Geneve- Rolle-Geneve 10.-11.06.17

As a preparation for the TL en solitaire, I was able to do the Geneve-Rolle-Geneve race on Mic Mac. My crew were Heather, Kirill and Jean-Louis.
The GRG is one of the classic Lac Leman regatta and always attracts a lot of competitors. My motivation to do this race was, beside that long regattas are always lots of fun, to gain more experience on Mic Mac and also to get to know a bit more the parts of the lake that are further away from Versoix.

Here is my side of the GRG story:

The day started with a very promising breeze that allowed us to sail towards the starting line doing all sorts of manouvers. We felt this helped us a lot to get to know the boat better (1. outing in more than 1bf since the boat is back in the water) and to work as a team.

Start

After last years experice s a crew in Bol d or with a very crowded starting line and all boats bunched up,touching each other, I wanted to be more conservative. We stayed at the back of the crowd. Of course we soon found ourselve at the back of the fleet.

Upwind to Nernier

With lots of short tacks, playing the windshifts and staying close to the french coast we could catch up to the fleet and soon found ourself racing against Thierry and Tim.

Crossing the lake

The wind eased off around Nernier and we decided to cross the lake before the wind would get even lower.

During that crossing the wind dropped even further, giving our stiff genoa a horrible look around the sailing/shrouds. As soon as we had a windshift, we managed to set the spi and use it like a giant genoa. Crossing earlier, instead of sailing to Ivoire, didnt prove to be very in our favour, as the boats further in to the grand lac seemed to do have a tiny bit more wind and boatspeed.

Rolle

Crossing the mark at Rolle took a long time. After rounding the mark, we werent sure if we should cross back to the french coast or stay on the swiss side. So we just sailed a bit off the swiss coast while a big part off the surprise fleet stayed very close to the shore. Soon they found themself in a windhole and we were sailing past them, now sailing towards france.

Back at Nernier

The crossing went very well and we were happy about our position and that we have made it to the side of the lake that had good wind forcasted. Hoping to find that wind we stayed close to the coast, making very little progress. When the wind allowed we set the spinnaker, but mostly had to take it down after a short time again due to the very unstable wind.

The Night

Then we tacked in to a bay and got stuck for about 2 hours till 2am.

Thats when we tried to call YCG to announce our retirement. They didnt answer the call and we finally got some wind again. We decided to try to finish......

I The forcasted wind never returned on our side of the lake and in hindsight I think it would have been better to stay in the middle of petit lac during the night, like some of the other boats that slowly past us.

Morning

We made very slow but steady progress during the rest of the night. At 5am we were just off Coppet approaching Versoix and still had our hopes up to at least finish the race, but the wind stayed very light.

Towards the end..

At 7 am we could easily see the finishing marks ahead of us and also clearly hear the loud signal that told us that the finishing line was closed now. 

We quickly motored to the YCG to return the tracker before motoring back to Versoix.

Conlusions

-Seeing that the wind was very light during almost the whole race, I feel like it would have been good to use an older, less stiffer genoa.

-It paid out to tack early in the shifts and tack back once the wind changed again (not sure about this during the TLS, as tacking is much less efficient)

-To go closer to the shore did not proove to be the best decision at night. Some of the other boats, that stayed more in the center of the petit lac seemed to do better than us. 

-In the morning it would have been good to go closer to the shore (Collonge-Bellerive side).

For me as the skipper it was a very good experience and I think I learned a lot during those long hours. 

A big thank goes to my crew for the great time on the water, I am very happy with all of them and would sail with them again with great pleasure.

A big thank also to Tim, Kirill, Rob and all other volonteers for the long hours they spent getting the boat back in to the water and helping to prepare it for the race.

The Boat

To take part in the Translemanique, the most important thing  to have is a boat. Luckily, my sailing club (Yacht Club Cern) owns Mic Mac, an almost 35 year old Surprise. Despite the age of the class, the Surprise is still a very poular boat on the Lac Leman, in big races, such as Bol d'or it attracts more than 100 boats.


Maintenance
Because of its bad hull condition, some members of the club worked really hard (a special thank to Tim and Kirill) over the wintertime to remove old antifouling, sand rough areas, reseal the hull against osmoses and to put a new shiny antifouling on. We also replaced several pulleys on the mast to make it easier to hoist and controll sails.

Mic Mac's hull before the maintenance

In the beginning of June, just one week off the Geneve-Rolle-Geneve race, the boat was ready to be put back in to the water.

It was quite a shock when we found out that someone climbed over the fence at Ba 5 and not only vandalized the two trailers outside by smashing all lights, the person also scratched the newly finished hull whit a sharp object.......

Scratches on the hull after the vandalism

The keel was damaged the most

We managed to repair the trailer the same afternoon and towed Mic Mac to Versoix. The goal now wasn't anymore to have the boat in the water, we also had to re-sand the affected areas and apply new antifouling before we could even lift her in to the water. The work took us almost the whole evening and by 11pm Mic Mac was back in the water.

Mic Mac ready to lift in to the water

The next couple of days the mast got put up, the rig sensioned, the gelcoat cleaned and the sails came on. Now the boat was ready for everyone to sail again. A huge thank to all of you that contributed to get her back on the water!!!

The Race

The translemanique en solitaire is a regatta for single handed monohulls. The course went, until the upcoming edition, from Geneva to Lutry and back. It attracts around 100 sailors, local ones from surrounding Geneva and also international ones.

For the first time ever this year the race-commitee has decided to lengthen the course. The new course will go all the way to le Bouveret and back, which makes it to something like the length of the Bol d'or.

If you draw a direct line from the start to Le Bouveret and back, the total distance would be a minimum of 70 nautical miles or almost 130 kilometers. Given that it is almost never possible to sail the most direct way under sail and that the wind is more favourable on the swiss side, the actual distance to sail is way longer.
They race has now a similar character to the Bol d'or, with the difference that it is sailed singlehanded.
Making this race longer will certainly make it also more difficult to finish. The haute lac, the area from Lausanne towards the Valais is well known for its difficult wind conditions and will add to the challanges the race already provides.

February 2017, or sailing is calling

It is freezing cold outside and all the streets are covered with snow. Despite these perfect ski conditions, I cant wait for the beginning of the sailing season.
During this waiting time, my wish to participate in this Translemanique en solitaire is growing stronger and stronger.
By the end of February I made up my mind and sent the Commitee of the YCC Sailing Club an email about my plans and ask them for permission to use one of our clubboats to compete in this event.