How I did the Translemanique 2019

Amazing Learning experience, I have learned and improved my sailing skills more in those 24 hours than in the last year of sailing. I am sure of that. Being alone on the surprise is amazing. First of all the boat is so light, that reacts and sail much better that I was used to during the club practice, and then, the regatta sails, allowed me to do real sail trimming,  that I had little chance to experiment during the year on the short - daily sail. A long race made me focus more on the wind-navigational aspects than to the fast tack/gybe/spihoist  operation that we train so much in short regattas.

I did some mistakes, some things went wrong, but in general, everything went better than I was expecting. It is my first solo sailing, my first time I cross the lake, and first time I do something non stop for 32 hours, so the general opinion is FULLY POSITIVE. I was surprised also on how much the preparation  payed off, and now that I did it, how much more preparation is needed to be competitive with the other amazing skippers I met during the race. I think in the club, we should promote to some expert sailors the possibility to sail keelboat in solitaire, as most of the things I have discover during the race, I could have discover (and fix) before if I had chance to sail alone the boat.


Wind Conditions: Very difficult wind conditions, always shifting, alternating moment of very little local wind, and storm in the night.   The start was extremely slow, and there, the good choice would have been to go to versoix while I have (as many other) stayed on the Hermance side. Spinnaker on most of the gran lac, up to Lugrin that I reached around 21h00, where I start to get some thermal up-wind. Storm as I was approaching the buoy, and then storm downwin by night, where by Main and Genoa I did 9 knots.  Meteo forecast was really not clear, different model were predicting different wind in different areas. Constant wind shift imposed me to change tack many time, and hoist or gybe the spinnaker at least 10 times in the first part of the race. I knew each sail change would have been a loss in time and energy, but I really wanted to use every wind available. 

 Race and Track analysis: In the video, a short track analysis from the http://www.suiviregate.ch/ , you can open the track file on Google Earth, time is in UTC. 

I should go out from the port 1h before, to really identify the starting line that were not easy to see when everyone was out.  Start procedure was different than usual, 10 minutes class flag, 5 minutes  preparatory signal, 0 start.  I was not positioned on the starting line, for the reason I sayd before, was almost zero wind and I had lot of dirty wind from the boats large than me. Despite all my effort, the genoa in low wind did not took shape at the top, there  I decided like some other sailors, to hoist the spinnaker and use it a large code zero, not optimal, I know, and made me loose 15-20 degrees but at least I had some speed and I managed to move away from the crowd.
Up to versoix I was in front of the Gran Surprise  Bachi Bouzouk with skipper Dee Caffari the Translemanique testimonial that than won the GS class., that than won  Unfortunately at the start at the port tack I had to bear away to give priority to some boat, and I probably took the spi up too long. Super-slowly with many stuck moments, I continue on the east side, convinced that with low speed, was strategical not to add miles going on the other side of the lake. Many other skipper did my choice, so I do not regret, who went on the jura side after Hermance, did the best.  First big obstacle was to pass Yvoire, there I knew the wind would have been changed, and I had to stay away from the Thonon gulf. I tried to stay away as possible from that area, were clearly there was no wind. Mirabaud1 the winning surprise, passed in the centre of the lake there, Mordicus the second surprise,  passed at the east coast, I was in the middle (but much later than them) but I do not regret again of my tactics.
Between Thonon and Evian, wind went down, and down...  I was where 2 hours before I spotted with the binocular some surprises going very fast.... while I got stuck completely. Around 18h between Thonon and Evian I was really upset. Am I still here??  If you look close to the track on Google Earth, you will see I even have made a 360 in the desperate search for some wind, and in a tentative to move away from that dead zone. Then, with the evening approaching, the sun going down, big cloud start to develop in front of me. It was a super hot afternoon, so thermal wind was expected. And it came.

I decided so to stay as close as possible to the coast, and follow where possible the geographical profile of the coast, knowing that the wind would have done the same.  Even if tired, I decided I had to try to hoist the spinnaker by night and I did it successfully. Of course it was on the wrong tack, but I found a mechanism to put it on the right side, without the spinnaker pole, to avoid the gybe, and then mount the pole once the spi was hoisted.
 In front of Lugrin, the storm develop, and a strong upwin came. So I put fast the spi down, and very soon after I saw the blinking buoy, and the port of Le bouveret lights. I did 6-7knots upwind, lighting where illuminating the sky and the black mountains, I was so close to the coast that I had to check many times the map to be sure not to hit rocks or other obstacles. I knew there were like 50meters of depth there, but my brain really could not accept to be so fast and so close to the coast in the night without cross checking the map.  I prepare the boat  for the storm. I passed the buoy at 02h30 moment of happyness and then full downind. Here maximum speed, I touch 9knots, and I went so fast with just the Main and the Genoa. I thought many times I should hoist the spinnaker but I was so tired and start to move so badly that I felt safe to wait a bit. So I continued downind following the VMG with multiple gybe, trying to avoid the gulf of Evian. I stayed in the middle of the lake, as I saw the boat on the coast getting stuck in dead wind. It went very well up to the morning, then at 05h41 my biggest mistake: the gybe.  Worried to end up inside the Thonon gulf and not getting out, I pointed in the middle of the lake... It went fine for a while but... Wind start to go down. I hoisted the spi, and I was not doing more than 4 knots... than I got completely stuck in the middle of the lake in front of Rolle at 07:30h. I have waited, and waited for the wind,  but the situation disaster when the sun raised. Flat water, high clouds typical of a slow warm front approaching... There I realized that it was really bad, compared to the previous situation, I was really the only boat stuck, all the others around me, even if slowly, had some speed, and they were going southwest...
Around 08h30 a survelliance boat from SNG came closed, and asked about my intentions. I really appreciated the fact that the survelliance boat came to check if I was ok, and I was, but they told me that many other boats have been abandon and I was one of the last surprise one between the one still racing. I reply that I would have waited a bit more. I have waited. At 09h45 I was stuck for 2 hours, no wind expected until the afternoon, no chances to move away from the centre of the lake, so I decided to abandon, and I start the engine.
I have checked the track today, and I realized how unlikely I was, half an hour before, and not gybing at 05h41 would have been give me a chance to complete.


Mamma Mia: Mamma Mia is in perfect conditions, I really have found no issues with it, and it is very pleasant to sail. The shape of the cockpit to me is more comfortable than MicMac. Now with the racing stripes it even looks more beautiful so I hope we will continue to improve it and invest on it!

Sails: The sails I will use are from Arnaud Top Voile : Su Main 16, Su Genoa 17 the big Sui Spinnaker 19 and I had board also the Solent jib 19, and the small gauge spinnaker 12. I realized that in case I really had to change the head sail, would have taken me immense amount of time, so luckly I had not to do it.
According to Rob, those sails  require 5 cm of pre-camber which is what I got, The lateral deflection of the mast was of 1-2 cm. 
Su Main 16:  I had a problem with the top batten that went loose at the start, so I had to put the sail down, fix it, and lock the batten again. For the rest, the sail really respond to the fine tuning controls, and easily get the perfect shape. Upwind, quite a lot of tension on the main sheet and the right position traveller really makes a difference. I had almost no tension on vang and cunningham in the low wind part. In the storm, putting tension really made the sail flat. Another problem is the reef point, that is much higher than the standard sail: the reef line was too short! luckly I had not to reef, but I had set it up connecting directly the reef line to the reef point with a bowline, without going back to the mast, and having a stripe ready to be used to keep the reef point close to the boom. Traveler got stuck many time, and the traver lines are not optimized at all, they sometimes goes down in the traveller itself. To be improved.

Su Genoa 17 : The Genoa is to me very heavy compared to the genoa I saw on the other surprise, and that is the sail that created more issues. First of all, it can not be rolled, when you are alone, this is really a difficult point, as you have to put it down all the time you hoist the spinnaker, and can not be reduced. Also the sails to me is not optimized for low wind, and it has issue to take it shape around the top batten in light air. However, during the storm, was a pleasure to sail with it. Genoa Traveller also got stuck under tensions, probably the bearing have to be replaced.

Su Big Spi 19 : A wonderful spinnaker, that I managed to use in light wind as a big genoa. No issue with that sail, and I had no problem to report with it. The new spinnaker sheet, are 16m each (2 more than the standard), and that lenght is really needed in solitaire. As they are new, are a bit rigid, so they got stuck in the pulley many times.


Rigging comparison of other surprise: I had a chance at La Nautique to have a look to the other surprise. Most of them have a much more modern and high tech rig. Not that I am at the level to benefit from the weight saving of 6mm dyneema or low friction rings, but I had the impression, their rig was much more smooth to operate, and for sure, having lines that never got stuck, at the exact lenght... could play the role. Most of the suprise had only 2 winches, and a pulley system for the head halyad tension.

Engine, Autopilot, battery, lights and windex. 
All the surprise I saw sailed with NO ENGINE on board, but it is also true, some of them,  had a team behind the skipper, that helped them  un-mounting it and taking care of it at la Nautique, helped the skipper preparing the boat the day before or had an auxiliary motor boat around them.
Autopilot  was really a winning choice, and I am so happy I had installed. It worked smoothly. To be honest, I had to use it only during the tack and gybes, for the rest of the time have been left in standby and I was at the tiller. The backlighted display is very good, and be sure to have set it ON before as I did.
Who had not an electronic tiller pilot, had installed a 4mm line loop all around the boat attached to the tiller and  kept in tension at the mast with an elastic, to be able to control the tiller from all the places on the boat. It is for sure an alternative better than the tiller-lock mounted on MicMac.
 Main Battery (60Ah)  was sufficient to let the tiller pilot run or being in standby since Friday, so the second auxiliary battery (40Ah) was not necessary, but having a spare made me relax a lot. A possible improvement here in weight saving, is to go for  a lithium battery, of witch the capacity is really tuned for the 36h of operation. The nav light at top of the mast was working, but is very dim, also would be nice to have LED there, to be sure it will not fail, so I could have avoided to bring with me the spare navigational lights.
Windex was not working as I knew, but I am so used to dinghy sailing that I really did not feel naked without it.

Instrumentation: Navionics on my mobile,  was very useful, kept running with screen on all the time, auxiliary battery back to charge the phone have been essential. I had really no time to check the mobile phone for meteo update,or picture or do fancy stuff. Velociteck was partially useful, I had no time to set the start mark positions, and to press buttons, so I used only as an additional compass and speedometer reference. However, around 15h, it went in an error state, and I had no time to reset. I do not know if the memory was full or what was the problem. Also it is not back-lighted and unreadable during the day with polarized glass. Magnetic Compass is essential once you know which route you want to follow, to calculate the best tack. It has a shift of 10 degrees compare to the GPS, but I had found no screw to tune it. Log is also essential, but very hard to view with polarized sunglasses. It was displaying 0 for the first 1hour of sailing on friday, maybe the little propeller in the hull was stuck, than it worked flawless. Again a difference of 1knots is between gps and the log, so not sure if it has to be calibrated. Clock with alarm was also essential.

Safety: I focused a lot on safety and I am happy I did it. The lake is very big, in few hours all the boat are very far away from each other, and if something happen (worst is falling overboard) nobody will see me even during the day. In the night the idea of falling outboard is very scaring and that is really what made me proud of the  Jack-lines I had installed all around the boat. I have always been connected with the harness: this slowed me down a lot, but was necessary: I was surprised other skipper did not have the jackline installed. When I was very tired, I realized I moved like a drunk-elephant on board, so having a connected line to hang to in case... really relaxed me a lot.
I always had my auto-inflatable 150N life-vest with emergency light attached and my whistle, however the whistle would have been useless as in many moments, I think I had no boat around for 1 miles. Also during the engine-transfer,  I always connected to me the shut-off chord, and when I had to do something away from the engine, I put neutral.

Physical and mental conditions: I still had pain for the rib dislocation I got on the catamaran the week before, however, I was in quite good physical conditions. The day before, where I prepare the boat and the sails, was for sure essential to relax and being ready to start after a sleep in the boat in SNG. However, was very hot, and I am sure I have consume a lot of energy already on friday. The start, and the morning has been extremely tiring  because of very little wind and very hot temperature.   Being at 1600 just in front of Lausanne was not encouraging at all, I start thinking more about the tactical mistake I have done but I never gave up, and I was motivated to continue.  When I start to understand the thermal wind,  in late evening, I start to do 4, 5 knots upwind. There my brain re-activated and with  enthusiasm came back, there is where I really sailed at my best. AS you can see from the track, I went most of the time very close to the shore, and I am sure I have really used a channel of wind that was following the geographical path. Once I saw the buoy blinking at 24h, even if very tired I push at my maximum, and I pass the buoy at 02h30. There is where the brain start to slow down, on one side the emotion of having cross the lake for the first time alone relaxed me a lot, on the other side, the storm pushing me downwind. Night however was very warm, but also very dark, no moon in the sky, so concentration has to be kept always at the top. No chances to sleep at all, I tried to rest for 10 minutes,  around 03h30, not having boats around,  but at minute 3 of my rest, the wind shifted again and I had to gybe.
Around 04h00 I start to make mistakes  : small things but like a gybe without opening the Genoa, a tack instead of a gybe, pulling the genoa halyard instead of the spi sheet, and also start to confuse what I was seeing at the horizon: I confused some lights and some trees with a profile of a boat in front of me. Also decision makin becomes hard, my body was telling me to do as less as possible to not loose energy. It was also hard to make stupid calculation, like a subtraction of compass angle to get the best tack :-)

Food and beverage: Water was essential, was so hot, I had 8 liters plus 2 liters of tea convinced to have exaggerated. I did not. I ended up with just 1.5liter bottle left. I During the days before, I tried to have a bit more carbohydrates. I did not drink coffee, energy drinks, just some tea and cola. This to me was important, coffee and energy drink can give you a push for some hours, but on the long term are usually counter-productive, at least on me.  On board, I had cheese, bread, chocolate, apple. nothing special. Unfortunately, I had no chance to have a warm food since the Friday afternoon, but that was not an issue. 

What I should do next time to be more competitive (what I have learned):

• Sail more alone in high wind,  to experience the  real the boat limits.  I am sure I could have push much more but I was not confident to stress the rig too much.  The boat with no equipage is so much lighter and responsive, that the tension on the mast is for sure much lower than the one I was used to experience. 
• Fine tuning of regatta sails before, with tape-marks for the optimal positions for upwind, downwind.
• Arrive 1h before to the start line, wait there for the start, and check the latest meteo forecast there.
• Tack and gybe as less as possible, in the petit lac expecially, the difference in distance are minute compared to the time lost in changing tack
• Hoist the spinnaker downwind even during the high wind, most of the winners did it. 
• A regatta-rolling genoa would have really help.
• Invest more in rigging, (lower diameter / right lenght of sheets, low friction rings, sail connector...)   not to save weight, but to be sure everything goes smoothly and things not got stuck in the pulley, or the genoa got stuck during a gybe.
• Engine, auxiliary battery, fenders, material I have not used, maybe I could have saved 50kg in total.
• Ask for 1 week for the preparation to YCC :-) and ask for help. I really wanted to do it alone, but the energy spent the days before to bring regatta sails, mount the jack lines, move the battery, sail on friday to La Nautique, could have been used to sleep a bit more.

What I recommend to do (as I did this time) :
  

• Focus on safety, install jackline and tiller pilot,  It is really easy to do stupid mistakes, the pilot allows you to have a moment of rest with hands free. 
• Do not stress yourself to much for the race, the regatta aspects are minutes compared to the navigational ones.  Every translemanique is different, and it is really a nice experience, independently by the result, it is impossible to win at first attempt.
• Boat preparation was essential and payed off (I would do more last time). Cleaning the hull, doing all the small repairs, bring the material on board.
• Use the navigation instrument you TRUST and you know very well how to use it.  I used Navionics on a dedicated phone, with 2 additional battery charger,  plus I had printed maps on board (but I would not have many chances to use them). The Velocitek for example, has been almost useless for me, and I discover as I said, that went in error state after 15h. 

Conclusions

  

You can't change the wind, 

but you can adjust the sails

 to reach your destination.

 

 My first Translemanique en Solitaire has been for me a wonderful experience, an arrival point after many years invested in improving my sailing skills on the lake, and a starting point for my future sailing adventure.
 It has been a race mostly against myself,  a way to discover my confidence in sailing, and to learn, learn, learn so much that I could not still believe how educational it was.
 I would like to thank you the YCC for the opportunity and for giving me access to MammaMia, I am sure I have left the boat in a better condition that I thought.

 A final thank you to who has supported me before and after this experience,  and understood the reason why I ask to let me do it alone... en solitaire.
 

Next post: hopefully some pictures!