more and more miles at the helm, it's getting better and better and she's competing with the others more and more, and it's great to see her progressing and gaining confidence," he notes. It wasn't easy for her at first, and now we've just come off a shift where she's turned everyone on! It's going to sound sentimental or sissy, but all emotions are multiplied tenfold on the boat, and that's not easy," confides Cindy. Thomas and I don't know each other very well. It's not so easy to open up to someone you haven't known for a long time, even if we get on really well. When we're in the right mood, we're happy! In theory, everything's fine, but when emotions are heightened tenfold, it's sometimes complicated. I've come close to cracking many times. Because I wasn't going fast enough, or a boat got stuck on us and ended up taking three miles. A lot of things like that, which, with fatigue... But everything's better now! "Thomas confirms.
"We didn't make too many mistakes".
The Breton skipper assures us: "We're both slowly picking up the pace. We didn't share too much of our emotions. We've been sailing at a really fast pace, with a crazy intensity since Portugal. We missed a few shots and it wasn't easy. We were in contact with each other and we knew we couldn't miss the train. It was Cindy's first time, but it was fun for both of us. We were really into it and didn't have too much time for emotions. We didn't make too many mistakes, we're in contact with the leaders and we're coming back more and more. In a few hours, the big crossing will begin. And we'll have to make some choices!
"We want to get there as quickly as possible!
We're getting ready for the Atlantic, and it looks complicated," says Thomas. We're trying to see where it goes, but we don't really have any ideas at the moment. I hope we're not going to tear our hair out too much! That's not the point. The goal is to get to Saint-Barth as quickly as possible", where both are already eagerly awaited. As for hair references, Cindy Brin has one of the most concrete when it comes to hygiene issues: "The only problem is the hair! It's full of seawater all the time, it's hell!" And as the water is freezing ("At minus ten thousand!"Cindy exaggerates), we'll have to wait until it warms up, or simply until we arrive in Saint-Barth, to enjoy a good shampoo! All the more reason to pick up the pace.
