Jean Le Cam over foilers (via Sailing Anarchy):
Jean le Cam interview hier:
www.letelegramme.fr/voile/jean...12-2020-12667361.php
It must be strange to sail a solo race with two people, how are you dealing with Kevin’s presence onboard?
Well, I am used to it! When Vincent Riou picked me up in 2009, we sailed round the Horn together. This time it is the other way round and it’s all fine. I have a personal assistant – after the rescue, we spent the whole day on the phone and Skype.
The rules say Kevin is not allowed to help you, how is this working out?
My roommate manages to stay busy, he talks on the phone, he eats. Food-wise, we each do our own thing. We talk a lot, tell each other our sea stories.
“You capsized once !”
“Never did that”
Kevin didn’t remember I once capsized with Eric Tabarly so I told him the story. He tells me his Volvo stories, and they’re good.
(Note: Le Cam was teaming up with Tabarly on a trimaran. Tabarly was helming and the boat capsized. Le Cam had a proper go at him and is probably the only person that ever got to do that on a boat)
When and where are you going to drop Kevin off? Kerguelens?
Not at the Kerguelens, I am going to be milles off. I still don’t know for sure. This is being discussed with Jacques Caraes. They have something in mind, but I am not really aware of the details. We will adapt ond do as we are told.
(Note: the option of the French frigate Nivose is being discussed at the moment. She left the Kerguelens to meet “Yes We Cam” and could pick Kevin up North of the islands).
Are you keen to start racing again?
We are racing and it is going well. There are a few boats around. Since the start, the weather has not been easy, it’s low pressure after low pressure and rarely below 25 knots. We are trying to stay away from the rough weather. When you look at Louis Burton, he just goes for it. He is cutting the corner so he is doing well on the ranking, but it must be tough for him.
It must a bit surrealist to talk to the president via Skype in the roaring 40s and hear he is a “Yes We Cam” fan?
It sure is. The communication as also excellent, as if the satellite was following presidential orders. It was crazy and I would never have imagine he was a fan of me.
Even the NY Times wrote an article about the rescue…
You know, we just did what we had to do: Kevin was in deep shit, we tried to get him out and we did it.
There has been a lot of breakages on foilers since the start, what is your take on this?
I have never sailed on a foiler, so it is interested to hear what Kevin has to say on this. These boats can go really fast, but it is either on or off with them. It looks very tricky to handle. For me, they are not the right boats for the Vendee Globe, they are not adapted to what we are doing. It is a casting error. Flying around the world, only people on land can say that.
Does this mean the new foilers are too extreme, too fragile and not right for the Vendee Globe?
Yes, they are not the right boats for a Vendee Globe. At some point, you need to face things, 15 days after the start, I was in the lead, are we dreaming here? Naval architects say “my boat can go at 30 knots”. Ok, but I haven’t seen many of them go that fast. We had 10 days of reaching, and I was still 3rd! We should really ask ourselves questions, unless we just ignore it but I don’t think this is the solution.
Foil size should be reduced, or even foil should be banned then?
Non, we can’t go backwards but have to keep going forwards. Going forwards doesn’t necessarily mean you refuse the bad decisions we made.
How could you make these boats less extreme?
Talk to smart people that don’t have a big ego, put all of them round a table with a specification. And then take real decisions.
What decisions do you have in mind?
We need to take these by committee with wise people. New boats currently cost a fortune – 6 to 6.5 M€ - which means they are not accessible to young skippers or small companies. They also have a high risk. At some point, we need to face the reality and say things. Before the race, you can do all the media you want when you are Charal, Hugo Boss or Corum, they all broke.
So far, older boats with daggerboards are doing well. What are you hopes for the final ranking?
I don’t know, I am happy where I am. Malizia is sailing near us, and he is not 3 knots faster. We just did a 27 knots ride. The foiler can go at 35, but there is no guarantee how it will end at the end of the surf.
Foils in the southern oceans are useless for you?
Foilers are designed for flattish seas, without too many angle of attack variations for the foils as we still don’t really know the consequences of these. We need to have a proper think before we send people round the world with unproven and unvalidated systems. Foielrs don’t work in the storm. When you have rough seas in all directions, it is very tough. You don’t send a Formula 1 on the Paris-Dakar, they would struggle in the dunes.
Do you know what time redress you will get for the rescue?
I don’t know. I guess it will be the time I spend there. We’ll see.