The two-handed Défi Azimut - Lorient Agglomération 48 Hours race sets sail from the IMOCA headquarters at Lorient this afternoon, promising a tricky light airs contest for the 12 crews taking part.

This annual showcase comes as The Ocean Race Europe draws to a close in Montenegro and as the focus in the Class switches to the double-handed season ahead of the Transat Café L’OR, which sets sail from Le Havre for Martinique at the end of October.

The 48 Hours has attracted a quality fleet with some of the best foiling boats in the Class on the startline, among them MACIF-Santé Prévoyance skippered by Sam Goodchild alongside Loïs Berrehar, the brand new VPLP-designed Les P’tits Doudous raced by Armel Tripon and Tanguy Leglatin, Initiatives Cœur in the hands of Sam Davies and Violette Dorange, and Bureau Vallée skippered by Louis Burton sailing with Clément Commagnac.

For Goodchild, the 48 Hours comes after a busy and successful summer having been a key part of The Ocean Race Europe-winning crew on Biotherm and having won the Course des Caps skippering a full crew before that. The much in-demand Englishman, who is standing in for Charlie Dalin on MACIF Santé Prévoyance this season, says today’s race comes at exactly the right time and after a week of training alongside Berrehar as they build-up to the Transat Café L’OR.

“It gives us a great chance to review things, reset and work on manoeuvres, on how we operate as a pair, on sail choices and to get our minds back into the MACIF Santé Prévoyance project, because in August our heads were a bit elsewhere,”Goodchild told the Class after winning the spectacular Défi Azimut speed runs off Lorient on Wednesday. 

 

“So yes, the Défi Azimut 48 Hours is perfect for that and it also sets us up well as we look ahead to the Transat Café L’OR which is coming up very soon too,”he added.

Goodchild and Berrahar will start the 48 Hours as favourites after Goodchild’s win in the Course des Caps on the boat that also won the last Vendée Globe. “That keeps the pressure on for this race,”admitted the 35-year-old Englishman. “But, as always, we’ll line up at the start saying we’ll try to do everything as best we can, take it seriously, and then see at the finish what the outcome is and what we’ve learned.”

Among their key rivals will be the French veteran Jérémie Beyou, sailing with fellow Frenchman Morgan Lagravière on Charal, who were second in the speed runs to MACIF and will be looking to reverse that order on the Bay of Biscay.

Like Goodchild, Lagravière has been busy with The Ocean Race Europe where he sailed on four legs with Ambrogio Beccaria’s Allagrande MAPEI Racing. But he too is now changing his focus to the double-handed season on the IMOCA.

“I was looking forward to this and now we’re right in the middle of it. It’s also a bit of a project transition because it’s a new team with a new boat that I’m still getting to know.”said Lagravière.

The hugely experienced Lagravière loves sailing with Beyou, a skipper, he says, who only has one gear. “Jérémie is someone who is really fully committed, he pushes himself very hard, to the point of hurting himself. It’s this relentless drive for performance and for pushing beyond his limits in difficult moments,” said Lagravière. “And I think we are quite complimentary…he knows his boat extremely well and he’s also very passionate about strategy and navigation which is an area I’m a little less into. That gives me more space to focus on the pure performance side.” 

Lagravière says the light wind setting for the 48 Hours, with a generally southerly airflow, will still offer a useful challenge even if the boats will struggle at times to get up on their foils. “The conditions are quite light on this course, we’d prefer them a notch higher,” he said. “But still, there will be interesting things to work on and we’re not complaining, we’re happy to be here, happy to be out on the water and to take part in these races is a real privilege.”

Back on MACIF-Santé Prévoyance, Goodchild is looking forward to racing with Berrehar. “It’s going really well,” he said of their partnership. “I think we both respect each other and listen to each other. On paper, I’m the skipper, so if we don’t agree on a decision, I’ll be the one to make it. But honestly, we’ve never had that problem where it was necessary. We always manage to talk things through and find a solution that works well with both our experiences,” he said.

Ed Gorman