The day began early—very early—for the crew of LUC Voile 1, made up of Aldo, Raphaël, Lucky, and Laurie… They met at 6 a.m. to set sail from Vidy, fortunately with a nice breeze. Off they went at full speed under spinnaker toward Thonon!

The start was nothing short of chaotic. The line was set in a very logical manner, which meant that nearly the entire fleet ended up on the wrong side of the line. After reading the Sailing Instructions three times, the crew—sticking to the SI—remained on the other side of the line. They faced a spinnaker wave, tried to fight their way through without much success at first, but finally found a nice wind current and raced almost in a straight line toward Nyon. After a long hesitation over which mark to round (yes, there was a lot of confusion about this regatta), we were the fourth “Surprise” to round the mark! Motivation was through the roof! Now the big tactical choice came into play: go through Switzerland, the center, or France. After battling it out a bit with the top three Surprises—all of whom decided to head toward Switzerland—we opted instead to head toward France. From a distance, we could see the top three had hit a bit of a lull; we sent a quick thought to one of the other LUC crews, made up of Zoé and Lennard.

The crew will battle throughout the entire regatta against the endless seaweed that keeps getting tangled in our rudder and keel. We try every technique we can think of. Finally, taking advantage of a lull in the wind, Lucanaël jumps into the water several times to get rid of it.

A nice breeze along the rest of the course. The crew and the boat are working well in light winds; we’re making good speed, and our motivation is through the roof! Our first disappointment came when we saw LUC Voile 2 and a CUST boat coming back up on our starboard side, taking a route very, very close to the French coast. A little match race as we skimmed along the coast. (More seaweed—well, this time we kind of asked for it…) We finally managed to pass LUC Voile 2, which was stuck in very light winds. The CUST boat was still right on our heels, but we figured we were in 3rd or 4th place among the dark horses. The wind picks up, and we notice that we’re performing much less well in slightly stronger winds (and with rigging designed more for light winds—though it was very effective for the climb on the outbound leg). This speed deficit allows our competitors to pull a bit ahead of us. Near the finish line, we suffered a second disappointment upon seeing the fleet of boats that had set off from the Swiss coast come barreling straight toward the line. Zoé and Lennard were in the lead. Hats off to them! The crew of LUC Voile 1 was proud of their friends but still very disappointed. It was a tough blow for the crew, who went from expecting to finish 3rd or 4th to ending up in 8th place—a real surprise… The match race continued against the Cust until the finish. We ended up in 9th place on corrected time and 8th in the “surprises” category. Still, we’re very happy for our friends, who finished first!

On Luc Voile 2, the crew consists of Loïc, Alexandre, Perrine, Sebastian, and Tania. Like our colleagues on LV1, they’re setting sail from Vidy very early for a beautiful, windy sail to France.

The start under spinnaker was difficult, with a late hoist of the spinnaker and the wind dropping just as we set off, making it hard to get the boat up to speed. Then we found a nice breeze that carried us on a single tack past Nyon: what a pleasure to pass Yvoire without having to stop there for three hours! After a game of luffing with three other boats, LV2 rounded the Nyon buoy, having caught up with the leading pack. Our friends, who’d crossed over to the Swiss side a little earlier, seemed to have run out of steam, so we headed for the French coast to start the climb! We battled the seaweed, which took great delight in slowing us down. Finally, the knotted rope makes an appearance, much to the amazement of some crew members who are discovering the technique for the first time. The climb goes well; by taking advantage of the site effects along the coast, we manage to make good headway through the fleet. Then, as we pass the Yvoire headland for the second time that day without incident, we notice we’re losing speed compared to the other boats around us, all of which are heading out to sea to tack close-hauled. We then tried a radical move: heading straight for Thonon on a close reach. No other boat followed us, but for a good 45 minutes we began to believe in a miracle: the direct route seemed to be paying off; the boats offshore weren’t moving any faster but were covering more ground. Unfortunately, near the finish line, the wind shifted in from the open sea, and we first saw Noushine, then the rest of the fleet, surge ahead while we stuck to our course. In the end, most of the fleet passed us, but we finished just 20 minutes behind the leaders—it was a close call! We finished 13th on corrected time, after a great day on the water with steady wind the whole way. The LUC crews got together for tartiflette and drinks after the regatta, and even took a quick ride on the Ferris wheel to cap off a wonderful day!