Under the aegis of Frédéric Le Peutrec, we can find some faithful right-hand men like Loïc Le Mignon, Loïc Dorez, Ronan Le Goff, Yann Rioux, Olivier Mainguy and Gaël de Kerangat. However, there will also be some talented skippers such as Lionel Lemonchois and Bernard Stamm. The final crew member, Louis Villers, has quickly fused with the crew. Indeed the young 21 year old is passionate about the sea and, curious by nature, and is the founder of an online student journal, “L’interview.fr”. He will be our eyes onboard throughout the entire crossing.
As regards the weather, it’s Yann Rioux who will be pouring over this. The recent winner of the Mini Fastnet for the second year running, analyses the routing: “Over the North Atlantic we have one zone of high pressure and several depression centres, so we’re going to have to play amongst all these systems. We’re going to head off close-hauled to the south of the first low, which is in the Bay of Biscay, before we have to negotiate the second low via its Northern edge near the Azores. Next up we’ll have to play with a low pressure system. At the end of the course, it’s possible that we’ll have a rather meatier front with between 25 and 30 knots of the wind on the beam. These forecasts are a long way off though!”
The transatlantic crossing for Groupama 3 and her crew promises to be rich as regards the points of sail and the conditions encountered. Long live the joys of the open ocean!