Race team’s near miss with a whale

The crew, including four sailors from China who have never sailed across an ocean before, were roughly halfway across the Atlantic in a trip of 2,800 nautical miles, heading north-east.

“We had the scariest experience to date during the night when we came so close to hitting a whale, so close we could hear it breathing,” French skipper Charles Caudrelier said on Thursday.

They had already sailed through a storm and faced up to 40 knots of wind.

“It was one of the darkest nights I’ve known with absolutely no moon at all and barely any visibility.

“You can smell whales in the air but, in the pitch black, you can’t tell where they are. You can’t sense them in the water because very often when whales are at the surface it’s because they’re sleeping so it’s a nasty surprise for both the whale and us!

“I just held my breath knowing how close we were to potential danger but, thankfully, we didn’t hit it we just had a near miss.”

Dongfeng Race Team had already completed the qualification required by the race rules in Asia last March, a non-stop ocean passage of approximately 2,000 nautical miles.

For the team’s new try-out Onboard Reporter Allan Lan, it was proving a real baptism of fire.

“Are we here to prove we are the toughest men?” he asked. “We are just human.”

Despite their hardships, the red boat was still on track to reach the Brittany coastal port of Lorient on schedule around June 10.

Meanwhile, the all-female crew of Team SCA arrived safely at their training base in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands on May 29 after sailing from Newport.

It marked the culmination of some very testing offshore sailing for them, having sailed in the opposite direction on April 24, crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, and arriving in Newport on May 8.

They were hampered by some minor technical issues on the way home but overall reported themselves delighted with some serious preparation for the Race proper which begins with the Alicante in-port race on October 4.

– Sapa